Batman Beyond 2.0 Volume 3: Mark of the Phantasm Review

Welcome to the pull bag Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with a rotating

panel of the GCRN crew So sit back and enjoy

this week's pull bag Hello and welcome to the

pullback this is episode 121 So far, I think

this is the longest running GCR and shows horse

episodes go. Obviously ATTF would be the longest

running actual podcast And today we're you know,

as I said in episode 120 with Ryan Dross from

star Joe's Darkside December here inside the

pullback didn't last too long because the Thrawn

trilogy and Dark Empire Yeah, they were. I liked

them, I enjoyed them, but... The Sith got the

better of them. I've had enough of Star Wars

comics. Those things are... I did not realize

how big... Thrawn trilogy is 18 comics Dark Empire

is 15 comics in one in each each of their own

physical trades so we are Ending the year for

the pull bag with Batman Beyond 2 .0 from Kyle

Higgins and German holograms So that's the way

we're ending the year here in the pull bag and

today we're talking about Batman Beyond 2 .0

mark of the Phantasm this is what the third volume

which collects The print issues 13 to 16. Since

defeating the Justice Lords, Terry McGinnis has

been focusing on the future, but as Batman tries

to move forward, the past is about to catch up

with him in a big way. Justice Gould manages

to recreate the original Joker serum. One of

Bruce Wayne's former foes, the Phantasm returns

to the scene. Her first target is... Batman's

new superhero project, Vigilante, aka Jake Chill,

a man whose past is tied to both Bruce's and

Terry's own histories. When the truth is revealed,

Bruce Wayne's secrets begin to unravel, and Terry

won't stop until he uncovers them all. What he

learns may change his perception of his mentor

forever. But Terry has little time to dwell,

not only have the Jokers juiced up Vigilante

on Joker serum, But Ghoul has figured out a way

to use it to amplify powers, and his first two

subjects are very familiar. Ink and rewire. With

so much on the line, will the Bat Family be buried

under this avalanche of history? Oh boy. Yeah,

you can't escape the past, folks. So, I don't

know, did you read the Justice Lords trade? I

don't remember if you... I know you weren't on

that episode. Was the trade right before this

that it combined this this series and the Justice

League Unlimited or Justice League Beyond series?

Yeah, we're Terry kicks Superman's righteous

ass. Yep. So for anybody who has not listened

to that episode, go back to episode one away

to the pullback where JT and I think it was JT

and I talked about that trade in that trade.

We have an alternate Neil Gotham. And having

an alternate timeline has alternate realities

and alternate perceptions of people. In that

alternate future, that alternate timeline, Barbara

Gordon and Dick Grayson are married. They have

a child named John. Now, the reason why that

is important is because John was Dick's father's

name. so when Terry comes back to our neo Gotham

and He kind of tells our Dick Grayson about this

It's kind of like this whole, you know circle

of life kind of huh, you know, that's that's

that's funny kind of ironic thing Yeah, the other

thing that happened in that was that in the Justice

Lords timeline Warren McGinnis is alive He did

not get murdered by Mr. Fix and his hit squad.

So that's the other thing. That's kind of leading

up and kind of setting up into this first arc

of Mark of the Phantasm. The Mark of the Phantasm

story here in this trade was when I interviewed

Kyle way back when, oh God, it's been a few years

now since that happened. But when I talked to

Kyle Higgins here on the pullback, This was the

story he pitched DC in order to get the gig to

do Batman Beyond. This is his own, you know,

mask of the phantasm and he pretty much lines

it up very well. So we open up and we get, like

I said, as far as creative, it's Kyle Higgins

and Alex Siegel in writing. Tony Silas, Phil

Hester, Eric Gapster, and Craig Rosu are the

artists. Guy Major and Nick Filardi are in colors.

And man, did this story, this Mark of the Phantasm

story, it kills me. It just kills me because

I know Kyle is a DCAU fanboy like we are. And

how he wrote this history to fall in line. And

I asked him on Twitter, because this obviously,

at the time of the Mark of the Phantasm story

here, he doesn't know that Bruce is his dad.

So this is before Justice League Unlimited Epilogue.

This is before that final episode. So this takes

place, you know, after Return of the Joker, but

before Epilogue. He they need to adapt this into

an animated film they really do they need to

stop with all this new 57 or new 96 or whatever

the hell movies they're doing now, and they need

to adapt this Because damn is this story good

What did you think when you first? Heard about

this when you first read it read through it and

what were your initial thoughts well first of

all having this call back to The first bit of

Batman the animated series really I mean, it's

the first film the only theatrical release of

Batman the animated series or anything DC you

related It Being the strongest film having this

callback to it is a really nice touch Considering

even in epilogue they said, you know, they mentioned

the phantasm Mm -hmm, and then having this all

come play out and in The way that it does, you

know of the phantasm kind of trying to right

the wrongs and everything still and Bruce discovering

that it's Andrea still running around and her

phantasm suit It's it's just it's it's priceless

and then having her meet the the current Batman.

It's it's just awesome when When Batman Beyond

2 .0 first launched back in 2014, what Kyle did

was, remember when we read 10 ,000 Clowns? Yep.

The beginning of this series takes place one

year after the events of 10 ,000 Clowns. So Kyle

essentially starts in the future. and gives us

that first arc with Rewire, the second arc with

the Justice Lords, and all that. And now we're

going back and we're finding out what happened

in the year between 10 ,000 Clowns and when the

Rewire arc started. So this is the missing year,

and oh man. Batman vs. the Jokers is just simply

amazing. seeing him interact with Dana at college

and Barbara as the commissioner and as the story

progresses here we learn of someone trying to

erase a certain blood sample so it isn't tracked

and we don't really know who's doing it or why

and I remember when I first read this in the

single digital issues and oh god this scene Jake

Chill, for the murder of Warren McGinnis, your

angel of death awaits. When the phantasm first

shows up again, I nearly lost my shit. I really

did, because I'm like, hey, wait a minute. What's

going on? Wait a minute. No, that can't be the

phantasm. What the hell? And we cut to the flashback

scenes. Where it's a couple of weeks or a couple

of days or whatever I think it's a couple of

weeks I'm only kind of flipping through how this

intersperses is it intersperses between the flashback

and current kind of times This first part of

the flashback has got Barbara and Bruce and Alfred

And Barbara's basically just saying, you know,

I'm done And, uh, you know, oh, that, that, that

other part between us, that's over too. I have

never, you know this, I have never been one to

take the mystery of the batwoman continuity into

actual DCIU continuity. Cause I just don't want

to believe that a relationship between Barbara

and Bruce ever happened. It just doesn't, it

doesn't compute to me, but what Kyle does here

with it. and turns it basically on its ass against

Bruce is amazing. What do you think of the art

for the flashback? Do you think that's... Oh,

I think it's very reminiscent of the DCAU. I

mean, Dick is kind of off considering it's like

they merged his Robin look with his Nightwing

look and came up with this. So I mean I guess

I'm fine with that. It's either way you still

They're not exactly to the tee the the DCAU version,

but it's so close. It's it's hard not to See

it and then they also kind of aged them a little

bit more in this sense that they If you push

them either way like younger they would look

like they're DCAU or if you push them older They

would look like they're DCAU Batman Beyond version

So it's it's a nice happy medium there yeah I

mean I just absolutely love it and the flashback

the stuff with the Phantasm and Batman showing

up and him in the Phantasm having a fight was

awesome absolutely love that And the Phantasm

is sitting here trying to tell him, this is for

your, and of course Batman doesn't care, he's

just trying to stop a criminal. And what I really

like is the panel on, but of course the actual

physical trade doesn't have page numbers, yay,

DC. The panel where, vigilante kind of saves

Batman's ass and he says Batman says to Bruce

through the radio so that's the phantasm yes

I recognize the costume from the database but

other than hunts killers there wasn't much about

him her oh the image right there where it's Bruce

on the left and Batman on the right that's a

creepy creepy oh I know I Like it I like it a

lot, but it's really really creepy awesome So

Batman finds out that vigilante Basically was

a part of mr. Fix's hit squad and he actually

was the one that killed his father We get another

flashback portion where they're Barbara and Dick

are just sitting on the bench and talking about

you know How he still has the loft But he can

kind of play it by ear as far as staying in Gotham,

and he wanted to be you know near the ones that

he cared about Bruce in the in the the current

time wants to Basically save Terry from doing

something he'll regret and of course you got

to bring back the the the electrocution part

of the bad suit and That that has to hurt mmm

I don't think I want anybody controlling my bad

suit like that. No and Terry assumes that Bruce

knows who who Jake chill is because we get You

know we get the whole thing of The fact that

Jake chill used to work at Wayne powers and he's

the grandson of Joe chill who killed Bruce's

parents and Terry's like, you know, this is you

Bruce come on now and this is one particular

guy one particular family and everything else

and and the writing and this is just oh god it's

just so good and the art the art is amazing yeah

i really love the art in this thing it's it's

so spot on and in in reminiscent of dcau i wish

this was all animated oh yeah that's like yeah

that's like i already said um So we learn that

Ghoul has improved the Joker's serum and Jake

breaks into the Joker's hideout because he wants

to save the day. And this is where Terry goes

to Dick Grayson for the... Phantasm smoke antidotes

and they have a talk about bruise and man Trustworthy

he is I Wouldn't trust the words coming out of

his mouth. Yeah, absolutely And you know we get

you know, basically he tells Terry that it's

not his It's not his story to tell all the way

through and they bring Barbara in so it's Terry

Barbara and dick You know informing Terry on

what? What happened and what happens in the flashback

is that dick and Barbara end up getting back

together? But it turns out she's pregnant By

Batman And that's not exactly a good thing. In

the flashback, we see her going to stop some

thugs and the thugs get the better of her. This

is interspersed with Bruce confronting Dick about

him being the father of her child. And that's

when Dick essentially punches Bruce out. As we

go forward in the story here We get Jake chill

on Joker toxin we get more of the story as far

as what happened and turns out Barbara lost the

baby And it ends up basically being you know

Terry is like he you know Barbara and dick have

all these regrets of what? has happened in the

past and batman's like i won't do anything i'll

regret and then the phantasm in the batcave you

ever think that would happen oh my god i'm used

to seeing her in cemeteries and stuff but the

phantasm in the batcave um and we learned that

andrea is just as old as bruce's at this point

and her suit has got all kinds of servos and

everything else just like Bruce's original Batman

Beyond suit did and as we all know Bruce's heart

could not take that so I like seeing these two

again I like seeing you know their whole relationship

and what could have been and what wasn't and

I don't know what are you thinking up to this

point where she's in the cave I think it's kind

of interesting because it's almost kind of it

kind of reminds me of the old Joker thing of

Sneaking in or the telly thing of you know just

the old remnant kind of knowing where Bruce is

always at And then sneaking in he's just like

nonchalant like not surprised like hey Yeah,

as she takes everything off and starts talking

And we then get back to Batman, who is breaking

into the Joker's hideout in the old Gotham Library.

We also get interspersed here with the final

scenes with Bruce and Andrea, and she basically

says goodbye. Her agenda is to kill Jake Chill.

That's essentially what her agenda is. She assumes

that That's gonna help Terry and sadly, I don't

think it is So we got Jake on on Joker toxin

and the And the ha ha ha's on the on the art

on the page where it's where Jake is just kind

of like reaching out to him It's like oh my god.

It's almost like they mimicked what happened

in the Batcave Well, it's what they did is Because

ghoul I think it's cool. Mm -hmm says Nothing

beats a classic because he figured out the original

Joker toxin. Mm -hmm Well, right and that's what

I'm saying, but it's also a callback to The the

Batcave scene in Return of the Joker Because

it's that's what they had the ha ha ha ha all

over that as well When the Joker came back mm

-hmm So what boils down to is that Jake Sadly

cannot be saved there's too much that the antidote

does not work his his heart essentially stops

Batman has to save Commissioner Gordon The jokers

end up You know getting caught pretty much This

this whole smoke and the fear to just combining

the scarecrows oh my god This is one giant reference

piece everybody for anyone who's ever you get

the the phantasm smoke being made out of fear

toxin You've got Joker talks in with Jake chill.

I mean, it's just nothing but callbacks and it's

simply amazing Yeah, and then there's there's

even this magical part where during the cremation

That kind of reminds me of Arkham Knight with

the Joker That's a little creepy so we get back

to Terry Dana and Max and you know he realizes

that Bruce contacted them and Dana basically

says to be there for you, which we would have

been anyway Bruce or no Bruce I mean assuming

you want us to be and Terry essentially walks

away from her Goes back to the Batcave um and

he and bruce uh have you know the whole partners

are overrated discussion and uh let's see what

else oh we have the phantasm going back to amanda

wallers because that's who always employs the

phantasm This is most definitely a call back

to epilogue as far as her being there Let's see

here we we we then cut to the mayor And his son

Davis one, you know walking in and wanting time

with him and it kind of Doesn't really Well,

it ends but it doesn't I always thought it was

weird how the trade Starts the the Davis Dusk

arc before the next full issue. I mean it works.

It's a nice It's a nice little little send -off

Re -introduction to rewire and basically it ends

with ghoul his his quote -unquote lawyer Getting

ready to spring him Which is funny, you know

Just the way ghoul is drawn and colored in this

this this trade is just absolutely There are

some moments where it really does look like him

and then there are other moments where it's like

that's that's cool So we have We start the all

-in story arc here with We get Kyle and Alec

on writing Tony's back on art full -time And

we have Terry and the Justice Lords timeline

training with the other Terry How was this to

read for you when you read the him archery being

in the other timeline, because I know you...

I think you read the other one, but I don't think

you might have read it. I did, but it's kind

of confusing reading it, only for the fact that

the differences between the two batsuits are

the eyes and the chest pieces are inverted compared

to the other version. Yeah. And there's more

texture to the Justice Lord version, so it's

a little hard to read, whereas if the green was...

kind of still in there and whatnot, it'd probably

be easier to tell the difference. And our Terry

has the wings, the red wings, which is strange.

We then get to Davis Dusk and ghoul. And the

whole thing behind this story arc is he wants

to do something. For you know for the city for

his father. He wants to do something, right?

We then cut back to the justice Lord's timeline

where our Terry is meeting with that Terry's

father I Understand why he needed to do this,

but it just felt really really forced to me because

That worn the the Justice Lords timeline worn

McGinnis has a completely different You know

the Justice Lords timeline Terry is completely

different than our Terry and Which means that

the worn McGinnis of that timeline would have

different memories and So would our Terry of

this timeline and they don't really match up

So it was all it was almost really awkward reading

that scene. Yeah a little bit So we got our Terry

going back to our timeline. And he's not going

to use the portal anymore. We get Ghoul. We get

Ink again. We get the Royal Flush Gang in 10.

They're basically just throwing. And I don't

mean this in a bad way at all. They're basically

just throwing every Batman Beyond thing that

has ever been at us, and I personally love it.

I think it's great. Yeah, I mean, I'm not minding

it all. I just, I think that they do a little

bit of villain overload. Yeah. A little bit.

Well, yeah, a little bit, but not much. Ghoul's

basically the regular joker of this timeline

now. Yeah, he pretty much is I mean cuz I mean

Chucko and and The others I mean you didn't really

have too much with the DDs in this one And even

some of the other jokers weren't even weren't

even that great. I think what is so cool for

me on this is How Kyle and Alec are developing?

The relationship between Terry and Melanie that

they're actually having a relate because in the

in the cartoon series It was always a will they

won't they or oh my you know my father the criminal

empire the royal flush gang all that and here

essentially obviously picks up after the episode

where Melanie is kind of reformed herself and

Then we have a team up with ghoul and ink That's

something I would have never thought we would

see Yeah We also have ink going to Going to Melanie

for help as well We have Terry coming back to

the cave and that's not exactly Not exactly anything

going on there. He's just there and Bruce isn't

because he's come back from the other timeline

Bruce dropped a file for him. Yeah So he and

our Terry and dick are our one -eyed Dick Grayson

have a conversation and they end up talking about

Melanie and her family and it goes back to Ink

and Melanie and let's see here we then get to

the Neo Gotham Mall we have a scene there with

is it Shriek? no that can't be Shriek no that's

no that's a joke it's a joker it's a unmasked

it's a non makeup joker that's what it is um

so we have this really cool action scene here

and i think my favorite um i remember how how

this originally ended in the single issues was

on this panel with 10 where she says uh She says

that's a nice new trick. What are we what do

you say? We put it to better use and it's her

just sitting in the bleachers. I Absolutely love

that As this story progresses with with rewire

basically he wants to Destroy his father he wants

to He wants to take over the city the standard

the standard I think in this final arc my favorite

My favorite panel I remember when this again

came out in the single digital issues is when

Batman visits school at the hospital And he's

like looks like you need to work on your customer

satisfaction let me guess he had issues with

the costume and it's basically just terry in

the window holding the window up i absolutely

love that that image um when they marketed this

story to us they said oh this is going to be

the best terry mcginnis batman story ever and

it is this final issue i like it i really really

do but Don't know it just doesn't feel like I

don't know there's too much going on Yeah, I

mean they packed a lot of stuff in here, and

I'm not complaining about it at all But this

last portion of it They packed so much in because

all these villains end up teaming up together

ink and and ghoul and Just everybody Because

I remember the original the original cover for

for those issues was it was ink ghoul 10 and

it was versus Barbara dick Batman and Bruce Overall

I dug mark of the phantasm like I said before

The whole thing with With the phantasm and her

coming back. I think it's absolutely wonderful.

The fact that they went and got different artists

for that part of the arc and stuff with Phil

Hester and Eric Gapster and Craig Urso. I absolutely

love the different art style because everybody

has their own interpretation of what Batman Beyond,

Neil Gotham, all that stuff should look like

and I like that they got other people to doing

wrong. I love Tony Silas. I've loved him since

the very first story arc. Um, but just seeing

somebody else's take on it was absolutely amazing.

I think the only thing I really wanted out of

this, and it's just a little thing here. I've

wanted Kyle to explain the eye patch. Damn it.

Yeah. You probably never get that. No, I know.

Well, obviously not. Obviously not. Um, so what

After reading all this stuff after reading the

rewire story in the beginning after reading justice

lords and after reading this What's your kind

of final takeaway from the Batman Beyond 2 .0

series? Um, I really enjoy it. I just I wish

that there was more but I wish that it was almost

like I would rather see it like animated Mm -hmm

because it'd be easier to follow right but uh

Because I feel like some of these other intertwining

stories are Kind of distracting to some of the

other stuff that could be going on hmm such as

the Justice Lords thing Yeah, and then the too

many villains popping up but other than that

like I like the story and I like I like the animation

or the the drawings and the Way that it's kind

of played out Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know,

like I said the whole mark of the phantasm part

of the part of the trade, that whole storyline.

I reread it just before, I reread the whole thing

just before, you know, a couple of days before

we did this episode. And I, you know, I posted

on Twitter, you know, I'm, I'm nine pages into

this and damn you Kyle and Alec for making me

cry or whatever it was. And it's like, it's just

all of that history, all of that bad history

from DCAU and, and everything else is just, just

so, so emotionally awesome. So absolutely love

it. What would you give the final story the final

trade zero to five stars, sir? Give it a buff

for Simply for the the the phantasm Yeah, I'm

gonna I'm gonna give it a four as well. Like

I said going back and rereading this it it did

feel like I know they wanted to put all the villains

in there and they wanted to do a villains team

up at the end to make it the ultimate story But

it just kind of felt like it was it wasn't all

over the place the story itself but it just the

the events and the way the art laid out and Just

some of the action scenes felt like they were

all over the place. So I'll give it a four as

well Coming up on the pull bag I'm not sure.

I do know next week, right before New Year's

Eve, we will have the final GEM episode of the

year, which is GEM issue number 10 in the holiday

special. We're doing that a week late because

issue 10 doesn't come out until the actual 30th

of December. So yeah, it got delayed. But anyway,

that's what's going on there. Where can the people

reach you online, sir? At SCP -21. All right,

make your great escape into comics and we will

catch you next time We will I don't know if it'll

be Steve and I or somebody else, but we will

be doing in 2016 the new Batman Beyond series

that DC has by oh damn Dan Juergens and Bernard

Chang Yes, yes Tim Drake Batman finally a Tim

Drake book actually even though it's Batman Beyond

At least it's all about Tim Drake and not those

damn Teen Titans. So, make your escape into comics

and we will catch you next time. where you can

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