Batman Beyond (2010 Series) #2

July 30, 2010

Title: Hush Beyond Part 2: Past Crimes

Writer: Adam Beechen
Penciler: Ryan Benjamin
Inker: John Stanisci
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Cover: Dustin Nguyen
Editor: Michael Siglain
Publisher: DC Comics

Last issue, a string of murders began to target the enemies of the original Batman, Bruce Wayne. Terry McGinnis, the current Batman, managed to track down the killer, only to find a blast from the past – is the real culprit the man called Hush?

I’m glad to see that Adam Beechen is making this book into, essentially, a mystery story. Batman is a superhero, sure, and Batman Beyond specifically is immersed heavily in the science fiction genre, but the core of the character has always been his skills as a detective, and we’ve got a pretty good mystery to work with here. There’s obviously a reason for this resurgence in Batman’s old foes at exactly this moment, and exploring those reasons gives Terry (and Bruce, for that matter) a great motivation as this series goes forward.

I’m back and forth on Ryan Benjamin’s artwork. Some of the design stuff is really good, but some of the more detail-oriented things, such as characters’ faces, isn’t as strong as it could be. His Bruce, for example, is a kind of generic Old Man template, while Terry has a wide-eyed, almost manga look going for him. It’s easy to tell everybody apart, mainly because the costumes are so wild and different from one another, but without the clothes I don’t know if it would be that simple.

This book is sold, but it could use some tweaking.

Rating: 7/10