[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Bernard Chang
Reviewed By: Derek McNeil
Summary
“RISE OF THE DEMON” part five! Just as Bruce Wayne had feared, the experimental new Bat-suit has altered Terry’s mental state and turned him into a colder, deadlier Batman. Trapped in the lair of Ra’s al Ghul and surrounded by the League of Assassins, the suit may be the only thing that allows Terry and Bruce to survive. But at what price?
Positives
When the Batman Beyond cartoon first aired, Damian Wayne could not be taken into account. The character didn’t exist in Batman: The Animated Series, and had only ever appeared as an infant in Son of the Demon, which wasn’t considered DCU canon at the time.
But now that the Batman Beyond comic is supposed to be a possible future for the current DC Universe, Damian needs to be accounted for in the world of Terry McGinnis’ Batman. Why hasn’t he been mentioned before now? What has he been up to?
Well, we have learned that Damian has taken on the mantle of his grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul, as head of the League of Assassins. Bruce believes that it is the corrupting influence of the prototype Batman suit that has led Damian down this path. However, Damian maintains that he chose it of his own free will.
It would be an easy answer if the suit could bear the blame entirely, but what if it was Damian’s own dark nature that brought him over to his grandfather’s way of thinking? And can Bruce reclaim Damian from this darkness? These are questions that might not be easily answered.
Also, Bruce has come to think of Terry as like a son, making Terry and Damian’s fight into a struggle of brother against brother. Although Damian denies it, it seems that he bears some jealousy of Terry’s relationship with Bruce.
Negatives
Did Terry really kill Goliath?! I pray that even under the Bat-suit’s influence, Terry managed to restrain from actually killing Goliath and merely incapacitated him. However, it did deliver a shocking moment that underscored the ferocity that the suit is bringing out in Terry.
Verdict
The title feels like a true continuation of the cartoon. I have to say that bringing Bruce back has revitalized the series.
