Adam Beechen

The story of the Batman Beyond Batman and an old foe coming back into the picture. Of course, it was much more complicated than that.

I thought that the plot was actually pretty good for a comic plot. I didn't see the twist coming, and that doesn't happen when it comes to comic books.

Unfortunately I didn't love the art quite as much. I generally like a more traditional look, and this was much more modern and angular, though I did like most of the coloring. A fine trade paperback collection.

I liked this because it introduced me to a bunch of heroes and villains I didn't know anything about, I kind of like the sci-fi/cosmic thing too. The little boy totally in love with Starfire was pretty funny, but not as funny as Forerunner deciding the hunky warrior guy was now her sex slave and his trying to resist her. I liked how Forerunner's story ended, the final line was great.

Some fairly routine Robin adventures, given some spice by his developing relationship with a pretty intriguing classmate, and some slight humanizing of Bruce Wayne's attitude toward Tim since adopting him. Cassandra, the former Batgirl, makes an appearance at the end of the book that is a fairly disturbing indicator that there is nothing faked about her recent turn to the dark side. Pity, she was one of my favorite current heroes. But at least Tim Drake continues to impress in every way in show more both his identities. show less

After enjoying Jim Starlin's Mystery in Space series, I've kept my ear to the ground for more DC Comics space opera, and the first book in that vein to come out since then is this, a collection of an eight-issue miniseries of the same (awesome) title. It was all right. Not as good as Mystery in Space; the story was a pretty bog-standard zombie/plague one. The arcs for the main characters (Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire) weren't the best. For example, Adam Strange is called to task show more for abandoning the people of Rann for year when he swore to protect them, and so he is replaced. There's good potential there-- obviously it wasn't Adam's fault he left Rann, but you can't blame them for wanting a new protector. (Though waiting for him to come back before they do this is highly bizarre!) But his replacement is an arrogant jerk who ends up going evil and being killed (even though they cure all of the other characters who go evil), which totally robs the plotline of any dramatic potential it might have had-- wouldn't it have been more interesting to see him working with/against a well-meaning, competent replacement? (Adam still has a cool costume, though.) The other characters suffer from similar problems. The artwork (which switches pencillers halfway through) is nothing exceptional. A disappointingly average effort in the end.

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