Batman Beyond Universe #8

System Overload:

Earths heroes make their final stand against Brainiac on a now deserted Paradise Island, with Brainiac now in a giant robot body made of Nth metal the battle seems to be going his way. His chances of victory are further bolstered when magicians Felich Faust and Klarion bow out of the fight, due to the fact that their magic been ineffective against the Nth metal but to be fair to them they do wish the other heroes luck.

While the big hitters try to do damage to the outer of Braniacs robot body, a shrunken down Micron and Flash are trying to infect Braniacs systems with a virus to shut him down. We see a hero fall and when all seems lost Paradise Island’s greatest warrior returns to protect her home, with Wonder Woman now joining the fight and the virus taking effect the tide of battle is turned and the Earth saved once again. However victory is not without a price as Aquaman is left deep in a coma one that Kai-Ro (Green Lantern) says he will never come out of, although given that it’s a universe the dead return from its hard to believe that this will be the last time we see Arthur. The final panel when Superman indicates that Wonder Woman’s reasons for joining the fight may not be as benevolent as first thought, and sets up the next issue nicely and has you wondering is this Wonder Woman from this universe or another?

If you like your comics all action then you will love this issue as the action is practically none stop, which helps give you a feel of real desperation from the heroes as they battle to save the world. Christos Gage writes a great adrenaline fuelled issue that also toys with your emotions from the fall of Aquaman and the despair of his wife and daughter, to the hurrah moment on the return of the ultimate cougar (sorry warrior) Wonder Woman. Iban Coello's art is sharp and the battle scenes flow very nicely from panel to panel giving the reader (me) a real sense of the flow of the battle taking place, his take on a older mature Wonder Woman is simply fantastic and I look forward to seeing more of her in coming issues especially given Superman's final comment. 

This was a very satisfying wrap-up to the Brainiac storyline with most characters getting their time in the spotlight, and I do like this take on the Justice League with a mix of the old and new versions of Dc heroes.

The Bat Men - Second Chances:

Batman and Bruce Wayne take on Man-Bat and his army as the Bat-Men storyline comes to its inevitable conclusion, as Kurt (Man-Bat) makes the ultimate sacrifice and the gap between Terry and Bruce continues to widen. I have always found Man-Bat a boring one dimensional character and was never a fan of stories he featured in, however this version of Man-Bat one who still has the mind of the scientist is the best interpretation of the character I have read. Having all his faculties instead of been a mindless creature has turned his into an interesting and more tragic character, as he now sees all his mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes on his life and on the life’s of the people he loved.

The artwork and colours are exquisite and give you a taste of the dark gritty side of Neo Gotham, which is a change from the neon side we more often see my compliments to Thony Silason art and Emilio Salis who's colours really brought this story to life. I also cannot forget writer Kyle Higgins who captures the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Man-bat perfectly, even to the point of Bruce always calling him Kirk trying to connect to his human side.

Reunion:

Dick and Barbra meet up and try to sort out issues that  they still clearly have between them, even though our two heroes  have grown old together they still seem to have that Burton and Taylor love hate relationship. Who resents who or who still loves who the most is never answered in this short story, but a friendship truce is the final outcome in this Kyle Higgins tale of two of my favourite Batman universe characters.

Batman Beyond Universe is a weekly digital book that is also printed monthly with all the months story's in it, personally I prefer the printed copy but I know people who enjoy the digital book either way for me it is becoming a must read every month.