- Cover by Rafael Albuquerque
- Written by Kyle Higgins
- Art by Thony Silas
- Colours by Andrew Elder
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BEWARE OF SPOILERS
Its chapter 5 of ‘Rewired’ and time to reveal the villains lurking behind the costumes of the original Bat-family.
For the previous four chapters we’ve had this incredibly well written villain lurking in the background as an ever present threat to the city who has had the police and Batman constantly on their guard right up to the trick reveal in chapter 4.
Chapter 5 had to mark a change in the narrative of the story because the threat has now become visible and so with this issue we focus on the big reveal but that’s not to say that the story isn’t still progressing in a satisfying manner as it has done over the last few issues. There’s still room for Barbara to continue her investigation into the murder of the Mayor and also time for Dick to make a brief appearance as he tries to come to the aid of Terry.
Surprisingly still absent from this series is Bruce. He’s made a couple of small appearances and we know that he’s watching from the wings but he’s stayed remarkably in his trademark shadows rather than stepping in to run the show. What’s actually more surprising is that ‘Batman Beyond 2.0’ isn’t suffering from that MIA Bruce, it’s actually really refreshing to have the franchise not needing to rely on the original Batman to make it a success and it reflects that Terry is now also standing relatively on his own two feet.
The reveal of the villains behind the Bat-costumes was interesting, it was great way to bring back some villains from the cartoon and the original setting of ‘Beyond’ and to cushion the introduction of an all-new villain by having it born out of the familiar. I hadn’t expected a little evil grouping, to be honest I was expecting a robot/cyborg situation and there to be a puppet master behind it all. The only disappointment was how quickly those returning villains were dispatched, there’s little time to catch up with where they are now and what they’re motivations are at this present stage.
The story and the artwork both remain strong throughout this issue and it’s nice to see those old villains reinterpreted by a new artist. Similarly it’s great to see Higgins continuing to flesh out the ‘Beyond’ universe using that diverse catalogue of characters from the TV series but not being too afraid to introduce new ones to the mix and allow them to interact and push the universe further in to new territory.
I for one can’t wait to see who is behind the mask of Rewire!
8/10
