Batman Beyond #9

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Artist: Bernard Chang

Colourist: Marcelo Maiolo

Publisher: DC Comics

As was revealed in the last issue, Damian Wayne is the head of the League of Assassins. In what is quite the awesome issue, Damien and Terry battle it out.

The story as to how Damian got to where he is was something I saw coming, which seems to be a pattern in this series. Not to call myself a storytelling genius who can telegraph every plot beat, but the way Dan Jurgens seems to be structuring this story seems a little bit predictable. And this is in no way a fault, as I love what Jurgens is doing. We all have a connection to Damian, be it in Teen Titans or Super Sons, and seeing him exactly where Ra's al Ghul wanted him to be is a bit of a loss for us; I personally hate seeing him in this position and I wonder if he'll get out of it.

Damian and Terry fight throughout the issue, and Jurgens does some really interesting things here. He's still the same old Damian, but pitting the would-be Batman successor against the actual Batman successor was genuinely a lot of fun to behold. The fight was well-handled and Bernard Chang's art was fantastic.

Chang's art continues to be really strong. It seems to only get better with each issue, and this issue in particular cements him as one of my favourite artists at DC right now. He captures Damian really well in his older age, and he made the Damian/Terry fight work really well.

Jurgens still doesn't know what to do with Max or Matt. All they do is look at the Batcomputer, and I would have preferred Jurgens leave them out of the issue entirely. They didn't have a place and they took away from the overall pace of this issue, which should have been about the dual journeys that Terry and Bruce are currently on.

In the strongest issue of the arc so far, Terry and Damian battle it out. The fight has a certain symbolic significance and I'm glad Jurgens recognises it, as he and Chang craft quite the showdown. I'm really excited to see where the story goes from here, and I'm curious to see what other story Jurgens and Chang will tackle next.