Batman Beyond #38 Review

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Penciller: Sean Chen

Inker: Sean Parsons

Colorist: Chris Sotomayor

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Published by: DC

Batman Beyond’s newest issue continues the tale of the newest character to don a Bat-suit in the likes of Batwoman Beyond! The question that now remains for both the reader and the other characters is: who exactly has donned/stolen the Bat-suit and is now Gotham City’s new protector?

As far as story hooks go, it isn’t the most original, the masked superhero that no one knows the identify of is a trope as old as the medium, but Jurgens is a veteran of the craft and is able to inject some new life into the mystery. Simply put, our two main protagonists beside Batwoman, Bruce and Terry’s brother Matt, both have their suspicions of who she is and both seem to be wrong from the get go. 

Batwoman’s identify isn’t the only mystery that Jurgens is juggling in this issue as we also get an update on what is happening with Terry and his loss of memory, if not of self as well. Having only started reading Batman Beyond again recently, it was fun to finally have  an issue where about a quarter of it was dedicated to Terry’s new situation and the singular friend he’s made along the way as he tries to survive on the streets. Who his new friend is is explored in a good bit of exposition that, in true comic book logic, ties in to Wayne Enterprises and leads into the final pages of this issue. 

The exploration and mystery of who this new Batwoman is and how she is always able to be at the right place at the right time, I believe, can continue on for a fair bit, but I do hope it doesn’t overstay its welcome. 

As for the art, Chen, Parsons and Sotomayor are coming together really quickly as the new art team on the book and are producing some good work. Chen’s pencils can be dynamic at points and he really does have a good eye for action sequences here and there. The only thing I would like to see improve, at least that I’ve seen up to date, is to add a little more life to the quieter moments. A lot of the character work in these scenes can come off a little stiff.