Batman Beyond - Industrial Revolution Paperback – 27 Jan 2012

Batman Beyond: Industrial Revolution is a collection of all 8 issues of the 2011 series in a single volume continuing the adventures of Gotham's new Batman Terry McGinnis. Writer Adam Beechen is clearly a fan of the DC Animated Universe cartoon series from 1999-2002 and knows how to reference, and expand upon various ideas from the television show. It is flawed, and doesn't give enough, but it still provides some much needed Batman Beyond action for fans of the animated series.

The Industrial Revolution plot line is three out of the eight issues comprising this collection, and is by far the best storyline in the series. Derek Powers (Blight) has returned is set to regain control of Wayne-Powers following his presumed death at the end of Batman Beyond. More powerful than ever, Blight is now also beginning to fall apart due to the nerve gas and radiation which created him, requiring an armored suit to keep him in one piece. Fueled solely by revenge directed bot h at Batman and Bruce Wayne Blight's return requires both Batmans to take action in order to prevent the tyrannical Powers from regaining control of the company.

Batman Beyond #8 which is the final story in the series gives a back story to my favorite Beyond villain, Inque. For the most part her origin is unoriginal, and would have been better kept a mystery, but I do enjoy the material regarding the incredibly one-sided relationship between Inque and her daughter. The origin part may be shaky, but the beginning, and end of this issue do exhibit the character's raw strength, and brutal tactics for disposing of her foes, which made her an easy favorite for fans of Beyond.

The greatest problem with this 8 issue series is that it isn't long enough to truly satisfy any longtime fans of Batman Beyond. I'm sure this has more to do with DC not investing enough in the title than with the writers/artists, but it still is a noticeably flawed product which resulted from the creators not having enough room to expand or truly create a long term Beyond storyline. It honestly feels like they wanted everything to be wrapped up in 8 issues out of fear that this may be the last shot they might get with the Beyond universe. If it weren't restricted to being a limited/miniseries of comics I believe the team would have been bolder, and taken their plots to bolder territory.

Adam Beechen and others are currently expanding upon Batman Beyond in a series called "Batman Beyond Unlimited" which features further adventures for Terry, the Justice League, and Superman in keeping with the DC Animated Universe. If this new series is given more than a limited run I do hope for longer, more engaging plots set within the Beyond universe. We the fans have waited a long time and hopefully this time the comic's writing/art team will have enough time to fully flesh out their characters and develop some epic storylines which this franchise deserves.

The artwork is similar to the TV show but be warned this is a jumble of tales than all of them being strung together logically.

Terry McGinnes is the new Batman because Bruce Wayne has become too old and the latter gives tech support from afar (the new Batsuit has all types of improvements and upgrades that would put the standard one to shame).

I liked the showdown with the JLA and the face off with a mystery villain the most. The section about Nightwing was the weakest.

Written by Adam Beechen and artwork by Ryan Benjamin, John Stanisci, Rich Perrotta and a host of others.

ARTWORK PRESENTATION: B plus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B; STORY/PLOTTING/EDITING: B minus; WHEN READ: end of December 2012; OVERALL GRADE: B.

I have yet to encounter a Batman Beyond story I didn't like and this one is no exception!!

As usual I enjoyed the banter between Bruce and Terry, and the story was extremely good!! Probably the only reason I gave this story 4 stars was the scenes featuring the Justice League. They seemed a bit lame.

There is a really good short story at the end about Inque's origin which I loved!!

Really glad I picked this up!! Batman Beyond continues to surprise me... all in a good way :)

Like all Beyond Novels, Industrial revolution takes place in the animated universe as opposed to the New 52. This has its pros and cons. For one There is perfect continuity with all past Batman Beyond stories. On the other hand it cannot participate in New 52 events such as Night of the owls. How cool would it have been to see one of the assassins of the court trying to take revenge on Bruce Wayne in the future? The art style has improved over the previous graphic novel Hush Beyond. However the plot is forgettable. There is an exciting moment where with the exception of Superman Batman beats the crap out of everyone in the Justice League following the #1 rule of the DC universe. "Batman always wins." However this fight is utterly pointless. Bruce just has Terry wail on them for a territorial dispute during a serious hostage situation. Still I greatly enjoyed it.

It's...okay? The writer doesn't seem to understand batman very well and there are quite a few continuity errors. It was interesting and some things made sense but not incredible.