Batman Beyond Unlimited #12

Once again Batman takes a back seat as the main story focuses on Superman Beyond where new fire fighter Clarke Kent meets up with his old JLA friend Martian Manhunter, it seems that an alien race called the Trillians have come to Earth looking for Superman. They want him to answer for what they believe are crimes against their world,  crimes that have led to a war between themselves and a cat like race called the Mangals a war that has almost brought their planet to destruction. In truth the Mangals were slaves to the Trillans and Superman freed them an act which led to the plant wide war, as the Manhunter points out it was a bold decision swooping in and turning their lives upside-down.

The Trillians have tried to take Superman down and failed, (issue #11) and have now called in help in the form of interstellar bounty hunter Lobo. What follows is a good old fashioned no holds bard battle between Lobo, Superman and the Manhunter its not subtle but boy is it fun. In the end Lobo is victorious over our two heroes,which enables the Trillians take Superman off world to stand trial for crimes against their society.



War Crimes is an interesting story as it asks should someone impose their sensibility's onto another race or people and also shows the consequences of the actions of doing so, something that we could debate on for hours and never reach an agreement so I will keep my thoughts to myself on that one.

The story is by JT Krul and its a credit to him that I find this version of Superman far more interesting than the one who is running or flying around the current DC Universe, and the inclusion of Lobo in the Beyond Universe was good to see although he is a one dimensional character when used right he is a joy to read.

Batman is one of the back-up story's as his continual fight with the Joker King nears its conclusion, as New Gotham burns the Joker King is preparing to kill Batman but as you would expect it doesn't go entirely his way. as the badly injured Batman struggles to fully come round while asking the question is this the life I want (hell yes), Dick Grayson is swinging to the rescue in true Knightwing style if you discount the fact he only has one eye and he has a bullet in his spine. Meanwhile the new age Catwoman and Vigilante are handing over the last of the Jokez to Commissioner Gordon before making their getaway, the story ends with a now fully conscious Batman fully focused and flying off to take down the Joker King. For me this story seems to have been going on for a bit too long and I am keen to see more Batman Beyond stories, its not a bad story I feel it could have been wrapped up a bit sooner but then I'm not a writer so what do I know.

The third story in the book is the origin of Micron the Beyond version of the Atom and as far as origin story's go it is very good one shot story, the artwork is by Fiona Staples who is doing fantastic work on the book Saga another book that is well worth picking up.


Batman Beyond is still one of my top reads of the month and I would recommend it to anyone, and it doesn't mater to me if Batman or Superman have the lead story as I see it as one big universe.