Does anyone else have a problem with the way Batman Beyond is done in comics?

[Castiel]

I honestly love Batman Beyond and Terry is my second favorite Batman next to Bruce. I've often wanted him to become canon (I've always felt he'd make a better grandson though maybe via Helena Wayne) however I hate how every time a comic is done he's either pushed to the side so Tim can shine or his story is made into a Joker showdown. Honestly I want to see Blight be introduced especially given the state of Wayne Enterprises I can see a young Powers coming in and stealing the company from under Bruce and covertly getting away with crimes while Bruce cant prove anything. I do realize a lot of readers would hate this idea but I do love the idea of Powers being the one who "defeats" Bruce.

I like this idea because I think a young Powers being a antagonist would be fun to see and it'd be interesting seeing Bruce powerless against someone so corrupt and evil. That being said I know a lot of fans wouldn't like this idea but I do like the idea of Powers ultimately defeating both Bruce and Batman without realizing it while regarding the act as a mere stepping stone. As for the plot I'd like to see Powers act as a Theo Galavan type figure being in his mid twenties or so and while presenting himself as a savior to Gotham secretly taking over the criminal underworld. I also think it'd add a new layer of tragedy to the Batman mythos, for a young Powers to represent the corruption in Gotham, Bruce is never able to stamp out.

As for any changes I'd probably go with a Cyberpunk 2077 twist on Batman Beyond with Bruce seemingly being killed only to end up with his mind trapped by Powers and later downloaded into Terry. What I'm thinking is for Terry to get Bruce's skills and having to have his "ghost" nag him constantly. I also think Terry struggling with the fear of losing himself would be interesting to however given Joker's done similar things I don't think Bruce would ever take over someone else no matter what.

I think this would be really interesting to see because Bruce takes his code very seriously and I'd like to see him react to a situation where he learns just by existing in someone else's consciousness he's killing him. Though he'd probably tell Terry he doesn't want him dead and when the time would come he'd sacrifice himself. However why I really like this idea is Bruce has trust issues so sharing a brain with someone would really be an interesting avenue. I also like the idea of a young Powers being an unstoppable form of corruption in Gotham and being a constant source of pain and misery for the Bat Family. Like putting Barbara in a position where she has to choose between the Bat and her father.

I also like the idea of a young Powers being the Anti Joker in Gotham if that makes sense representing order but a very evil form of it. I can even see Joker having a moment where he senses something in a young Powers and just some how knows he's going to go far.

[John Venus]

Except for Justice League Beyond 2.0, nearly everything I've read of DC's comic continuation of Batman Beyond has been a turn off. How Kyle Higgins handled the Bruce/Babs stuff goes without saying but the Beechen mini, Futures End, Tim replacing Terry, even what I've sampled of the Jurgens stuff left me cold. None of them have really captured what made the show so enjoyable. The creators of Batman Beyond were adamant that the main character was Terry, the show was about him and he fought mostly his own villains with the occasional Bruce-Bat Rogue in between. Terry could have quit at any time and go back to his family while Bruce wasted away at the mansion but Terry actively chose to be Batman. Writers forget all of this and turn Terry into a bit player in the Bat Family drama/angst and recycle old Bat Rogues turning the whole thing into the kind of generic story telling that the creators were trying to avoid.

[Castiel]

Except for Justice League Beyond 2.0, nearly everything I've read of DC's comic continuation of Batman Beyond has been a turn off. How Kyle Higgins handled the Bruce/Babs stuff goes without saying but the Beechen mini, Futures End, Tim replacing Terry, even what I've sampled of the Jurgens stuff left me cold. None of them have really captured what made the show so enjoyable. The creators of Batman Beyond were adamant that the main character was Terry, the show was about him and he fought mostly his own villains with the occasional Bruce-Bat Rogue in between. Terry could have quit at any time and go back to his family while Bruce wasted away at the mansion but Terry actively chose to be Batman. Writers forget all of this and turn Terry into a bit player in the Bat Family drama/angst and recycle old Bat Rogues turning the whole thing into the kind of generic story telling that the creators were trying to avoid.

Completely agree this is why I don't care for most of the Bat Family in particular Tim who is my least favorite and would rather Terry be treated with respect. Tim had no right or reason to be Batman Beyond and I'd prefer him to become Joker Jr. over all. I also have long hoped to see Freeze fight Blight in a rematch.

[godisawesome]

Ironically, I don’t think there’s very many Tim Drake fans who cared for Batman Beyond Tim either - in fact, I think most of them despised the idea even on their end, primarily because it was the New 52 Tim Drake (who pretty much got crippled in terms fo fan support about two years into the New 52) but also because they couldn’t identify the character as Tim either, and of course many of them were also fans of Terry. That book had almost no presence online.

I’ second the idea that redoing some of the rogues didn’t work out as well in the comics; honestly, Terry had a decent Rogues Gallery, and one of the strengths of the show was handling its villains.

[HandofPrometheus]

I don't like the comics for Batman Beyond. Jurgens runs was boring and very meh. I don't think any of the comics were as interesting as the show.

[CPSparkles]

I enjoyed Rebirth BB. The run finally managed to make Terry feel like part of the family by having him interact with present day batfam. Terry always seemed isolated from the Batworld.

Also enjoyed Terry meeting present day Bruce.

[PurpleGlovez]

For anyone in this thread who hasn't read it, I highly recommend Adam Beechen's run of Batman Beyond titles. It is actually really fricking good, and does an amazing job of continuing the show's story while trying to merge it with DCU canon proper. Plus, Norm Breyfogle did some of the last art of his career in the later issues. Really good stuff, lots of twists and turns, I had such a blast reading it.

Higgins' run is a little disappointing, it continues off Beechen's but does a 180 and veers back into DCAU continuity to very ill effect. It's pretty clear Jurgens (and everyone else involved in Futures End) had never actually watched the show. They have Terry say he's never eaten pizza, and that he's a virgin; which, if you've watched the show, um... yeah. Anyway, Jurgens' run is definitely mediocre as hell but it was cool to see him try to incorporate stuff from then-current comics like Jim's Robo-bat suit, Damian and Goliath, etc. Plus I liked that DC at least advertised it as their "definitive" future.

Long story short: Read Beechen's run.

[Tulku]

Beechen's run is very good. Future's End did a tremendous amount of damage to Batman Beyond. The whole concept of even trying to fit it into "current" continuity was wrong. Because "current" continuity tends to change every six months or so with the Next Big Crossover Event. Any comic set in the "future" of current continuity is doomed to be a continuity nightmare because of that. It would have been far better to just let BB be on Earth-12 (or whatever...I think it was Earth-12 and I am too lazy to check). Just let Terry be Terry. Because the great thing about the animated series is that they kept the focus on Terry and refused to load it down with a lot of continuity-driven Bruce-enemies. That was a brilliant decision that the comic books failed to follow.

That being said, I will defend Jurgens' run. He inherited a post-Future's End BB. It killed off Terry's mom (an ESSENTIAL character, as far as I am concerned) and Max basically was written out of the series (another blunder). Jurgens, however, had the good sense to get us away from the incredibly boring dystopian future that Future's End stupidly grafted onto the series. The longer he wrote for BB, the more comfortable Jurgens became and the last year or so of his run was very good (albeit still missing Terry's mom and Max).

In the future, though, when DC again issues a BB book, I hope it is firmly grounded in Earth-12, with Mom, Max and the Justice League Beyond restored. And I hope it will flat out ignore whatever is happening in the constantly changing "current" continuity (ho-hum, another Big Crossover Event that will Change Everything Forever....yawn!).

Terry is a great Batman. And it is a shame that DC is too stupid to realize it.