Review: Batman Beyond Vol. 7- First Flight

March 30, 2021March 31, 2021 ComicBookWire

Quick Summary

Pros: The book’s central mystery is well-executed. The characters are great and the situations surrounding them are interesting. The series is as action-packed as ever. The artwork is mostly positive.

Cons: The dialogue and narration is weird at times.

Overall: This is one of the more entertaining volumes in this Batman Beyond series. The storyline hooks readers in with a mystery and adds in enough character-driven drama to maintain interest levels. Plus, the action is exciting and the artwork looks good. Overall, this volume will appeal to most Batman Beyond fans, especially those who watched the original TV series.

Story

The story in Batman Beyond Vol. 7: First Flight, by Dan Jurgens, is every bit as fun and enjoyable as its predecessor. This volume centers around a solid mystery that allows for plenty of character-driven drama. It then backs this up with the high levels of action that this series does so well. This results in a compelling and fun storyline. There are a few places where the dialogue is strange but this doesn’t have a large impact on the volume as a whole. In the end, this is easily one of the better volumes in this Batman Beyond series.

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First Flight opens with a mystery: who is the new Batwoman? The book throws in a few pretty convincing red herrings at first while remaining ambiguous about her identity. Then, it finally reveals that Batwoman is Dick Grayson’s daughter, who had secretly wanted to be a superhero her whole life. It is a well-executed mystery that is hard to guess but that makes sense in retrospect.

This mystery is then accompanied by some great personal drama. Terry has lost his memory and is being led by a villain, the new Batwoman is trying to prove herself to her community and her father, and Bruce and Matt are worried about everyone. All of this is even better if you’re a fan of the original Batman Beyond TV series, which gives additional depth to the animosity surrounding Derek Powers.

On top of all of this, First Flight brings out the action that this series has made its trademark. The fight scenes involving Batwoman are seriously entertaining. Her method of swooping in, immediately engaging the villain, and ultimately reigning victorious is simply fun to watch. Plus, the volume’s final confrontation, which pits both Batman and Batwoman against Blight, is one of the most epic seen in the series thus far.

My only complaint with the storytelling is that there are places where the writing feels a little weird. The constant repetition of the phrase “radiation doesn’t die” is strange considering the guy saying it is literally dying. In addition, each chapter starts by awkwardly summarizing what happened in the previous chapter or two. This are not big problems but do have a slight impact on the reading experience.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in First Flight is mostly positive and is definitely an improvement over its predecessor. Sean Chen’s work has a nice style to it that suits the characters and locations of the Batman Beyond series. It makes the heroes look sleek, the villains look intimidating, and allows the city of Neo-Gotham to generally look impressive. Plus, the volume is well structured in a way that assists the reading experience. There are a few places where facial expressions lack a little detail and don’t show as much emotion as they could. However, the majority of the volume looks nice and produces a good-looking book.