Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic

Batman Beyond: Neo #2

by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Max Dunbar (Illustrator)

Terry McGinnis defeated the evil A.I. controlling Neo-Gotham and asserted himself as the one true Batman, but his next battle will bring him to the remains of Old Gotham.

Children are going missing and being swallowed by the city’s old bones. Batman Beyond will have to go underground, led by a mysterious splicer named Kyle the Catboi, to find the children and confront the city’s buried sins.

What happened to the green of the city? What happened to magic? And what villains never left old Gotham?

All these questions will be answered by the red-hot creative team of Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing ( Batman – One Bad Clayface ) and Max Dunbar ( Urban Legends ).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Batman, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Fantasy

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I am very glad it continues from the last series as there was a lot of unfinished business from that series.

Terry/Batman is forced to step into the literal Gotham underground to find a number of missing children. However, he has no idea what or who is buried down there. Also, how does this relate to one of Bruce Wayne's plans?

This is a fast-paced action adventure. Any fans of the Batman Byound/of the future series will love this book. Great artwork, good story, and ramifications for later. I can't wait for Terry's next adventure as Batman Beyond. The book finishes with a varient cover gallery.

[William Bainbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5
Easily one of my favorite comics of all time, which is far from an objective opinion as I absolutely adore anything batman beyond. But with that being said, I really feel this comic had so many awesome things within that deserve huge credit. Bringing back Bruce villains but with a new spin was equally fresh and nostalgic. Constantine was a great inclusion, and Kyle was genuinely such a genius character especially for an original creation, he was incredibly interesting and likable and the way he played off Terry was great. I wasn't amazed by the ending but equally it was still good and it was satisfying. A lot of courageous ideas in this comic, and I think the risk really payed off.

[David Roundhill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll never shut up about Batman Beyond. Terry deserves as much love and praise as any legacy character in comics and is criminally underused. This run by Kelly has been so good at pulling out the nostalgia for the beyond cartoon and other eras of Bruce Wayne Batman while still being its own thing and making its own legacy

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Neo Year but still continues a very well done story with old Batman ties.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendship ✔️ Adventure ✔️ Romance ✔️ Composition & layout design ✔️

[Will Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

"What? Never seen a magical cat boi before?"

No Kyle, and I kinda wish I didn't.

This started off fairly strong as a Gothic horror story, with Batman investigating a series of child kidnappings and near an old Court of Owls labyrinth haunted with half-melted Talon zombies (pretty fitting for a book called Neo-Gothic). But then the book pivots to being all about new character, "Kyle Selinas the Cat Boy." On his own, Kyle's an interesting addition to the Batman Beyond cast. He starts out as one of Batman's new informants, and it's fun to see him and Terry bond over their troubled pasts as kids in juvie. But Kyle's origin as John Constantine's betrayed protege adds more complexity than the character needed.

It also feels very out of character for John Constantine. John's always been a jerk, but never to those who didn't deserve it. I'm not opposed to a heel turn like this, but I needed to see more about how Constatine developed a villainous streak for it to feel genuine and not just a twist to raise the stakes of the story. What sucks is that there actually *was* room to do this, but the author decided half way through the story to throw every crazy idea he's ever had into the book, destroying the pacing and any hope of giving a personal betrayal like this the depth it deserved. I don't blame anyone for taking such big swings like this, but this book is a mess, and I have no intention of reading it ever again.

[Caio Amaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acho que finalmente, após ler quase tudo de batman do futuro das HQs eu recebi o que esperava, depois de estabelecer essa nova fase do terry de forma meio capenga em Neo-year, a história avança, deixando mais claro como os novos personagens serão utilizados por Collin Kelly (ainda acho que a Beam e o Gestalt estão sobrando um pouco). No entanto, os destaques, claramente, são o personagem Kyle e a brincadeira com a velha Gotham, que no final acaba sendo quase um potencial roteiro de videogame (no sentido de elogio).
O ponto positivo final é o arco encerrar com o reforço/consolidação de duas mensagens que tem sido divulgadas no cinema atualmente: 1) Batman é agora um símbolo de esperança e não mais de medo (The Batman de 2022); e 2) Todo mundo pode ser o Batman (Homem-aranha no anhaverso). E o curioso é que a história precisou se desvincular 100% de Bruce Wayne para poder trazer esses temas, desafiando o Terry a tomar decisões difíceis e definir seu batman como algo mais diferente do que vimos até então (tanto na série animada, quanto nas HQs)

Obs: novamente o desenho, arte-final, cores e letreiramento estão maravilhosos

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Gotham back in the hands of its citizens and away from AI (well, that's topical), Terry sets his sights on those under Gotham, who often escape both his and everyone else's notice. With the assistance of a literal cat boy, he ventures down into the depths to face off against foes both familiar and unexpected in this next Batman Beyond adventure.

What I like about the Hivemind instalments of Terry's adventures is that they feel different. The last one had its finger on the pulse of Gotham, while this one digs a little deeper. The introduction of new character Kyle helps propel things onwards, and the legacy of Batman looms large even though Bruce isn't present in these books any more. There's also an acknowledgement of Dana and Terry's brother at last, which made me smile and hopeful for the future - and there's definitely at least one more of these coming.

[Sushie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a Batman kick, and this one has been the best of the bunch so far. Terry may be my favorite version of Bats because he has Bruce's mistakes to reflect on, but also this story had the perfect mix of sci-fi silliness and serious character biz that makes a comic work for me. There's catbois (french pronunciation or are they just for real called 'catboys', either way, love it), a bad guy building apartments out of light (!!!), killer croc is here, we dive into fungal horror (!!!!!!!!) and also the big bad may surprise you! I love the interstitching of silent/action sequences with text of various sources as a device and the paneling is *chef's kiss.* Terry didn't explain his every gadget as Bats sometimes does! The only thinsg I struggled with were some of the action poses being unclear (but that's a very minor quibble when others were totally badass), and the plot. Felt like it kind of fell to pieces at the end with a sort of hopeful message that didn't land exactly based on what had come before. I'll defs be picking up the book that came before this one, Neo-Year, and see if that helps.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic came out of nowhere and delivered the one of a kind Batman story I didn't know I needed, and hopefully it's not too long before we see where this world and its lovely cast of characters goes next. I really dig this neon/cyberpunk/noir tone and the detective story. The stakes should matter, but this vision of Gotham has been left open to any narrative. I hope that we get to see more of Kyle going forward, as he is a fantastic addition to this universe. This got really complex with John Constantine added to the mix, but the ending wrapped up nicely. So, as always, I'm hungry for more tales set in this Neo-Gotham.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does Batman Beyond only work in short miniseries now?

It looks like every year they pop off a miniseries to keep the character semi active and in people's memories. They had one in 2023 and this continuation of 2024. It hits all the Batman beats you would expect and they're...running out of Batman 'callbacks', I think. They are even left to calling back to OG Batman Beyond relationships. Is it sustainable as a series if you're running out of things to ...'look back on'?

Shoutouts to Batman 'greatest hits'...
- John Constantine
- The Bat/Cat relationship
- Killer Croc
- Swamp Thing
- Poison Ivy
- Black Orchid
- The Green (and that bit Ivy tended in Gotham)

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, and actually slightly stronger than Neo-Year.
While I preferred the artwork in Neo-Year, this second book had a much better story and was more engaging. The art is still fantastic with great colours, but there’s a little less of the futuristic Gotham skyline, which I loved in the first book.
It was great seeing a Batman of the future face old foes such as Killer Croc, Court of Owls and Poison Ivy!
The quality of the book is great and I love the dust jacket!
Would definitely recommend this book.

[Charles Eldridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

More questions than answers after reading this graphic novel collection. I enjoy Batman Beyond, but this story was jumbled and threw too much too fast into the mix. No real sense or character or place was established. It was chaos from the start and - I guess - assumed the reader was informed on all the world of Neo-Gotham.

I expected better.

[Valon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how that, after all the years that passed since Bruce was Batman, all the villains and the city has evolved. Like Killer Croc is a giant kaiju living under the city that's under the city.

I much prefer Terry as Batman than Bruce.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because Kyle the Cat-Boi is a gift to this earth. And I love how Kelly writes Terry. So many good callbacks, and full unexpected twist on the ~villain.

[Chris W · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Batman Beyond Cartoon but this lacked just about everything that made the show interesting to me.

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is great, Kyle The Catboi needed more screen time, but the story goes nowhere, which is too bad for Batman Beyond. Neo-Gothic? More Neo-Meh.

[Frankie J. Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first read in months. Absolutely loved this story. Future Gotham also with a little bit of the old Gotham. The entire story took me by surprise. Absolutely amazing.

[⭐️me 2,0⭐️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is good, story not so much