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scans_dailyThe conclusion's compressed without being unsatisfying - there are some beats that seem like they should've had more than a page or a panel, but they aren't lacking without that elaboration.
Issue #5 ended on Terry, allied with Gotham cop Beam Boonma and Gotham criminals Gestalt, readying himself to fight their common enemy.
In #6, he went to recruit another - retired Gotham police commissioner Barbara Gordon.
(Terry's volte-facing from his " She feels like she's done - I can't involve her in this " attitude in #1.)
(That's Terry recruiting some of the Jokerz he fought in #2, which probably would've been a few pages if this mini had been more than six issues.
Below that is Beam recruiting other Gotham cops - they're resigning in protest of the thinly-veiled privatization of the Gotham police in #3.)
What these allies were being recruited for was the fight against the Living Gotham, the AI born from the city's systems - the intelligence that'd killed Bruce Wayne in an attempt to kill the " virus " Batman, and was capable of killing free will in Gotham thanks to what it'd been able to infect the populace with.
The technological basis of that infection was the work of Wayne-Powers' current CEO, Donovan Lumos, whom Terry'd been figuring as key to the Living Gotham's plans.
Terry and his allies struck at the big public party Lumos was throwing to celebrate his work in Gotham. The Living Gotham showed itself, making an armory's worth of Swords out of partygoers.
Terry was able to fight through the Swords - he left dealing with them and evacuating the un-Sworded to Barbara and Beam and their fellow ex-cops while he went after the evacuating Donovan.
(Gestalt'd worked out that the infrastructure of Lumos' party would be perfect for the Living Gotham's taking control - they were trying to counter it.)
(The cut off banner in the lower left looks like " .. New Year's! ", which sounds like an appropriate bookend to a story subtitled " Neo-Year " that started at the beginning of a year.
The narrative's been moving over months - issue #5 skipped over three. This bookend doesn't come out of nowhere, but it's less emphasized than one would expect.)
(Donovan Lumos, who self-aggrandizingly justifies his short-sighted selfish decisions..)
(.. and ends up paying for them.)
The Living Gotham made a super-Sword of Lumos.
" Show him the punchline. "
A hail of Jokerz missiles took out Lumos the Sword - Terry saved him, and Gestalt did the thing that saved everyone from the Living Gotham's control.
(It's a bit abrupt, but it works - the Living Gotham is city infrastructure leveraging private corporate infrastructure, a combination that wouldn't necessarily be unbeatable by three criminal techies working together, and the idea that the " final boss "-looking Lumos!Sword isn't any more special for his melodramatic look is clever.)
(On the one hand, ascribing a base competence and pragmatism to the rich guy who believes his own hype contradicts many real-world rich guys who believe their own hype.
On the other hand, competence and pragmatism are not uniform qualities - it's not impossible for someone to have them in only some ways.)
Terry and Beam chatted.
(In the future, skee ball remains.)
(There was indeed a six-issue sequel in 2023, the tonally different Neo-Gothic. It dealt with Terry's pre-existing supporting cast in parts, addressing the clash with Terry and Beam's relationship.
Here, the pagecount's just under 7 and 1/3rd of 22 from Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #6 in September 2022.
Writing's Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Art's Max Dunbar, colors're Sebastian Cheng, and letters're Aditya Bidikar.
Publisher's DC.)
Issue #5 ended on Terry, allied with Gotham cop Beam Boonma and Gotham criminals Gestalt, readying himself to fight their common enemy.
In #6, he went to recruit another - retired Gotham police commissioner Barbara Gordon.
(Terry's volte-facing from his " She feels like she's done - I can't involve her in this " attitude in #1.)
(That's Terry recruiting some of the Jokerz he fought in #2, which probably would've been a few pages if this mini had been more than six issues.
Below that is Beam recruiting other Gotham cops - they're resigning in protest of the thinly-veiled privatization of the Gotham police in #3.)
What these allies were being recruited for was the fight against the Living Gotham, the AI born from the city's systems - the intelligence that'd killed Bruce Wayne in an attempt to kill the " virus " Batman, and was capable of killing free will in Gotham thanks to what it'd been able to infect the populace with.
The technological basis of that infection was the work of Wayne-Powers' current CEO, Donovan Lumos, whom Terry'd been figuring as key to the Living Gotham's plans.
Terry and his allies struck at the big public party Lumos was throwing to celebrate his work in Gotham. The Living Gotham showed itself, making an armory's worth of Swords out of partygoers.
Terry was able to fight through the Swords - he left dealing with them and evacuating the un-Sworded to Barbara and Beam and their fellow ex-cops while he went after the evacuating Donovan.
(Gestalt'd worked out that the infrastructure of Lumos' party would be perfect for the Living Gotham's taking control - they were trying to counter it.)
(The cut off banner in the lower left looks like " .. New Year's! ", which sounds like an appropriate bookend to a story subtitled " Neo-Year " that started at the beginning of a year.
The narrative's been moving over months - issue #5 skipped over three. This bookend doesn't come out of nowhere, but it's less emphasized than one would expect.)
(Donovan Lumos, who self-aggrandizingly justifies his short-sighted selfish decisions..)
(.. and ends up paying for them.)
The Living Gotham made a super-Sword of Lumos.
" Show him the punchline. "
A hail of Jokerz missiles took out Lumos the Sword - Terry saved him, and Gestalt did the thing that saved everyone from the Living Gotham's control.
(It's a bit abrupt, but it works - the Living Gotham is city infrastructure leveraging private corporate infrastructure, a combination that wouldn't necessarily be unbeatable by three criminal techies working together, and the idea that the " final boss "-looking Lumos!Sword isn't any more special for his melodramatic look is clever.)
(On the one hand, ascribing a base competence and pragmatism to the rich guy who believes his own hype contradicts many real-world rich guys who believe their own hype.
On the other hand, competence and pragmatism are not uniform qualities - it's not impossible for someone to have them in only some ways.)
Terry and Beam chatted.
(In the future, skee ball remains.)
(There was indeed a six-issue sequel in 2023, the tonally different Neo-Gothic. It dealt with Terry's pre-existing supporting cast in parts, addressing the clash with Terry and Beam's relationship.
Here, the pagecount's just under 7 and 1/3rd of 22 from Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #6 in September 2022.
Writing's Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Art's Max Dunbar, colors're Sebastian Cheng, and letters're Aditya Bidikar.
Publisher's DC.)
