This is another one of our short chapters in sharing Batman Beyond Unlimited with the other stories for the month. And in this case, it's a quiet pause before the final battle.
I've always enjoyed watching as well as writing moments like these. I'm sure when I was younger, all I cared about was big throw down battles and splashy art. But as a writer, I look for these moments. The quiet before the storm. A time for your team to regroup, plan things out, before facing the great threat. You always run the risk of the fans that hate this type of stuff. "Talking head books". Long deconstructions without "anything" going on. But to me, it's these moments where you get to live with the characters. You get to know them and hopefully love them. The moments you might not get in the heat of the battle when one person is punching another in the face. That's the payoff. But this here, is always the setup to make those heroic moments mean something.
This issue was our chance to bring Micron back into the story. Our poor guy had stints of being missing and brainwashed earlier in the story. But now he's recovered and ready to join the team. The poor guy didn't get much face time in the JLB episodes on the show, and not much time in this story. But he'll get a chance to show up more as we move along.
I've always enjoyed watching as well as writing moments like these. I'm sure when I was younger, all I cared about was big throw down battles and splashy art. But as a writer, I look for these moments. The quiet before the storm. A time for your team to regroup, plan things out, before facing the great threat. You always run the risk of the fans that hate this type of stuff. "Talking head books". Long deconstructions without "anything" going on. But to me, it's these moments where you get to live with the characters. You get to know them and hopefully love them. The moments you might not get in the heat of the battle when one person is punching another in the face. That's the payoff. But this here, is always the setup to make those heroic moments mean something.
This issue was our chance to bring Micron back into the story. Our poor guy had stints of being missing and brainwashed earlier in the story. But now he's recovered and ready to join the team. The poor guy didn't get much face time in the JLB episodes on the show, and not much time in this story. But he'll get a chance to show up more as we move along.
I also can't help but love finding ways to write Terry and old Bruce scenes into these stories. You always run the risk of people thinking the rest of the Justice League aren't getting their due. The juggle of trying to share the spotlight with everyone in a team book is something that is constantly on my mind. You have this large toybox of items, and try not to play favorites with any specific one. But still…I love me some Terry and Bruce batcave scenes. Bruce is always that dark voice of reason and the experience to back it up. And it's their dynamic that is the foundation for everything in the Beyond universe. Plus it's just a lot of fun to write their dialogue. I just close my eyes and hear Will Friedle and Kevin Conroy in my head. And hopefully it sounds like something they'd say on the show.
I'm really grateful whenever you guys find a way to throw in some Terry and old Bruce scenes. I've loved every scene between them in this book so far. Whenever I try to read the main Batman Beyond series I never get that sense of camaraderie between them that I get from the animated show and this title. You guys plan on doing any scenes with Terry and Dana or Terry and his family?
ReplyDeleteAlso, really looking forward to seeing more Micron. The solicits said that his origins issue is being drawn by Fiona Staples. Really intrigued by that.
It's tough finding room for Terry's extended family to show up in one of these huge team stories. Rightly or wrongly, I sometimes feel that's territory better covered in his own title than in the Justice League. But we will have someone show up. And I'll leave it at that :)
DeleteWe were really lucky to have Fiona draw Micron's origin. She worked on this back before Saga ever came out. And she did a fantastic job with it. Brought a lot of humanity to the character and his backstory.
"Don't call me boss."
ReplyDeleteMan, do I love that line. I thought the speech Bruce gave to Superman about always watching the night sky was great in Superman Beyond, but this really blew that away. It's beautiful in it's simplicity.
Thanks Bill. Still a little more old Bruce wisdom and wit before the end of our first arc.
DeleteDo you know if the Beyond titles are always going to come out on Saturdays now or was this week just due to the push for the Arrow?
ReplyDeleteThis is the first I've heard of a weekend release for this. Normally that never happens. I think they're still regularly on Wednesday.
DeleteI was surprised as well, they've been released on Wednesday every week this year without fail. I assumed it was to give the new Arrow book a big push as I think the show premiered that day as well, I guess we'll find out this Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteJust realized the Beyond release that came out Saturday was Batman Beyond (not JLB). I wouldn't presume to speak for it since I don't know for sure since it's not the title I'm attached to, but it's entirely possible that maybe they ran into some sort of deadline problem. Could be the art or even production on lettering. Not sure. But sometimes things like that happen where they need a few extra days to get it up online. Sometimes even Comixology might have a problem that needs correcting. And digital release can allow for that (printed books...not so much). I know it's rare to happen, but I have seen that happen on Unhinged where there was some gaff and they released it a day later than they should.
DeleteOr it could be Arrow related like you mention.
I'm sure by next week, it'll be back to Wednesday release.
It looks like it is permanent, in the ad for all the digital first books that they have at the end of every issue it now lists all the beyond titles as being released on Saturdays. Not a big deal or anything, it actually works well as Batman Beyond was a Saturday morning cartoon once upon a time.
ReplyDeleteIt was bound to happen eventually. With all the new content coming out through DC Digital, it's always a matter of shifting projects around and finding what days to sell and promote each one. And still more are coming.
DeleteOf course releasing Beyond titles on Saturday just means editorial and Comixology have to "work through the weekend" so to speak. Making sure everything is set to go when they clock out on Friday.