Warning! This article contains spoilers for Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #1.

In the futuristic Gotham occupied by Batman Beyond it seems that Bruce Wayne‘s worst fears have come to life and his mission to fight criminals has failed. This can be seen in Batman Beyond: Neo-Year. The first issue was written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly with art by Max Dunbar.

This series picks up with Bruce Wayne dead and Neo-Gotham alive. The city has rejected Terry McGinnis as it’s protector, but Terry isn’t giving up so easily. He is determined now more than ever to continue Bruce Wayne’s crusade against criminality, but he has many forces working against him. He tries to recruit commissioner Barbara Gordon to his side, but Terry is blindsided to learn that the commissioner is retiring. Without Bruce Wayne or Commissioner Gordon to help, Terry is truly on his own now.

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Neo-Gotham is still in trouble and needs protecting, but people in the city keep citing the flat crime rate as a reason not to worry. Barbara Gordon even uses that as an excuse to retire. But flat just means that crime is not rising or getting worse. It’s still bad and needs to be fought, but people are growing complacent by this status quo. Batman had made it his ultimate mission to fight criminality. He would never be satisfied with a flat crime rate. He would want to eliminate it. The fact that everyone in the city, including a former protégé, is fine with a flat crime rate means that Bruce Wayne’s mission ultimately failed.

It’s almost ironic that it took the death of Bruce Wayne for this to happen, too. Even in his old age, Bruce was still fighting the same fight and training the next generation to do the same. So Bruce’s death is not just heartbreaking on a practical level for crime-fighting in the city, it’s also metaphorical and symbolic of how crime is viewed in Gotham. Without the original Batman present to take a stand, the city has just grown complacent.

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The good news for Bruce is that Terry is not like everyone else. Other protégés of Batman, including Dick Grayson and his son Damien, are nowhere to be seen in their former home. But Terry is determined now more than ever to continue Bruce‘s quest to fight criminals in the city. Right now, the scary part for him is that includes the city itself, but if Batman Beyond‘s history is any indication, he’s not going to give up so easily.

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About The Author


Frank Martin
(167 Articles Published)

Frank Martin is a comic writer and author who is not as crazy as his work makes him out to be. He’s written the one-shot comics Macabre Motel and Grimm Space as well as the 2-part stories Polar Paradox, Pipe Creepers, and The Last Homicide. Frank’s novels include the YA sci-fi thriller Predestiny published by Crossroads Press, the lake monster tale Oscawana published by Severed Press, among others. His work on Screen Rant primarily focuses on comics. Frank currently lives in New York with his wife and three kids.

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