Review: Batman Beyond Vol. 8- The Eradication Agenda
Quick Summary
Pros: The opening arc is a great character showcase. The second arc has some great connections to the original Batman Beyond TV show. All of the volume’s stories have some solid action. The artwork suits the book as a whole.
Cons: The majority of the final story is pretty generic.
Overall: This a fun volume on its own and a decent end to the series. The stories here are interesting, unique, and filled with the levels of action and excitement that fans have come to expect. A single story is lackluster but this doesn’t have a large impact on the appeal of the entire volume. All in all, this is a book for fans who have been keeping up with and enjoying this series.
Story
Batman Beyond Vol. 8: The Eradication Agenda, by Dan Jurgens, brings the series to a close while maintaining the features that made it enjoyable. The first story arc is a fun showcase of the characters readers have come to know while the second story arc has some great connections to the original Batman Beyond TV show. Both arcs also have all of the action and excitement that has become characteristic of the Batman Beyond comic. Then, the book’s finale closes things in a way that suits Terry’s overall story. The only downside is that the actual adventure in the final chapter feels pretty generic. Overall though, this volume is a mostly positive reading experience.
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The first few chapters in The Eradication Agenda have several members of the future Bat-family teaming up to stop the League of Assassins from destroying the world. This is an exciting story arc with high-stakes and plenty of action. It is also rewarding, as it offers fans a chance to see this comic’s main characters working in tandem. The result is an enjoyable adventure that suits this series well.
The next story arc has Booster Gold take Terry back in time to deal with a problem in the timestream. On the surface, this is another solid adventure filled with action and excitement. However, the twist at the end, where Booster reveals that their mission was secretly to kick off events that would lead to Terry taking up the Batman mantel, makes the entire adventure even better. This is particularly true for fans of the original Batman Beyond television show, as this story arc heavily connects to the show’s first few episodes.
The final chapter of The Eradication Agenda is also the final chapter of this Batman Beyond series. This concludes the volume by having Wonder Woman offer Terry a position on the Justice League. This is an uplifting and exciting conclusion that serves as a way to introduce a bright future for Terry. However, the chapter is mostly just an average superhero team-up. The final pages introduce a solid ending but the rest of the chapter is forgettable.
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Art
The artwork in The Eradication Agenda mostly continues the positive features of its predecessor. Sean Chen has a style that suits this particular comic. The character designs are mostly appealing and the characters are able to jump into action in a way that complements the high-intensity nature of this story. Plus, the locations, which are pretty diverse throughout this book, are depicted well too. The only problem is that there are a few small places where action looks static or where characters’ bodies look a bit stretched in a weird way. However, these problems are relatively minor and the majority of the collection ends up looking attractive.
Continuity
Batman Beyond Vol. 8: The Eradication Agenda continues the story from Batman Beyond Vol. 7: First Flight (Review).
The Batman Beyond series ends with this volume and does not currently continue in any comic.