Batman Beyond, Volume 5: The Final Joke

Batman Beyond (2016)

by Dan Jurgens, Brett Booth (Illustrations), Cully Hammer (Illustrations)

The greatest villain of all time the Joker is back. And he wants revenge on the man now calling himself The Dark Knight!

The dedication of a new building commemorating a special Wayne family event--the 100th birthday of Thomas Wayne brings out all of Neo-Gotham's familar faces, including one who was definitely not on the guest list. The Joker makes his long-awaited return to Neo-Gotham, and no one is safe! Will he strike at Batman, Robin, Commissioner Barbara Gordon or the original Caped Crusader himself, Bruce Wayne? Decades after his last fight with the Dark Knight, the Clown Prince of Crime returns home to take his city back once and for all.

Terry McGinnis's battle to keep Gotham safe continues in Batman Beyond Vol. 5!

Collects Batman Beyond #25-30.

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

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2019

About the author

Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh, you knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. The Joker comes to neo-Gotham in a by the numbers Joker story. There's nothing original or interesting in the least. Jurgens's take on the Joker is flat and uninspired. At this point, this title could end and no one would notice.

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of course the Joker would come back. Of course it would not be a good idea. Not in the hands of Dan Jurgens anyway.

Flat and uninspired, his Joker is predictable and boring as hell, just as the book.
Terry gets over his break off with Dana damn quickly and Matt excels at being an unnerving brat with consequences repeated all over the volume to make sure the reader will get it when it finally happens.

Brett Booth poorly illustrates most of the book, dragging it down all the more.

I wasn't familiar with Dan Jurgens until now. I'm starting to wish I had stayed that way.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably on the lower end of 4 stars, but I'm feeling nice so we're rounding up.

This volume brings back the cliffhanger from the first volume, and brings Terry and Matt into conflict with the recently returned original Joker. His plan is suitably scatterbrained, mostly just out for vengeance, but his escalation makes sense in character and Jurgens' dialogue for him reads very much like Mark Hamill's TAS Joker.

It does seem to spin its wheels a little though - the argument between Dick and Bruce about whether Matt should be Robin is repeated across numerous issues without any progression, and I wasn't the biggest fan of how the story ends. It's appropriate I suppose, but it feels like a flat punchline to a well-built up joke. Also, while I was never the biggest fan of Terry and Dana's relationship in the show (because it's not much of one, if we're being honest - he always seemed to have better chemistry with Melanie (or even Max, although I'm glad they didn't do that)), the fact that he isn't a little more torn up about her breaking up with him seems odd. I know the Joker's a bit more important, but still.

On art this time around is Brett Booth, who is at his most Brett Booth-y. You know what you're going to get with him, he never really changes, so there's little to say to be honest. He's the first artist to really capture the eyes of the Batsuit in a way I liked though. Oh, and Cully Hamner draws issue 25, which isn't his best work although the double page spreads are excellent.

The Final Joke has a jolly old time bringing the Joker into the Beyond universe, but there are a few hiccups that mean this volume isn't quite as good as those that came before it.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and okayish story. On the occassion of Thomas Wayne's 100 birthday Bruce makes a big tower and gives it to Neo-Gotham only for it to be destroyed by some coming train and turns out the man behind it: THE REAL JOKER! Its epic how this book opens up and we are introduced to Dick and his daughter Elainne and Luke being the Mayor but then this happens. Its time for the family to come together and figure out where the Joker is as he is the biggest threat Batman has ever faced. Terry is scouring the city looking for him, Joker gets a new gang called the THROWBACKS and some stuff goes down and Matt goes on to the rescue while Terry has to fight Joker Beyond, a cyborg while Joker gets the robin and is gonna kill him with a crowbar and even Dick uses the Batplane to find Joker and all. Its a no holds barred contest and what happens therafter with Joker and Matt is interesting. A question that stroke me was how does Bruce not understand that making children Robin at such a young age especially after what happened with Jason, is dangerous? Even Dick points it out and questions Bruce insanity of this and they take down the Jokerz gang and seems like closure to this saga is finished.

This arc was alright and had some pivotal, good moments, interesting final confrontation and questions some obvious things of Batman and questions the social strata of this Neo-Gotham too and Batman's methods. It will have some emotional impacts and fallouts for sure. But the art with Brett Booth was so good, he makes every page pop and its a pleasure to look through! Plus the way he draws Babs is just so beautiful! <3

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It always comes back around to Batman versus the Joker with Robin in peril, doesn’t it?

I’m a big fan of the Batman Beyond concept but sometimes I feel the writer has one hand tied behind their back due to continuity issues.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ah, eu vou ler só um pouquinho pra marcar ali no Goodreads que estou na página 20, fica mais legal!". Nessa desculpinha esfarrapada eu acabei lendo todo o encadernado do Batman do Futuro "numa sentada só", como dizia meu pai. Também pudera, esse quinto volume traz o retorne da nêmese do Batman do presente, o Coringa, que promete trazer a sua A Piada Final para acabar de vez com o mais novo Robin, Matt McGuinness. Mas antes o louco do Coringa precisa eliminar a concorrência e começa a matar de forma serial os integrantes da gangue Coringaz, que prestam homenagem ao próprio, que havia sido dado como morto. Só que não. Então, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson precisam entrar em uma corrida para impedir que o Coringa assassine o irmão mais novo do Batman, o Robin. Um quadrinho que tem se mantido muito bom desde o começo por causa do escritor, Dan Jurgens, que há uns dez anos atrás era, para mim, sinônimo de quadrinhos ruins, porque ele foi o principal arquiteto da famigerada saga A Morte do Superman. Não podia estar mais enganado. Hoje, para mim, ele é sinônimo de diversão garantida.

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. It was alright, but nothing special.

Neo-Joker. Crowbar. Mayor Dick. Batgirl tease?

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman Beyond: The Final Joke picks up where the previous volume left off, collecting the next six issues (Batman Beyond #25–30) of the 2016 on-going series and collects one story: "The Final Joke".

"The Final Joke" is a five-issue storyline with a conclusion (Batman Beyond #25–30) has Terry McGinnis as Batman and Matt McGinnis as Robin taking on the Joker – the original one. Seemingly back from the dead, the nemesis of Bruce Wayne comes back with a vengeance to wrack chaos and destruction in Neo-Gotham and it is up to the new Dynamic Duo to take care of him. However, things get worse as the Joker is trying to repeat history by killing another Robin.

Dan Jurgens has penned the entire trade paperback. For the most part, it was written moderately well. Jurgens has reintroduced the Joker into the Batman Beyond universe and as always he causes chaos when he appears. He resurrects old wounds by kidnapping the Matt McGinnis as the new Robin and intends to kill him. Supporting characters is an elderly Dick Grayson as the Mayor of Blüdhaven.

Brett Booth (Batman Beyond #26–29), Cully Hamner and Marco Santucci (Batman Beyond #25), and Evan Shaner (Batman Beyond #30) penciled the trade paperback. For the most part, the pencilers didn't complement each other well, which made the artistic flow rather jarring. However, since the change of pencilers happened at the beginning and the end, the changes weren't too jarring.

All in all, Batman Beyond: The Final Joke is a mediocre continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure it was worth bringing the Joker back just for this. I'm also not sure how much of the history applies. It seemed odd that the events from "The Killing Joke" were barely mentioned, especially when the Joker went for Barbara first. All of the focus was on the death of Jason Todd because there's a new Robin.

I also feel like Bruce's character is being butchered. He's become very two-dimensional and everyone goes out of their way to vilify him.

Also, did I miss something? Did Terry and Dana have the breakup conversation? Last I remember, Dana saw him kissing Melanie. Terry's love life is a mess, but I'm not sure it's all his own fault. It all feels very contrived.

[John_H92 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Though some of the dialogue between Terry and Mel was a little awkward to say the least. The art after part one and the epilogue is absolutely steller and the story though not as good as 'Return of Joker' the animated film is still quite good. Overall a fun read that's not as complex as other stories. The final issue before the epilogue is a little anticlimactic.

If I could give it 3 and a half stars I would.

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading about a potential future of Gotham City, in this case Neo-Gotham. As a kid, I've been a sucker for futuristic wonders from watching the high tech, flying car world  of the Jetsons. So continuing the post rebirth Batman beyond story was a no brainer.
Volume 5 didn't disappoint.. Seeing a silver fox Dick Grayson with a daughter was a delightful surprise. I hope they fill the plot hole of who her mother is in future issues. The whole time I wanted Grayson to suit up as Nightwing!
No matter how advanced Neo-Gotham becomes, terror shows its ugly face. The title of the graphic novel and cover tells the villian. Yup the Joker aka Mr. J just won't die. I mean old joker was one hell of a threat! I was impressed with his tactics. I'd never become one of his throwbacks or henchwomen though. I've never seen Terry have so much trouble with an enemy
The world's introduction to Robin was short lived. The whole time I was holding my breath to learn Matt's fate. I knew he wouldn't die. But history was basically repeating itself. I wonder if Jason Todd was watching the Joker broadcast. Whatever became of Red Hood?
The ending teaser of Harley Quinn really enticed me to read volume 6. I wonder if they kept her anti-hero persona. She did say puddin at one point. Harley Quinn and the Joker are an infamous couple. i don't want Harley to revert to being the princess of crime again!

[Gbolahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story that could have been great. I mean, they asked real questions about the purpose of Robins! Young kids being trained for war...why exactly? What is the purpose of Robins? Isn't Batman enough? Isn't what Jason Todd went through enough??
If only they had brought Todd himself back to ask these questions, it could have even hit harder. But, no, it had to be the best of them all they brought back, Dick Grayson. Don't get me wrong, I love love Grayson, almost as much as I love Bruce Wayne himself, but, honestly, Todd would have been better for this book. Dude woulda' slapped a lot of sense into all them Batfamily in this story.
Liked seeing him trying his best to kill Frieze in that flashback anyways.
(he's probably dead in this Beyond future though, don't really follow the Beyond stories)
So, this story could have done better. They had...the Joker. Smartest man in Gotham, back from theh grave...somehow. Don't bother about explaining, just kill thousands in one page. Bring back Harley when you can. Put a lot of stilted sappy conversation and we have ourselves a comic book.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jurgens is a good writer. He knows his Batman fairly well... considering that prior to this point he has mostly been known as a Superman writer. Everyone seems mostly in character.

The problem is The Joker. There have been SO many joker stories that there is almost nothing you can do with him that hasn't been done. To have a character who is usually written as 'I'm not gonna even bother busting outta my cell unless I have an original plan' turning old and doing a 'go out on a greatest hits tour' seems sorta antithetical to the concept of the joker. And do that trying to kill a Robin thing... well... it's a case where this is the not the first, second, third or even fourth time he's tried to revisiting this success and not succeeding. So it makes joker... who is supposed to be one of the heavy hitter villains in the DC Universe seem sad and pathetic. And the ending sorta sets up a sequel that would make already borderline mediocre story seem completely lame and pointless if we actually got it.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Been loving this series so far but this is by far the weakest in the series, there is just too much focus on the past. It's all about Bruce, whereas this is supposed to be a Batman Beyond title, if I wanted Bruce I'd be reading his title instead.

There is just much crammed in there, it started off well enough with Robin beyond but then Dick got involved, saying Bruce endangers kids. Whilst he's not wrong, his example being him and Jason weren't the best examples. Like he mentions Jason dying but in the same volume you see Jason alive and well later on, so it doesn't have any weight to it.

I think Return of the Joker was a much better approach to telling a Joker story in the future, which is weird because judging by this. It's no longer canon but the rest of the Batman Beyond animated series is.... right. Not sure why that is being the movie and series where made by the same people, it's an odd choice to say the least.

[Frédéric Bonin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a hard one to review. On the one hand its cool to have a story with the Joker returning. On the other hand, this is the least interesting version of the Joker I have seen in a while.

For some reason the Joker is now a genius in cybernetics? Not great. Another huge issue is characters being completely out of phase with themselves. Dick Grayson keeps complaining … but always shows up at the last minute. Bruce Wayne is the word’s greatest detective yet does barely nothing. Also Dick Grayson’s daughter just stands around and does nothing. An obvious character set-up in retrospect.

Finally, it’s unclear how much (or how little) this story aligns with Batman Beyond’s “The Return of the Joker” movie.

Overall ok. Some good some terrible. Shame, I was really looking forward to this one.

[Chris Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this. Seeing the original Joker back in action and causing untold chaos and madness across Gotham. It’s an epic showdown worth waiting for. Do I wish there was a bit more to it in the end? Yeah but I’m also very happy with what we got.

Jurgens seems very hung up on Death in the Family as the Joker story that matters to him but that is at least a nice change from the constant Killing Joke obsession most writers seem to have.

It’s nice to see Dick Grayson join the series with a great beard though I wish we had more of him.

It’s not Return of the Joker but it is still a great Joker story for Batman Beyond. And I thought the ending for Bruce and Joker was perfect - the perfect final joke.

[Erich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stoopid but fun Batman junk food. Dick Grayson as Mayor Grayson is annoyingly one-note. Not a lot of depth but some of the art is good and the rest is clean and professional. I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars but some of the worst moments were so-bad-it’s-good funny and gave me a chuckle, the art was head turning in a few places, and the coloring was excellent in places as well.

I also don’t generally like or respect the Joker as a character so I don’t mind if he’s not written well. If this were a Ra’s Al Ghul story or even a Bane story I might be more disappointed.

[Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joker's return was welcomed, but the reason for his return was rather ridiculous, considering he has not aged at all. It paid homage to classic arcs from the silver age, but it fell short on having the same impact as the original comic book story line. The timeline is messy but with Dana out of the way, it was a bearable read.

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art change in the final issue is jilting and that’s because it’s so much better than the issues before it.

Was solid until how things turn out.

What I loved about Beyond is how different it was from OG Batman but these last 2 volumes have really gone back to Batman 101 and that’s not what beyond fans want. I mean it’s still good but it’s not crazy good.

Curious where we go from here

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the last few volumes for sure, though I'm not a fan of them revamping Dick's future self. Would've been nice to see Jason too after so much mention of him, too. Joker was properly menacing, although it made me eyeroll that he didn't know who "Bruce" was - as if he's ever cared, especially in recent years.

[Blue Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I will never understand the madness that is the joker and why he is so idolized by so many In so many Batman graphic novels, I have to admit; he makes a heck of a villain. I doubt the Robin role will ever disappear for good, but I could definitely see Mayor Greyson’s daughter taking on a role in the bat family in the future. Time will tell.

[Paige Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than decent art though lower bodies are very weird and disproportionate in multiple ways. Predictable. Matt and the other Robins who J wants to crowbar. Anticlimactic not really violent or clever though I guess everyone’s in character enough. The multiple so called twists are more like jokes as old as the plot lines.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a pretty good story, but it seems like one that didn’t need to be told again. The Return of the Joker movie is far better. The epilogue issue with art by Doc Shaner was excellent. I hope they get him back to do more art on this series.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Batman Beyond comics have come so far... they're considerably better than they used to be. Still, I don't think this volume lives up to some of the others in this series.

Still a good read, though.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

Watch the 2000 animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, if you want a better Joker come back from the dead storyline.

Edit: Had to add, always a fan of the good ol' crowbar. Once a fan, always a fan of the crowbar.

[Alexander Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series started off a little slow, but at this point it is on fire ! This is easily my favorite book so far! Many twists and turns. It sings like a classic joker vs Batman story truly remarkable in its structure

[Dustan Copeland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I was certainly entertained. But there was nothing truly original about this story. Very predictable Joker story that honestly would have been better without the kidnapped Robin arc that we’ve all read before.

[Derrick O'Rourke]

Expected more

Decent enough read but I was expecting more. The Joker seemed a bit off and a bit short sighted after the initial methodical planning. It just felt like this could be been a longer arc.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not trust that ending at all!

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong ending to Jurgens run. I love the inclusion of Dick Grayson and the extended Bat Family.