Back in 1999, Under the direction of Bruce Timm as a series producer / concept artist, WB Animation released a futuristic take on the Dark Knight, titled Batman Beyond. It ran for 3 seasons [from 1999 - 2001] and had a total of 52 Episodes, along with one spin-off cartoon movie. The original costume of the main protagonist of the series was actually very... bland and flat, void of textures and lacking a host of muscular bulges. Then again, the hero Terry was a teenager with an edgy attitude [who somehow had the genetics of Bruce Wayne in him, although he wasn't Bruce's direct son] and he was void of a muscular frame. Producer Bruce Timm's art-style was the dominant trademark for the series, thus his sharp lines and often angular presentations of the human anatomy resulted in peculiar body frames for the male and female characters. And somehow, it worked very well for the show. Above on the left is a conceptual sketch made by an artist named Saiful Haque, who resides in Glendale CA, where he is studying in the Art Center College of Design. His cool blog is over HERE. The next image on the left was by an unspecified artist, done in Bruce Timm's style for the classic cartoon. And the third CGI design image with three views of the new Batman Beyond costume was done by Mark Vick [aka Ritorian], over at www.CGhub.com.
Those familiar with the new Batman: Arkam City video game will recall that back in August of this year, some retailers seeking game pre-orders offered a host of variant skins / costumes for Batman that can be used by the game players. And the image below shows the line up [which includes a buffed version of Batman Beyond].
Currently, Batman Beyond [aka the teenager Terry McGinnis] was exclude from the New 52 DC Comics relaunch, which occurred a few months ago. Many classic characters received slight costume adjustments for that relaunch.
Speaking of Classic Batman, check out this other article with posters of Batman vs Superman: HERE
Personally, I do not think that the relaunch across the board for every single DC Comics title was necessary. And like dwindling flames, more than half of those 52 released comic books [which were all forcefully reverted back to issue #1s] are not selling in large quantities, as fans are unimpressed with the numerous superficial origin stories. And some origin stories are so old and set in stone that rewriting them is probably a waste of time.
While holding to the pre-established long-running issue numbers, a brand new arc guided by a new writer teamed with a flashy artist would be better for books like Batman, Superman, Flash, Supergirl [her new costume is shown Here], Power Girl & Wonder Woman. And by the way, Power Girl was excluded from the New 52 lineup as well, although I think she's been recently recruited into a new comic book featuring a host of B-Class superheroes. Jim Lee did revamp the Justice League... and the guys at Newsarama.com gave his comic issue #1 a rating of about "9 out of 10 stars", while issue #3 got "3 out of 10 stars".
Holy Crap... If the Legendary Godfather of Modern American Comic-book Art & Wildstorm Comics Jim Lee is getting 3 out of 10 STARS, then my fellow artists, GOD HELP US ALL.
Jim is in a league all by himself. I just can't image the entire industry being what it is today without him, since he's worked with Marvel & DC Comics numerous times over the years. You can right-click on this link & check out the Justice League poster by Jim Lee in this aritcle over HERE.
Additionally, here are more samples of the artwork by Jim Lee tied to the comic series that got 3 OUT OF 10 STARS:
The last three images are more classic works by Jim, tied to his famous BATMAN HUSH Comic run and other stints on Action Comics Series. And the very last wallpaper a features a sneak-peak at Trinity War, a DC Comics event coming in 2012 / 2013. There's a black Green Lantern in the poster, who just might be John Stewart from the Justice League WB animated series.
Jim Lee's works commenced at Wildstorm / Image Comics made him a millionaire in the late 1990s and early 2000s, per the licensing of his original characters for the creation of toys and cartoon series. And by the way, Jim's artwork in the New 52 Justice League Comic wasn't the problematic issue that received the intense criticism from the Newsarama.com crew & fans alike. It was the story's painfully sluggish pace and aggravating shallowness that offended the readers.
Perhaps throwing away the legacy of some series that ran for up to 600 [and even up to 900] non-stop sequential issues [records created by comic books like Superman / Action Comics] wasn't such a good idea for DC after all....
Enough about my thoughts on the New 52, here is a classic episode of Batman Beyond for you to watch. In this Episode 13 from Season 3, Terry [the futuristic Batman] reveals his true identity to a young boy, and that act leads to catastrophic results... Try this link: http://fliiby.com/file/192725/844t9qp7xw.html
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More Cool Stuff:
Sci Fi Cover art for DSNG Chronicles ebooks available for download to PC / MAC and Amazon's Kindle!
Link to DSNG Book 4 --> HERE And the Link to DSNG Book 5 --> HERE
Link to DSNG Book 6 --> HERE And the Link to DSNG TALES [its 99 Cents!] --> HERE