Batman Beyond #6
Batman Beyond Vol. 1 #6 is the final chapter of DC's inaugural Batman Beyond miniseries — the publishing bridge that carried Terry McGinnis and Bruce Wayne from the screen into comics for the first time — and it serves as the comic-book debut of Inque, one of the most recurring and distinctive antagonists the animated series produced. By closing out the six-issue run on a villain introduction rather than a recap of existing television plots, the issue demonstrated that the tie-in line was willing to generate genuinely new story material, not merely adapt episodes. As the conclusion of the miniseries that proved the Beyond concept had a readership, #6 helped greenlight the 24-issue ongoing series that launched the same year, cementing Terry McGinnis as a viable ongoing comics protagonist alongside the elder Bruce Wayne.
In "Permanent Inque Stains," Batman Beyond confronts a dangerous threat when Inque, driven by her bio-implants and a twisted directive from her creator, goes on a rampage to destroy the very scientist who gave her form. Written by Hilary J. Bader and illustrated by Joe Staton, with inks by Terry Beatty, colors by Lee Loughridge, and letters by Tim Harkins, this 1999 issue delivers a tense, character-driven showdown at a high-stakes lab. The cover by James Tucker captures the eerie intensity of the moment.
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The entire 1999 miniseries was scripted by Hilary J. Bader, a writer who also contributed scripts to the animated series itself, giving the comics a creative continuity with the show. Pencil duties on #6 shifted to Joe Staton (who had taken over from Rick Burchett beginning with issue #4), with inking by Terry Beatty — a team that handled the back half of the run. The cover was painted by James Tucker, an animator on the Batman Beyond television series; this practice of using show animators as cover artists was consistent across all six issues of the miniseries, reinforcing the tight relationship between the DC editorial office and the animation production. The entire six-issue run was subsequently collected in a trade paperback (released March 2000) and was later reprinted as part of the 2024 Batman Beyond: The Animated Series Classics Compendium — 25th Anniversary Edition.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: August 1999; on-sale date: June 16, 1999 (DC Universe Infinite / Grand Comics Database).
- Final issue of Batman Beyond Vol. 1, a six-issue limited series — the first ongoing comic adaptation of the Batman Beyond animated series.
- First comic-book appearance of Inque, the shape-shifting polymorph villain introduced in the animated episode 'Black Out' (January 31, 1999); her comics debut came in this concluding issue of the miniseries.
- Story titled 'Permanent Inque Stains,' written by Hilary J. Bader, penciled by Joe Staton, inked by Terry Beatty.
- Cover art by James Tucker, an animator on the Batman Beyond television series — consistent with the miniseries' practice of using show animators for cover illustration.
- Plot: Inque, operating under the control of a rogue scientist who uses bio-implants to command her, attempts to steal biotechnology data from Gamma Tech and kill its inventor; Batman ultimately exposes the scientist, and Inque escapes, leaving her fate ambiguous.
- The complete six-issue miniseries, including this issue, was collected in the Batman Beyond TPB (March 2000) and again in the Batman Beyond: The Animated Series Classics Compendium – 25th Anniversary Edition (2024, ISBN 978-1779525697).
- The success of this miniseries directly led to the launch of the Batman Beyond ongoing series (Vol. 2, 24 issues, 1999–2001), also written by Hilary J. Bader.
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Reprinted in Batman Beyond #[nn] (2000)
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