- ... everything's a trick when it comes to John Constantine.
Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #3 is an issue of the series Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 2023. It was published on September 26, 2023.
Synopsis for "The Tomb of Owls"
On the surface, Beam and Gestalt use every method they can to send Batman a message, warning him that Lumos has been buying up whole city blocks and replacing them with his hard light buildings. They ask Terry to come back and stop Lumos before he recreates the entire city in his image. Meanwhile, Terry and Kyle have followed the trail to the entrance into the Court of Owls' old headquarters. Terry picks up the message but continues down.
Terry, who trained in the Court's labyrinth for a month when he first became Batman, leads Kyle towards the centre. Suddenly, bioluminescent fungi on the walls starts glowing and ghostly voices moaning "Terry" echo through the maze. Frightened, Terry and Kyle run for the end of the maze as tendrils and roots grab for them. They reach the end and emerge in the Court's chamber, where they find the long-dead Court of Owls, now transformed into fungus-infested zombies.
A shadowy figure with Batman's silhouette calls to Terry from the top of rows of seats. He tells Terry that the "garden" below them has opened their minds. For a moment Terry believes the figure is Bruce Wayne back from the dead but it is revealed to be a former Talon, infected by the same spores. Terry demands that they hand over the children but Talon refuses, saying the garden needs the children and Kyle, referring to him by name.
Talon says that the Court will take Gotham back and launches himself at Kyle but Terry pulls him out of the way. Terry fights off Talon and then demands Kyle tell him what is going on as he clearly knows more than he claims. Kyle admits that he was taught magic by John Constantine, who had extended his life for decades by accumulating curses but when he could no longer avoid death he offloaded his curses onto Kyle, allowing him to pass on peacefully. John Constantine's grave is the "garden of light" which has infected the Court, and Kyle deliberately sent the children to be captured by it so Batman would respond and help him reach it.
Terry uses explosive batarangs to blow up the labyrinth and collapse the floor beneath them. He, Kyle and Talon fall into the dark void below.
Appearing in "The Tomb of Owls"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Beam Boonma (Cameo)
- Gestalt (Cameo)
- Kyle the Catboi/Kyle Selinas_450 (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- The Court of Owls (First appearance)
- Talon/"Batman" (First appearance)
- Donovan Lumos (Cameo)
Other Characters:
- John Constantine (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) (Mentioned only)
- Killer Croc (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Hypertime
- Futures End
- Neo-Gotham
- Batcave (Cameo)
- The Gotham Deep/Undergoth
- The Tomb of Owls
- The Court of Owls' Labyrinth (In ruins)
- The Tomb of Owls
- The Narrows (Cameo)
- Neo-Gotham
- Futures End
- Overvoid
- The Dark Garden (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
Items:
- Batarangs
- Batcomputer
- Batsuits
- Lazarus Resin
- Silk Cut (Flashback only) (Cameo)
Concepts:
Notes
- This issue marks the first appearance of John Constantine in the time-shifted timeline of Futures End.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic series
- Images from Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic Vol 1 3