Batman Beyond #4: So uh [spoiler]clone[/spoiler]? That's what I got out of it. The big reveal was much more of a ? than a !
So we finally find out about how Bruce and Dick fell out for the last time. It's brutal and I'd hate it if it were in the main canon, but you know, I think it fits Batman Beyond pretty nicely.
What it doesn't fit is the timeline.
See, it's about Batman and Nightwing taking on the Joker, and Dick explains that Batman "hadn't worked with a partner in years."
Except that Tim Drake killed the Joker, when he was still Robin and Babs was still Batgirl.
So, one of the following:
1. Beechen fucked up;
2. Dick is lying;
3. This is a retcon.
I'm going to give Beechen the benefit of the doubt and assume #2 at this point. [spoiler]It fits best with the ending -- even though that can't really be Dick on the last page, what with being younger and having two eyes and for fuck's sake Dick can't be the big bad, what the fuck is this, Dark Knight Strikes Again? It's still entirely possible that Dick knows more than he's letting on and is deliberately misleading Terry for some reason of his own.
But yeah, I'm going with "clone" since it would explain what Waller's doing in the story. Maybe she offered Dick a deal -- to fix him up or something? -- and he backed out -- or she failed to deliver -- and he knows there's a clone of him on the loose and he wants to stop it without Bruce getting involved.[/spoiler]
It's also entirely possible that he's lying to Terry to try to protect him. It's pretty clear at this point that Dick and Barbara think Bruce uses people and discards them and don't want Terry to end up like they did.
...say, we haven't seen the Commissioner in a couple issues, have we? Wonder if she and Dick are still in touch.
Anyway. Whatever Dick's up to, I'd like to see Terry recognize the lie. Beyond emphasizes, over and over again, that he's not as smart as Bruce, but I think he's smart enough to spot the inconsistency in Dick's story and play along until he sees where it goes.