Travelling Man's Blog

Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins, Tim Seeley,

Art, Inks, Colours, Letters and Covers by Eduardo Pansica & Julio Ferreira Robson Rocha & Guillermo Ortega, David Lafuente, Tim Seeley Ray Fawkes, Allen Passalaqua, Gabe Eltaeb, John Kalisz, John Rauch, Steve Wands, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Kyle Higgins, Tim Seeley, Jae Lee, June Chung, Andy Kubert, Brad Anderson, Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, John J. Hill, Cliff Chiang, Tom Napolitano, Fernando Blanco, Marcelo Maiolo, Juan Ferreyra, Alessandro Vitty, Christian Duce, Rnoan Cliquet, Romulo Fajardo Jr, Matt Milla, Javi Fernandez, Ethan Van Sciver, Dan Brown, John J Hill. David LaFuente, Victor Olazaba, Scott Hanna, Jed Dougherty, Goran Sudzuka, Roger Robinson, Lee Loughridge, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Sula Moon, Joe Quinones, Kelsey Shannon, Davide Furno, Paolo Armitano, John Kalisz, Taylor Esposito, Andrea Mutti, Gaulia Brusco, Tommy Lee Edwards, Fernando Blanco

Published by DC

Gotham City burns and the architect of its destruction stands revealed. But what can Batman do, with his identity revealed, his fortune compromised and his allies occupied elsewhere? Enough.

What a long, strange 52 week trip it’s been. The second half of Eternal neatly embodies everything that constantly hamstrung the series as well as the stuff that worked. And make no mistake, quite a lot of it did. When Eternal was strongest was when it was breaking new ground and a good chunk of that happens in the back half. The long awaited transition of Harper Row into a full member of the team is very nicely handled, as is Catwoman’s decision to protect the underworld by running it. Most surpisingly, Killer Croc’s transformation from tragic bad guy to reluctant, and surprisingly effective, hero is one of the highlights of the series. There’s been a concerted effort in recent years to make the Bat villains a little more nuanced and Croc and Catwoman both evolve here in very interesting ways. Even more fun is how this maps onto Bruce’s growing awareness of his city and just how granular the line between good and evil is. Gotham City may be, as far as R Kelly once insisted, a city of justice, a city of love but it’s also a city with no moral absolutes. Who you work for, and with, who you fight beside or fight against changes depending on the time of day. Gotham is a much more nuanced city coming out of Eternal than it was going in and that’s definitely a good thing.

The most interesting element of the series remains the GCPD. The introduction of Jason Bard, and the not-quite Commissioner’s constant dithering on the line between good and evil frustrated at first but he really comes into his own in this back stretch. Bard, and the consequences of his actions, are driven by the fact he’s an outsider. Through him, we see Gotham as the cheerfully bloody nosed, grinning lunatic that it is. We recoil, he recoils and, like him we slowly learn how things work here. It’s a smart, gutsy, effective use for a character who initially looked like an unwelcome Gotham-ization of Commissioner Gordon.

There’s a lot to enjoy here, with the closing beats of the story having an emotional heft that was really surprising. Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. Just as the new elements are the most interesting, the old elements are the most predictable. It’s difficult, at week 52, to not feel like the series could safely have been at least a third shorter. Every single major Bat villain shows up here and while the series hangs a small lantern on that happening yet again, it still seems like treading water. The mass assault on Gotham, which happens so often you suspect the GCPD have it on their schedule, feels rote and a little forced especially the brief, desultory equipping of Bane with a suit of power armour so dull it’s destroyed between issues. Likewise, a late Riddler detour gets in the way and at least one Catwoman appearance here requires her to be a complete idiot for the story to work. Throw in the nanotech plague and a completely pointless appearance from Hush and you’ve got the same thing you have with every Batman crossover; a huge cast struggling to be heard over the sound of each other shouting.

Thankfully, the other huge cast, of artists, impresses far more consistently. Alvaro Martinez is especially good, portraying Gotham and it’s nightmarish citizens with a clear, detailed eye that makes the outlandish elements of the city all the more effective. From a logistical point of view, DC are very good at these weeklies and the art team here all deserve much more attention. The scripting, or rather the half of it that serves the plot not the franchise, is also pretty good and, as I say, surprisingly emotional. The half which services trademarks works much less well and, unfortunately, gets in the way.

Batman Eternal was a year in Hell for Gotham and, at times, a year in Purgatory for us. The plodding nature of the plot, ticking off of every guest star under the Sun and forced red herrings were almost too much to take at times. However, with the series done, Gotham can rebuild, again, and this time looks set to be a much more interesting place to visit. All in all, a technically impressive series that never got out of its own way, Batman Eternal is an interesting but flawed experiment. Here’s hoping any sequel will be more focused. Gotham, and we, are ready for that.