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Batman & Robin Eternal #10 Review

This issue wounds me, too, Batman.

Tim has a bad trip, in the past Dick flips, Harper drips, and the quality slips in this tenth episode of DC’s weekly Batman catastrophe. There’s a lot of combat in the St. Dumas cathedral, Jean-Paul Valley has terrible hair, Jason uses shark repellent, we meet that lady we saw with Mother some issues ago, and Bruce does his patented “You’re a loose cannon, Robin!” speech. The artwork may be decent, but this issue might be the first truly bad entry into this series, because with all that’s going on, a lot of it is just paint-by-numbers filler. I think I’ve had more fun in actual churches. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #9 Review

Oh shit, now Bane’s punching the wall of reality! Somebody alert Donna Troy!

 

 

The nineties are back as Bane attacks, and how will you react to one more maniac? It’s the ninth issue of DC’s increasingly character stacked weekly Batman phenomenon. Tim and Jason, who play well off each other, infiltrate the St. Dumas cathedral with an added guest, we learn a little more about Harper’s background at the same time Dick does, and a flashback reveals that Mother is really in the know, and not at all impressed with Batman’s mission. And finally, in a not-that-surprising ending, a character orphaned by the new continuity returns! Now if only we could get Denny O’Neil on a new book for him. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #8 Review

Mother, do you think they’ll drop the Bat?

Things get blacker, as the ballerina attackers aren’t performing Nutcracker, but Tim and Jason aren’t slackers, as they’re trackers of Mother’s backers. All of this and a hint of avenging angels to come in the eighth issue of DC’s weekly Batman escapade. Dick comes face to face with Mother herself, who claims to have created a Robin for Batman, and won’t reveal which one. Harper teams up with Cassandra, some assassins have caring mamas who will bonk you on the head if you kick their baby’s ass, and two Robins take the pulpit as the story drags, but at least it’s pretty focused. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #6 Review

That awkward moment you realize you’re going to land in the wrong direction to pose on a ledge.

 

 

Dick gets tricked, Mother makes wives perfect, and the girls take a trip in this sixth issue in DC’s weekly Grayson supplmental… I mean, Batman weekly. This issue is 95 percent flashback, though maybe “flashback” isn’t exactly accurate, because Dick can’t possibly know all the things that Batman was experiencing and thinking when he wasn’t around. Whatever the case, the present mystery of Mother and the Orphan seems to point towards Prague, and after consulting Jason, Dick decides to bring Harper and Cass there with him, and that should be amusing for me and frustrating for Cass/Steph team-up fans, because Harper is Cass’ closest ally now. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #5 Review

“I’ll teach you not to make me relevant!”

Cass takes a limb, Dick angers Tim, and the artwork looks grim in this fifth issue of DC’s weekly Grayson adventure, Batman & Robin: Eternal. We see where Cassandra made her bones, get more of Batman and Robin’s pursuit of Scarecrow, Harper makes a quick and clever move, and Tim Drake has a much-needed personality infusion which I hope lasts. Poppy pops up again, Tim’s parents’ house is… something else, and for Bat’s sake, why are there so many different pencilers in this issue?! There’s a cop-out, but I won’t drop out, when we get a bit more of my favorite Robin’s personal life. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #4 Review

Axe me no more questions, tell me no more dies!

Someone’s in the kitchen with Grayson, someone’s in the kitchen I know-ow-ow, someone’s in the kitchen with Grayson, landing a lot of blows! Who isn’t in there, though? It’s a regular kitchen nightmare in the fourth episode of DC’s weekly Grayson extension, I mean Batman tale. Bruce is still addled, the Robin group battles, and an angry Steph taddles! It looks like Tim Drake has a secret allegience, Dick doesn’t mind walking around in public with the Hypnos implant, Harper prefers Cass’s company to Spoiler’s (who wouldn’t?), and Duke Thomas is now a somewhat relevant character! So activate your sleeper agent, it’s time for me to snark about this issue. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #3 Review

Baby we were born to ruuuuun!

 

Jason’s a knave, Harper  bleeds in the cave, and Bruce needs to be saved in this third issue in DC’s new weekly Batman lackey party. I don’t know what I have more difficulty believing, that the loser Jason Todd can even keep up with Cassandra Cain for a second or that Tim Drake can continue to be portrayed as the world’s dumbest genius. But hey, in a world when you can’t trust a cannibalistic spy, who can you trust? Steph coins the term “Batler”, Cassie gets offered peanuts for info, Helena expositions, and Beacon Tower is just the worst place in Gotham for Bruce Wayne to be. read more

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Batman & Robin Eternal #2 Review

In hindsight, Batman decided the LSD experiments were premature.

 

Cassandra attacks, The Orphan gets smacked, and Dick flashes back in this second issue of Batman’s weekly Batman event book. Our Agent 37, fresh off an encounter with deadly children, a betrayal by a cannibal (can’t trust anyone these days), and a possibly life-changing revelation, is scrambling to protect all the people on the list of names on the thumb drive he was given. He doesn’t arrive in time to help Harper from receive a beating, but fortunately our mysterious ninja Cassie is a match for the new threat. But what does all this have to do with Jonathan Crane, Scarecrow, and can Tim send me some of those videos of the Row residence? (Sure, you’re no Peeping Tom…) read more

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Batman Eternal #14 Review

Penguin wants to be King of the Jungle, Falcone’s new empire crumbles, Jimbo’s feeling quite humble, and Dr. Crane takes a slight tumble. In this fourteenth installment of DC’s Batman weekly, Jason Bard seems to wrap up the whole gang war pretty handily. But will Batman’s relationship with the “new Gordon” end before it begins? And what is Joker’s Daughter up to in Arkham? And how many more pages is DC going to waste previewing other comics I’m only tangentially interested in at best? None of this and less is answered in this issue! read more

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Batman Eternal #11 Review

 

It must be Father’s Day in Gotham, because while Julia nurses her wounds, Alfred cleans rooms, and Steph watches her daddy fume, Barbara fights off a costumed goon in a country far south of Cancun. This is issue #11 of Batman Eternal and it guest stars little Red not so riding Hood and has bizarre imagery that’s eerily reminiscent of Grant Morrison’s Bat-run, of which I am not a big fan.

 

Yes, people talk like this, all right, in convenient exposition.

 

Let’s talk a little bit about Ian Bertram’s art. I can see why some people might enjoy the strangely stylized, distorted character designs that emphasize skin and cloth texture, but it doesn’t appeal to me whatsoever, and it ends up being about as cringeworthy as Riccardo Burchielli’s work in the previous issue. Obviously Bertram graduated from the Frank Quitely/Chris Burnham school of drawing, because most of the characters look like beaten leather bags that have been warped in the heat. It’s often very grotesque and off-putting, and not in a good way.
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