Batman Eternal #27- Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV- Story, Tim Seeley- Script, Ray Fawkes & Kyle Higgins- Consulting Writers, Javier Garron- Art, Romulo Fajardo, Jr.- Colors.
This chapter of Batman Eternal changes things up a bit from the past few issues- Batman and friends take the offensive. Batman and Catwoman are out looking for a trail to Hush. Where is he? Where is he getting his weapons? The Bat and the Cat have their usual sexual tension and it is a truly enjoyable sequence. It ends badly between them though as Batman reaches out to only to be dismissed by Catwoman. The organized crime heads are having a bad time this issue because they also have to also deal with Killer Croc as he hunts for Jade who’s been returned to Ibanescu. She is the link that ties this issue together. Unwittingly, she leads the Ferryman to Selina’s place for this issue’s cliffhanger. Meanwhile, interspersed through this storyline Batgirl challenges interim Commissioner Bard directly in a scene that is reminiscent of a sequence in “Batman Begins.” You’ll know it when you see, but one can’t help wondering if it will end similarly next issue.
The Positives
Taking a big picture view of this issue it becomes apparent this is a cleverly put together chapter. While it may seem somewhat disjointed at times since we haven’t seen these supporting characters in a few weeks, the use of Jade as the connecting piece is nicely executed. The exchange between Catwoman and Batman is nice, especially from Batman’s perspective- he’s almost reaching out to her. Selina doesn’t get it at first, but she comes around, unfortunately, it may not be in time to reconcile with Batman before her story heads in a different direction. Spoiler also made herself known to Batman in a scene with the bizarre Flamingo.
The Negatives
Even though the issue catches up on part of the story we haven’t seen for a while, it is a fair change of tone. There are a lot of storylines to follow in this Bat-epic and it almost takes charting them out to keep track of all of them. I missed some of the family focused momentum from the past couple of issues, though it didn’t feel completely disjointed as we got a voiceover from Julia. This was more of a nuts and bolts issue than a character issue although, Bruce and Selina did have a few moments.
The Verdict
This is another good issue of Batman Eternal despite the change of pace and characters from recent issues. It’s a big story that continues to get bigger. There is a unique completeness to it with the through line that is Jade, despite two cliffhangers with Batgirl and Catwoman. The art is neither here nor there, nothing really remarkably great or awful about it, just somewhat average. If you’re reading this title, you’re going to get this issue. If you’re not it might be a bit harder to jump in to the story here, though there’s certainly enough going on to pique one’s interest.
