Hey guys, Darius here, with my review of issue #12 of, what is becoming one of my favorite comic book arcs in the last 10 years or so, BATMAN ETERNAL! Titled “The Good Man”, BATMAN ETERNAL #12 involves Jason Bard making his big play to end the gang war once and for all. Also Jim Gordon’s trial becomes a family affair! James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder does the writing and, of course, they did great, in my opinion. Now, Mikel Janin takes over as head artist for this issue and he did a great job. I will discuss all this and more as we get into the positives and negatives of the issue.
Positives
- Jason Bard’s character is slowly warming up to me, finally! Since he was introduced into BATMAN ETERNAL, he has not been my favorite of the characters because he was never explored as a character. This issue introduced us to the Bard that Jim Gordon hand-picked to come to Gotham and help fix the city. I wonder exactly what his plan is and why capturing Batman is apart of it. Maybe to draw out the corruption within the G.C.P.D.? Or to bring Falcone and Penguin to one single place where they have evidence to arrest both of them? Whatever it is, I am excited to see how it plays out.
- Batman and Jim Gordon’s conversation while Gordon was being taking to his trial was so intense. You can tell Jim honestly thinks he did cause the train crash and it weighs on him to the point where it sounds as though he has given up hope on him being found innocent.
- In regards to Gordon’s trial, that opening speech was so great and emotional! Snyder and the crew does such an excellent job with combining great dialogue with great emotion from the head artist of the various issues in BATMAN ETERNAL and they continue to hit it out of the park! Mikel Janin did a wonderful job as head artist for this issue. His art is so similar to Guillem March’s art, which I love, that I did not get taken out of what was happening. Moving forward I would not mind Mikel Janin and Guillem March to switch out drawing duties!
- James Jr. makes a shocking appearance at the end of this issue! Last time some readers and Jim Gordon saw James Jr., he was dead. Of course, other readers of the New 52 Batman comic knows that James Jr. did not die and was recruited by Amanda Waller. But his appearance here and now is intriguing and random, yet, it makes perfect sense! James Jr. would make an appearance when his father is at his lowest point in his life. So what does James Jr. has to do with what happened though? Next week’s issue should be very interesting and exciting!
Negatives
- I swear Alfred and Julia had almost the exact same dialogue and conversation that they had in the last issue. That is not good, I wanted their situation to go forward, not stay the same. I saw no point in adding Tim Drake because that whole scene felt not needed. I hope Snyder and crew make their scenes more interesting and cohesive to the overall plot of the issue that they are in and BATMAN ETERNAL as a whole.
- Speaking of Tim Drake and a not needed scene, what the hell was that whole thing with Harper? Why was that in this issue? Scenes like this is becoming a bad habit for BATMAN ETERNAL. I can see what Scott Snyder and co. is trying to do: they want to set up scenes and/or characters for events later down the line. I get that, but for me, it is starting to become a problem.
Verdict
Overall, BATMAN ETERNAL #12 is a very good issue and it is return to form after a weak issue in issue #11. It has the same great writing as expected from Snyder and co., excellent art by Mikel Janin, and a shocking appearance by James Jr. that I’m sure no one saw coming. A little bit of disjointedness brought this issue down a peg because I witness this too much but this is still a solid issue. Highly recommended!
Rating
