Balance is the key.
This month was an intriguing experiment in balancing all the
elements of Gotham city – the technological,
the supernatural and the ground-level.
Sadly two of those approaches failed due to different
reasons.
After the first two issues were led with members of the Bat
family with Batman only in cameos, the third one had Catwoman and Penguin in
the spotlight while Batman was the main protagonist in the fourth act.
The artwork was generally good, with Andy Clarke the
standout for me.
SPOILERS FOLLOW……………
Tim finally gets a moment in the spotlight, as he
investigates the rash of illnesses in the group of children who went to the
museum on the night of Pyg’s attack and the train crash. The mystery is that
the parents reported symptoms days before the trip.
In the narrows, Harper dresses up for a reconnaissance trip
across the area while Cullen also seems to be showing the same flu like
symptoms like the infected children.
At the Gotham Gazette, Vicki Vale is assigned a high school
intern for a trip to the Narrows. Vale is in
contempt at the ‘privileged up-starts’ and the duo get off to a frosty start.
Back in the Narrows, Tim
monitors another of the infected children as Bruce pays a visit. Apparently
Batman hasn’t communicated the fact that Dick is alive to anyone, making this
meeting a little awkward.
But his interest is piqued by the fact that children outside
the museum have begun getting infected as well. Bruce leaves, with the message
that Tim can contact him anytime.
Vicki’s first tryst in the Narrows
doesn’t end well, as Harper has to rescue them and takes the duo to her home.
Upstairs, Tim’s inspection triggers a nano-trap attacking the Robin.
Just as the miscreants following Vale reach Harper’s home,
the ceiling breaks and Drake falls into the Harper’s room below. The nanobots
first attack the assailants and then integrate themselves inside Cullen,
leaving him in a coma.
In Tokyo,
a mysterious bespectacled figure with a robot armed monkey on his back says
that young Mister Wayne will not like this at all and that he was his trainer.
Back in Gotham, Luke Fox aka Batwing encounters the
Gentleman Ghost while Bruce gets a visit from a supernatural friend – Jim
Corrigan aka Spectre.
Dr Phosphorus breaks out of Arkham as Bruce delegates Luke
to go with the Spectre. Underground, an Arkham inmate named Martin falls into a
nightmare as he is taken to a sea of severed limbs, on which sits the Joker’s
daughter.
As Batwing and Spectre prepare to enter the Asylum, Dr
Phosphorus explodes a truck infront of an incoming Batmobile with Batman in the
seat.
Bruce is able to rescue the truck driver and sends him off
to the hospital; while Pyg finds that his factory is in flames and emerges
enraged with an army of Dollotrons.
At the Iceberg Casino, Penguin finds that Catwoman has
entered the building. At Rhodes Motors, Falcone and Rhodes talk about killing
Pyg and restoring the natural order of Gotham,
which seems to include a return for Tiger Shark.
Shark attacks the Casino, causing it to submerge. Batman is
attacked by the Dollotrons but subdues them and inadvertently tells Pyg to find
the people who betrayed him.
Penguin is rescued by Selina, but not before the Casino has
fully sunk. Pyg is released by Commisioner Forbes on account of being caught by
a vigilante (actually, he’s working for Falcone) and takes revenge by blowing
up Rhodes Motors.
A group of divers attempt to retrive Penguin’s sunken
treasures, but are foiled by Batman. Not long afterwards, he hits a dozen of
Falcone’s operations.
But his efforts are in vain as Forbes has instructed anyone
captured by the caped crusader to be released immediately. Bullock’s in open
revolt but Bard is conflicted about his actions, being a newbie in the city.
Tiger Stark makes another appearance as Falcone’s personal
enforcer here.
We return to the Stephanie Brown storyline as Bard is
grilled by Vale about a shooting that left three dead.
We see in flashback that Cluemaster assigned a hit on his
daughter at the payphone she was calling from (she was in contact with her
mother, who was relaying information back to Cluemaster), but due to a bit of
fortune, someone else and passerbys took the bullet.
Forbes hatches a plan to trap Batman by using the Batsignal
and Bruce attempts to repair relations with the GCPD. The operation is a
failure for both sides but he does arrive at the conclusion that Bard is conflicted
about his actions and he may be a potential ally in the future.
Batman decides that his actions in Gotham are being
nullified by this joint operation by Falcone and Forbes, so he decides to trace
the mobster back to Hong Kong, where a Catwoman like person
is also present about to commit breaking and entering.
Tim is better presented in #5 than he has been during the
entire New 52 run, but it’s kind of ho-hum until the final teaser. It’s always
good to see Harper in the mix but Vale’s actions reek of amateurish which Vicki
shouldn’t be.
The supernatural one is worse. Not only if the horrible elements
of the Gotham Underground and Joker’s daughter included, longtime readers will
find it easy to recognize that for some reason Etrigan/ Jason Blood was
replaced by the Spectre/ Jim Corrigan at the last minute and it jars the entire
issue.
The last two return to the gang war root struggle and are
easily the best of the bunch. Penguin’s misery and the inclusion of Black
Mirror elements Tiger Shark and ‘Roadrunner’ Rhodes
are well done, and contrast well with Pyg.
The Batman vs GCPD plot with Forbes leading the assault is
also engaging, through hopefully Forbes will be more fleshed out.
Bard’s conflict could have been more explored but it’s good
enough for now (through the lack of screen presence of other GCPD regulars like
Bullock is distressing). Stephanie’s arc is touched lightly but in that few
moments, we see how ruthless Cluemaster is.
For now, we are about to explore outside Gotham
and my love of Batman Inc is about to be revisited it seems (onwards, Mr
Unknown!).
SPOILERS END……………….
Showing the diverse faces of Gotham,
not always with good results, Batman Eternal enters the next stage as changes
must be enforced with a hostile GCPD and Falcone lurking in the shadows.
Most of the newly included supporting cast don’t fare well
and prove inadequate replacements for the engaging cast in the first month.
The artwork is mostly above par and the contrasting styles
work well in this format.
So, I give it 7.0 out of 10.
+The gang war elements are handled well
+Some great diverse artwork
+Fair attempt to explore all faces of Gotham…..
-that sadly doesn’t end with good results, either due to
bland storytelling or last minute cast changes
-most of the supporting cast are side-lined
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