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Batman Eternal #21
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, Ray Fawkes, and John Layman
Illustrated by Jason Fabok/b>After being injected with Fear Toxin, Alfred is dragged away to Arkham Asylum!
News, notes, debuts:
There were so many reveals in this issue. Big reveals and twists do not a great story make, but holy hell, do they make for a fun weekly title worth following week after week. I’m sure it would feel gimmicky and overdone if they did stuff like this every week, but the best issues of “Batman Eternal” are easily the ones where all of the pieces of the puzzle gets tossed into the air and mixed up again. That’s definitely what happened in issue #21.
And while they don’t automatically make a story great, “Batman Eternal” #21 is a great story. Aside from staying away from Stephanie Brown and The Spectre for another issue, “Eternal” #21 revisits and pays off on an awful lot of the long-running plotlines that kicked off from the start of the book.
While the book certainly hasn’t been closed on Jason Bard’s character, we finally got a clearer bead on what he’s doing in Gotham City and the how and why he needed to ascend to the top so quickly in Gordon’s absence. Spoiler alert: apparently it’s not going to be good for Gotham, because he’s definitely working against Batman and with Hush. Up until now, Jason Bard had been portrayed as an ultra-competent “good cop, bad cop” rolled into one. He got the job done expertly, but definitely rode a dangerous line. I think we all kind of suspected there was more to him than that, and it turns out it’s looking pretty sinister at this point. With 30 or 40 issues left, there’s definitely time for another face turn for a little redemption for the character (it would be a face-heel-face turn, not unheard of in the worlds of professional wrestling or comics).
Wait, did I say Hush? That’s right, “Batman Eternal” has notched another New 52 1st appearance by bringing Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend-turned-villain Tommy Elliot into the fold. Hush was created by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee for one of the most inexplicably popular Batman stories of all time. If you want to see Hush used to truly great effect, I’d recommend Paul Dini’s “Heart of Hush”, which delivers on its title by giving you a Thomas Elliot story that is actually chock full of heart and emotion. You wouldn’t expect less from Paul Dini, right? The cherry on the sundae is that you get art from Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs along with it.
But wait, there’s more: We also see Blackgate inmate Zachary Gate (of the infamous “Gates of Gotham” family from the pre-Flashpoint miniseries of the same name) receiving the steampunk “Architect” costume and entering into the Gotham City takeover. I’d heartily recommend that miniseries, as well, as it’s the first time we saw Kyle Higgins doing work in the Bat Family and Trevor McCarthy revitalized his DC Comics career there with some beautiful work.
And if that wasn’t enough action for you, Gordon also got his verdict: guilty, with a side of life sentence. Aww, dang.
Jason Fabok rotates in to the art duties again and there is no better choice to do these big twisting cinematic moments than he. The biggest scene is probably the Hush reveal, and he handles it with all the build-up and pomp that it requires. Fabok carefully builds to the reveal without tipping his hand too early, keeping you guessing as to who the mystery villain is, or even if you’ll actually find out this issue. When you do, the impact is felt. If issue #21 teaches us anything new about Fabok’s detailed and gorgeous penciling, it’s that the writers of “Batman Eternal” are probably looking to give him these sorts of moments as the story progresses. Dustin Nguyen is the not-so-secret weapon of “Batman Eternal”, but Jason Fabok is the blockbuster moneymaker at this point. With his issues come a little more pomp and circumstance than the rest, and it’s definitely deserved.
Continued below
– Note that Jason Bard’s “Mother”, whom he’s been talking to throughout “Batman Eternal” was Hush this whole time. God, I hope the motivation behind that word association doesn’t go deeper than just a codename for the two of them to use.
– I’m really enjoying how these mob guys all got T-shirts printed with roses and lions and stuff. These guys know how to manage their brand.
– Speaking of brands, we’re back to the very Schumacherian idea that Batman has to have his brand on everything. I’ve not consulted Multiversity’s resident Millennial, James Johnston, but I have to imagine that the brand consciousness of putting your logo on everything has to be outweighed by your pathological desire for secrecy, right? Like, giving your butler a cufflink that blinks a pretty bright and noticeable Bat Signal isn’t ideal for keeping your secret identity a secret, is it? At least he’s not flashing his BatMasterCard around anymore.
Three Eternal Questions:
1. How much of “Hush” makes it in to the New 52?
Hush is Tommy Elliot, and New 52 Tommy Elliot is still Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend. Or so says James Tynion IV. But as we’ve seen all too many times in the New 52, the familiar names and faces sometimes carry with them some eccentric changes. I don’t expect race or sex to have changed, in this case, but could there be aspects of Elliot’s pre-Flashpoint history wiped out to give him a cleaner introduction? After all, this will be many readers’ first times reading the character. Hopefully, they don’t pave over “Heart of Hush”, but I could see that happening, as his story does get a little convoluted. Hopefully it’s more like what they did to Deacon Blackfire and “The Cult” – kept everything the same, but delivered the backstory to us in a more succinct, modern way.
2. What will Julia do with her Batcave access?
Alfred was one huge needled syringe to the head away from showing Julia the giant penny and dinosaur. Well, to be fair, he knocked her out, but it was left open right there in front of her for whenever she was going to wake up. I guess Alfred thought if he died from whatever was coming their way, Batman wouldn’t be all that upset that he left the Batcave doors open? Regardless, unless the writers pull a big silly rug out from under us, Julia is going to discover what’s in the Batcave, but what will she do with that knowledge? Will she become a Robin? A Catwoman analogue? A Batwoman or Batgirl? Or will she just tool around for a while and steal one of his cool motorcycles? What say you?
3. Where do the “Gates of Gotham” fit in?
In the aforementioned miniseries, the physical “gates” at the edges of Gotham were of the utmost importance, housing explosives that could take down the entire city. But the Gates family was the source of the title’s double-meaning, as the Gotham of yesteryear, the Gates brothers were instrumental in the development of the city. It’s only fitting that a Gates would take up the mantle of the Architect in the modern “Batman Eternal” era, as the Architect’s mission was to go after the ancestors of the original families of Gotham City (The Cobblepots, The Waynes, The Elliots, The Kanes, etcetera). But now the Architect will be under the influence of Elliot and Bard, so what will his place be in the pecking order? Aside from escaping prison, what is the character motivation for Zachary Gates to take up the Architect mantle?
