Welcome, friends to another installment of “The 3cap,” our weekly recap of DC’s three weekly titles: “Batman Eternal,” “Earth 2: World’s End,” and “New 52: Futures End.” Each week, we will take a look at the each issue released, while recapping the action and asking the burning questions. If you spot something we missed, make sure to leave a note in the comments!
Batman Eternal #50
Written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Alvaro Martinez
Reviewed by Zach Wilkerson
News, notes, and debuts:
How am I supposed to live not knowing exactly how kamikaze pilot Batman defeated Mecha-Bane?
Well folks, the other shoe has finally dropped. We now know, barring any last minute plot twists, who has been plaguing Batman and Gotham over the last year. As I suggested last week, the Big Bad of “Eternal” is none other than the Cluemaster. I’ll save some of my commentary on this development and its ramifications for the “Questions” section, but suffice it to say; it’s not the most satisfying reveal.
The issue is rather strong, however. There are a number of strong character moments; fans of Batgirl should be particularly happy with the portrayal she receives in this issue. Alvaro Martinez delivers some fantastic visuals, particularly the striking close up image of Batman’s cracked and battered cowl. The Snyder years have been defined by running Batman though the gamut, pushing him to his absolute limits, and I feel that “Eternal” perhaps does the best job of capturing Bruce’s exhaustion and fear in the face of overwhelming odds.
The issue wraps up right before the flash forward witnessed in “Eternal” #1. Now that we’ve come full circle we are left with two final issues in which the fate of Gotham is to be decided. Congratulations to all who have made it this far, your reward is in sight.
Three Eternal Questions:
1. Has “Eternal” been undermined by “Endgame?”
This is something that’s been bothering me for some time, and as we approach the end I’m left wondering, “can I possibly be satisfied by the ending of “Eternal?” Realistically we know that Batman and company will come out of this conflict on top. Assuming “Endgame” takes place after “Eternal,” which certainly seems to be the case, it seems that Gotham isn’t even that phased overall.
Of course, to judge a story’s worth using continuity based arguments isn’t entirely fair or even valid. A story should be judged on its own merits, not for how it fits into an overarching cog work. However, I think it is fair to say that by running “Eternal” concurrently with it’s “follow-up” story definitely disservices the year long epic. It may be that we do get to experience the fallout of “Eternal” in June, but those ramifications face being overshadowed by not only “Endgame” but potentially even “Futures End” and “Convergence” as well.
Circling back to judging a series on its own merits, however, I even begin to question if the series succeeds on this front either. If this issue’s cliffhanger is the real McCoy, then as it really earned all the gravity it’s built for itself?
2. Where the clues really there all along?
On the issue’s final page the Cluemaster remarks; “All you needed to do from the beginning was just follow the clues.” Of course, this could easily just be dismissed as villainous banter. However, if the “Eternal” team is suggesting that there were clues laced throughout the series revealing the true identity of the Gotham’s attacker, I call a possible foul. If anything, they were less clues and more leading exposition, as with last issue’s conversation between Stephanie and her father. Perhaps next issue will retrace the steps, masterfully showcasing the through line that leads to the Cluemaster’s triumphant reveal. However, and perhaps I’m just being cynical, it seems more that any villain could have been the culprit, and the team just went with the least likely candidate.
3. Is it still possible to tell a surprising Bat-story?
Again, cynical, but I think the question bears asking. “Eternal” shares a lot of its DNA with “Hush,” a generally well regarded and important story in the history of Batman comics. Both that story and “Eternal” rested on the mystery behind the relentless assault on Batman. However, where I think “Hush” succeeded was in both misdirecting the reader and the delivering a satisfying reveal. “Eternal,” on the other hand, has been more about crossing off names on a list, until there’s only one possible suspect remaining. Granted, the two stories feature drastically different formats, and one has the benefit of releasing a decade prior. Still, after the long road to get here and all the time and hard work invested in the series, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I’d actually be surprised if others were surprised. And isn’t the surprise one the key points of this type of story?
Continued belowOnce more, I apologize if I seem overly critical. I’ve enjoyed this series a great deal and am eagerly awaiting to see just how Bruce gets out of this one. There are two issues remaining and plenty of time to turn my expectations on musing on their heads. For all I know, this could be the story that elevates Cluemaster to Joker-status. I hope to be wowed!
Earth 2: World’s End #24
Written by Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, and Mike Johnson
Illustrated by Jorge Jimenez, Tyler Kirkham, Eddy Barrows, and Eber Ferreira
Reviewed by Vince Ostrowski
News, Notes, and Debuts:
– After the major misstep that I felt last week’s “World’s End” was, this issue felt a little better. When “World’s End” focuses on subverting the characters of Earth 2 (especially when compared to their Prime Earth counterparts), it’s relatively enjoyable. Moments like Thomas Wayne silently admiring Helena’s courage in the face of adversity or Power Girl taking Darkseid head-on to save Val-Zod are extremely satisfying and entertaining. It gives two heroines that have taken something of a backseat since the focus of the “Earth 2” books shifted, a well-earned and much appreciated revival as far their heroics are concerned. Power Girl, in particular, declaring herself the “Superman” of Earth 2 was a genuinely strong moment that I wanted to stand up and applaud for.
– Less successful was the Dick Grayson segment of the issue, because there’s still no identifiable arc to what’s going on with him. In fact, it feels suspiciously like his story isn’t going to come close to approaching a conclusion in time for the finale in two weeks. More on that later. But beyond just feeling like the Grayson story is spinning its wheels, it also featured one of the dumbest decisions in the series to date – and it was the exact same decision Grayson already made once before. With the world on the brink of destruction, and escape vessels not even guaranteed to make it off the planet, Dick dumps his child off on the first person who walks by, who just happens to be Barda.
– Not to be one of those reviewers that skimps on discussing the art, but the story continues to remain the same with “World’s End.” Everybody takes a few pages and nobody underwhelms. The entire issue might not feel artistically cohesive because of this, but there’s no weak link, so the final product isn’t really affected. They really did assemble a solid, if unsurprising, group for this title.
Three Worldly Questions:
1. Does Dick Grayson’s story spill over into “Earth 2: Society”?
With 2 issues left in “World’s End” and a lot of problems left to resolve, I can’t see the story of Dick Grayson and his child (now in Barda’s care) coming to a satisfying conclusion before then. More likely, this will be a cliffhanger that spills over into a future book – probably the one that Daniel H. Wilson will be writing post-“Convergence.” I’m not optimistic that the most laborious segment of “World’s End” will actually go anywhere interesting, but there are definitely possibilities there. Perhaps Dick and his child are re-united, and try to survive in a “Lone Wolf and Cub” situation? Perhaps Dick finally becomes the hero we’ve been expecting, and comes back to confront Barda in the future?
What I am kind of disappointed about is the fact that Earth 2 Barbara Gordon-Grayson had to die for this to all go into effect. If it turns out that Dick takes up a cowl and comes back to his kid, I think that’s a less interesting subversion than if Barbara herself would have lost her family instead. It’s unfair to expect an entirely different plot than what we got, I know, but I feel like it would have been thematically more interesting.
2. Who is the new Trinity?
With Kara declaring herself the new “Superman of Earth 2”, I thought it would be fun to think about who we could consider for the new “trinity” of Earth 2.
Huntress seems like an obvious choice, considering she could easily be the “Batman” stand-in. Batman has spent the last couple of issues letting Huntress take the lead and admiring her for it. Power Girl and Huntress are already “World’s Finest”, so they fit in perfectly as two members of the Trinity.
Continued belowI would submit Alan Scott as the 3rd member, as he looks to be the big hero of the evacuation of Earth 2. He’s probably the character in “World’s End” that has sported the best character “arc”, even if the machinations essentially followed the conceit of Captain Planet.
Finally, beyond what’s on the actual page, a Trinity that features 2 women and a gay man would be something special.
3. Where will the escape ships go?
If everyone is evacuating Earth 2, where do they find their new home? They have some absurd MacGuffin-like “codex” that can rebuild their world somehow, but where will they do it?
The New 52: Futures End #46
Written by Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, and Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Scott Eaton
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
News, notes, and debuts:
Well, we are two weeks out from the finale of “Futures End,” and there are a few big questions that still haven’t been answered, but things are ramping up nonetheless.
The biggest reveal this week is something that DC has been hinting at/straight up spoiling for months now, and that is the death of Terry McGuinness. This would have had so much more impact if DC had decided to:
a) not tease an image of Tim Drake holding a cowl
b) not say that the “Batman Beyond” ongoing wouldn’t feature Terry, but a new person under the cowl
c) not have the cover be of a dead Terry
Oh well, fare thee well, Terry.
(Side note: if the future indeed gets fixed, then there is no reason for him to travel back in time, therefore no reason for him to die – this is how he’ll be brought back in a few years)
This situation all but guarantees that Tim Drake is the new Batman Beyond, though, as I said last week, I have no idea what machinations will be needed to work that out. I also have no idea if this means that Tim will be “gone” from modern continuity for a bit (he isn’t featured on the cover to “Teen Titans” #9 in June, but we’ll see.
This issue also (hopefully) put an end to the Farraday/Sgt. Rock/Grifter/E2 Lana Lang/Fifty Sue debacle. We see Lana out herself as the queen of the insects (?), seriously fuck up Sgt. Rock, and says “leave us alone.” Hopefully he listens, and we never need to come back to the house “upstate.” Please. Please.
This issue was illustrated by Scot Eaton, who has been one of the workhorses of this book, and his work continues to be serviceable and, at times, quite good. As we’ve said from the get-go, this book’s art has been very up and down, and Eaton’s art has been on both sides of that. I will give him some credit, however, for the many different moods that he evokes in this issue. I was actually surprised to see just one art credit, as the Batman sequence, compared to the diner sequence with Fifty Sue and Grifter, compared to the Sgt. Rock sequence, all look like they could be the work of three different artists. I would be interested to see what Eaton could do on a book that utilized the mood of the Batman sequences – his clean line works particularly well on the high-tech elements especially well.
My last note on the Batman/Mister Terrific/Atom sequence is this: it is so refreshing and fun to see Ray Palmer considered an intellectual equal of Batman and Terrific. Sure, Brother Eye doesn’t respect him because he’s not his “father,” but he is often left out of the “geniuses of the DCU” conversation for no reason.
Three Future Questions:
1. So, are there people who don’t realize they’re superheroes?
Lana, before “laying an egg inside of Rock’s chest,” reveals that at Cadmus Island, they never scannned for “potential” powers, just people hiding their powers. So, does this mean that there are people walking around the DCU who, if they set their minds to it, could just do super shit?
Continued belowThat’s a weird thing to introduce, especially at this point, isn’t it?
2. Is the Jokerman dead?
So, Terry, before dying, dropped the Batman/Joker hybrid from the sky. We never see him crash, we never see a body.
The reason I ask this is that, it seems like a weird choice either way: if he is dead, shouldn’t they have shown Terry as having succeeded? And if he’s alive, doesn’t that diminish Terry’s death?
3. Is this how they can make the new Firestorm a reality?
OK, so I think we can all agree that the new Firestorm has been pretty great, and that DC has been struggling to make the character work for a long time now. Well, here’s a crackpot theory:
So, they have Terry’s time travel belt, right? They want to send someone back to pre-Brother Eye times to stop its creation. They are currently debating this at Terrifitech, where Firestorm is headed. Madison and Jason decide to volunteer to travel back in time – they make the argument that her body is more suited for the trip, and that she can alter the elements of the computer itself into something like pudding, making her the proper choice. Plus, what does she have left here? Convincing Jason of that would be tough, but I think she could do it.
Then, she goes back to current times, fixes everything, and is stuck here. She can keep Jason’s presence a secret, and there can be two Firestorms – Jason/Ronnie, and Jason/Madison, but no one knows about the second Jason…yet. That’s a nice long term story to be told.
Of course, that will never happen, but a boy can dream, right?
