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 #38
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Andrea Mutti
Reviewed by Zach Wilkerson
News, notes, and debuts:
In this issue Batman stages a raid on the Willowwood Home for Childen, current hideout of a Scarecrow’s wayward group of villains. We get to see Batman function on limited resources, Scarecrow psychoanalyze his peers, and a hardcore grudge match between Killer Croc and Bane. The rest of the issue deals with Gordon and some generally skeevy prison stuff. Hey, it was bound to happen at some point.
The major highlight of this issue the shifting of balance of power across the various subplots. Several characters rise of above their station, or begin to exercise recently acquired power. This is most evident in the case of Selina and her estranged father, who use their connections to manipulate their situations in favorable conditions. Others, such as Bane and Scarecrow, fare less well. Jason Bard, another character that has recently fallen from grace, seeks to turn his situation around by going back to the start; James Gordon.
This is very much a set up issue, repositioning various characters around the board as the final act of “Eternal” continues to fall into place, but Tim Seeley does a great job of making the issue enjoyable. His script builds on both past and recent histories between characters, making a large amount of exposition feel dynamic and interesting.
Three Eternal Questions:
1. Who is the King of Gotham?
In the aftermath of Killer Croc’s brawl with Bane, Batman finds the phrase “Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi” scrawled in blood upon a wall. This is likely Croc’s referencing of Bane’s elite status post-Arkham War. Is this just a simple case of Croc trolling Bane, or is there a deeper significance to the message? If Bane is the “dead king,” who is the new king? It certainly isn’t Croc, who finds himself as Selina Kyle’s egyptian mascot by issue’s end. Obvious candidates would be Selina (although shouldn’t that be “La Reine?”) or the soon to be revealed Big Bad of Eternal, who Selina may have closer ties with than she lets on…
2. Are Batman’s rogues truly down for the count…?
…was my first thought after reading this issue. Of course writing this wrap-up one week after the fact, with knowledge of the following issue, this question is a bit moot. In previous weeks I posited that this group of rogues might form a sort of independent third party against Batman and the mysterious villain. I’ll discuss why this seems unlikely and the future implications in the following section.
3. How long until Mr. Ether Bunny meets Captain Carrot?
I’m waiting…
Batman Eternal #39
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Ray Fawkes
Illustrated by Felix Ruiz
Reviewed by Zach Wilkerson
News, notes, and debuts:
Without a doubt, this is one the most enjoyable issues of “Batman Eternal” yet. Batman draws ever closer to uncovering the secrets behind the orchestrated attacks on Gotham thanks to the most unlikely of sources; Edward Nygma. The Riddler has been built up in recent issues as a possible candidate for the story’s main villain, but this issue proves that his role is far more interesting. Fawkes brilliantly plays Batman against the Riddler, allowing the Great Detective to actually get down to some legitimate sleuthing.
Elsewhere in Gotham, we find that the situation is growing increasingly dire. Truly, no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. Two betrayals result in the release of a group of villains, a veritable army let loose on Gotham, as well as the apparent (but not really, because duh, comics) death of major character. Expect to see the plight of Gotham continue to escalate as we draw nearer to the scene set in the opening pages of “Batman Eternal” #1.
Continued belowTackling art on this issue is Felix Ruiz, an artist I’m unfamiliar with but am instantly smitten with. Ruiz’s pencils, colored by the terrific Dave McCaig, are at times reminiscent of Rafael Albuquerque, but with a unique twist. Ruiz’s Batman is particularly noteworthy, thanks to his take on the hero’s cape. The iconic staple takes on a life of its own, growing, flowing, and twisting as if it itself was formed by a colony of bats. His scenes in which Bruce traverses through a snowy mountain region are particularly breathtaking, culminating in a gorgeous double splash page. This is an artist I look forward to seeing more of in the future.
Three Eternal Questions:
1. Why is Selina responding to the villain’s invitation?
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the violent liberation of two groups of villains is the rather low key presence of Selina Kyle. Selina helped delivered half of these villains to Batman just one issue prior. It’s extremely unsettling that she would not only partake in their release, but also their armament with Batman’s own stolen gear. Selina has been known to play both sides of the field, and her greater intentions can’t be guessed at this point. However, her presence raises an even greater question…
2. Does Selina know the identity of “Eternal’s” final villain?
Perhaps that’s actually why she has accepted the invitation, to get closer to Gotham’s would be conqueror. Or maybe she actually already knows his/her identity. This is the most troubling possibility of all. If Selina does know the identity and is keeping it a secret, that makes her complicit, destroying any redemptive aspects the character may yet possess.
3. Is Edward Nygma Gotham’s savior?
It’s pretty clear at this point that the Riddler is (thankfully) not the orchestrator of Gotham’s current state of disarray. He does, however, know far more about what is going on than Batman does. How is it that Nygma has come across such information, when Bruce has failed so miserably? One could argue that it might be his criminal connections (which could also be applied to Selina, in the previous questions) but there’s no indication that the villain’s invitations gave any indication of his identity. While Edward will surely eventually lead Bruce to a solution, one has to wonder; does this make the Riddler the hero of our story? I for one truly enjoyed the “reformed” Riddler of the 2000’s, and would love to see a return, however small, to this version of the character.
Bonus Question: THE OWL?!
Seriously, why is there an owl on the cover? This is either yet another red-herring, less than subtle foreshadowing, or the “Eternal” crew is straight up trolling us now.
Earth 2: World’s End #12
Written by Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, and Mike Johnson
Illustrated by Scott McDaniel, Robson Rocha, Eduardo Pansica, Jack Herbert, Vicente Cifuentes, Jorge Jimenez, Tyler Kirkham, and Joe Weems
Reviewed by Vince Ostrowski
News, notes, and debuts:
– The covers for issues 12 & 13 feature some attractive minimalism from Andrea Sorrentino. It’s nice to see he’s still contributing to DC Comics in some fashion even after having jumped over to an ongoing title at Marvel. Plus, I think it’s just a cool direction for the covers to go in.
– On the other, the actual contents of the issue are perhaps a low-point for “World’s End.” In recent issues, I found myself excited at the prospects of spending some quality time with Darkseid. But while there’s nothing wrong with the way he’s being portrayed here, everything else going on around him is too hokey to befit him. He sits on his throne and grimaces at his underlings as they spout a bunch of cosmic nonsense at him about how their plan is going off without a hitch. This section feels like placeholder exposition for action to come later, but until now “World’s End” hasn’t needed it. It’s been moving at a breakneck pace. The two issues I’m discussing today certainly haven’t.
– But even though things have slowed down, it wouldn’t be so bad if “World’s End” wasn’t relying on so many cliches at this point. We get a scene where a Fury-fied Helena Wayne takes on Kara, which of course ends with it looking like Kara will break the spell with the power of friendship only to end up learning the punchline to “What did the five fingers say to the face?”
Continued below– But the most egregious offender is Dick Grayson, who opens his scene with a solemn narration: “I’m not Dick Grayson anymore. Now I’m just grief.” Now, I get what they’re going for with that line, but let’s be honest – doesn’t it seem all too realistic that DC Comics would give one of their characters a vigilante identity literally named “Grief”? Dick spends two pages beating the shit out of a guy with a baseball bat, grieving over the loss of his wife and the separation from his child. And while a scene like this is supposed to convey loss and helplessness, in execution, it comes off incredibly angsty, over-indulgent on violence, and more deranged than it was probably supposed to. I guess the problem is that, across the board, issue #12 tries to work on characterization more than plot, but that was never (and was never going to be) a strength of this series.
Three Worldly Questions:
1. Does the shattered moon have anything to do with ‘Blood Moon’?
“World’s End” keeps throwing around the fact that the moon got destroyed and it’s wreaking all sorts of havoc on the planet with flooding and whatnot. But we also know of another moon that DC Comics has been talking about a lot lately: The Blood Moon, which has been teased for several months now. Does the upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ event have anything to do with this? They’ve been mostly talking about it in “Futures End”, but that series and this one have shown links before.
2. Are we supposed to think Dick killed that guy?
I know that this is Earth 2 Dick Grayson and there’s no reason why he has to be the same as Prime Earth Dick, but I think it’s a bridge too far to make him into a grieving murderer in cold blood. I hope that’s not what they’re doing here. There’s some general core traits of these characters that I feel are essential, and the Bat Family just doesn’t kill. They did a story with Damian Wayne early on in the ‘New 52’ where he killed someone and it was a pretty big deal thing that they spent a lot of time on. Here, it feels tossed off for, I don’t know, shock value? This is where the line is between a comic being dark and gritty, and overdoing it.
3. What sort of deal did Terry Sloane make?
Terry Sloane betrays Khan and the World Army by booby trapping the ship while preparing a getaway for himself. Meanwhile, Khan realizes how strange it is that Apokolips isn’t attacking them as they make their getaway. Sloane has made a deal with Apokolips, clearly, but I’m not sure how or what for. Just his life? Or is there more to the story?
Earth 2: World’s End #13
Written by Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, and Mike Johnson
Illustrated by Scott McDaniel, Tyler Kirkham, Jack Herbert, and Vicente Cifuentes
Reviewed by Vince Ostrowski
News, notes, and debuts:
– Issue #13 continues to stumble, carrying a lot of the same missteps in character work that I already described above in the capsule for issue #12. At least this issue makes it kind of seem like they’re about to move the action forward. More on all of that in the “Three Worldly Questions” below.
– Other plot points appear to be happening just to kill time. Helena, for instance, briefly bothers Sam (as the white avatar) and Alan Scott before ultimately flying away leaving them unscathed. If every scene exists to move the plot or the characters forward, I’m not sure what this scene accomplished. We already knew how much Alan loves Sam, even after his death, and it didn’t advance the plot at all. It added up to nothing much but an excuse for a cackling bad guy to be bad, but ultimately not change the course of the story.
Three Worldly Questions:
1. What is wrong with Dick Grayson?
Ted Grant finally shows up to drag Dick’s sorry, self-pitying ass away. But before he does, the reader has to endure another two pages of Dick speaking in Hawthorne Heights lyrics. The most important things in his life have been taken from him, but the writing of his character has been all over the place. First he leaves his son behind and vows to find him again someday – now he’s saying the kid is better off without him. It’s really hard to see him being written as the melodramatic, petulant person we’re seeing him as now.
Continued below2. Is Khan going all Randy Quaid in Independence Day?
Khan is barreling toward Darkseid with a ticking timebomb on his plane. I’m, uh, not sure that’s going to do the trick.
3. How bad ass is Al Pratt?
Let’s talk about Al Pratt laying his ass on the line for Earth-2, in what might have been the best scene in “World’s End” to date – even if the story around it is otherwise at a low point. Pratt, previously strapped to a hospital bed recovering from losing an arm and barely surviving an attack from the evil Superman, was sent deep below the earth to create a haven for the people of Earth to survive in. Think, like, the Hunger Games rebellion haven, except a gigantic man had to die to build it all. Thank you, Al Pratt, you are an hero.
The New 52: Futures End #34
Written by Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, and Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Patrick Zircher and Scott Kollins
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
News, notes, and debuts:
This issue continues the trend of having two artists per issue, something the book had been great about avoiding up until a few weeks ago. Luckily, Zircher and Kollins are two of the best artists to touch this book, and their styles work relatively well together, so the jarring effect of changing an artist mid-stream doesn’t really resonate here the way it would if the styles clashed more.
The book is, unfortunately, beginning to feel a little too decompressed at points – case in point: the Doctor Polaris/Firestorm battle. This is the 2nd issue dealing with the physical encounter, and it feels like more of the same. There are stories (Superman/Constantine, for instance) that haven’t been touched in weeks, and yet we are made to suffer through nearly the same dialogue back and forth:
Jason: You need to fight!
Madison: I don’t know how!
It gets old pretty quickly, and that is shame because, of all of the stories in the book, this one has the most emotional meat to it. Due to Jason being the former Dr. Yamazake’s protege, and Ronnie and Madison being friends, and Ronnie and Jason’s fractured partnership, and Yamazake’s blaming of the Justice League for the death of his wife, this has all the elements needed for an emotionally satisfying story.
Instead, we get a teddy bear joke.
Meanwhile, the Stormwatch portion of the book has two important elements: the removal of the “real” Father Time, and the injuring of Frankenstein, the seemingly unstoppable monster. Nothing in this issue really moves the needle forward too much, but we do get to see the Atom rip a brain out of some goo.
Most of the rest of the issue is built around the operations of Farraday and co – we get a lovely sequence of Voodoo and her fellow bounty hunters bitching in a Sex and the City-esque sequence of cattiness that is broken up by Justin’s lumbering doofiness. Voodoo is SUCH a Samantha, by the way, wearing that bra and a vest combo out in public.
When we move into Farraday’s office, there’s a bunch of shade thrown at E2 Lana Lang, and then Fifty Sue disintegrates a dude’s hand because he talks back to her.
Finally, we see Brother Eye’s assimilation grow deeper still as it hits A.L.F.R.E.D. causing him to go offline, while in the future Mister Terrific and Brother Eye send the hybrid Batman/Joker back in time to stop Terry.
Three Future Questions:
1. Does losing A.L.F.R.E.D. mean Terry is stuck in the past, one way or another?
As it stands, Terry pretty much had no way home, but A.L.F.R.E.D. could have provided him his best shot. Now, however, he pretty much has to meet his goal, which would stop his past self from having to be send back in time, or else he is stuck in the past forever.
Continued below2. Is this DNA chamber going to make a big difference, story-wise?
Pretty much everything about the Cadmus Island story has ended, but Farraday and co. are obsessed with the idea of rescuing the DNA chamber. Is this just a time-wasting device, or is this an actual plot point that will lead to something bigger? Depending on the DNA, this could actually lead nicely into “Convergence” – does DNA mean human DNA, or could it be the DNA of a planet or world?
3. Can we please oh please oh please have this Stormwatch team get its own book?
I don’t ask for much, DC – can a brother get this?
The New 52: Futures End #35
Written by Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, and Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Jesus Merino and Stephen Thompson
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
News, notes, and debuts:
WILL THIS FIRESTORM STORY EVER MOVE FORWARD?
The “big reveal” of this installment is that now Firestorm knows that Doctor Polaris has no corporeal form anymore, something we’ve known for weeks. Can we please pick up the pace here?
Over in Las Vegas, where all good families are built (modeled by our resident Vegas resident, Brandon Burpee and his awesome family), we see E2 Lana sort of losing her shit over the Fifty Sue. The scene takes a sharp left turn just a page or so in, where she, more or less, decides that she is going to raise Sue as her own child. There are a lot of weird implications in that plot point, but let’s start with the most egregious one. If this is really how they are ending Fifty Sue’s story, then fuck you.
This is the equivalent of “and eventually they were rescued by, oh, let’s say…Moe” level inanity. For 35 issues you’ve been building up this, frankly, stupid character as a serious threat, a monster, a sociopath, only to turn out that her secret ingredient is…love?
Look, I understand if the plan was always to rehabilitate her, but “let’s have Grifter adopt her!” is one of the dumbfuckingest things I’ve ever read.
Over in actual storyville, Stormwatch is trying to fix up S.H.A.D.E. in their image, although Black Adam has left for Earth and Frankenstein is still out of commission, and while Ray Palmer thinks there’s no hope in saving him, Amethyst is dead set on finding a cure, and is bringing him back to Earth to attempt to use magic to save his life.
Finally, we get the conflict that we’ve been all waiting for: past Bruce vs. future Bruce/Joker. Of course, this is a weekly comic, so it doesn’t get resolved.
Three Future Questions:
1. Will Bruce believe Terry now?
To me, the line of the #0 issue was future Bruce telling Terry to not seek him out because, “I’d never believe you.” Well, now Bruce has seen his future self have the Joker’s head grafted onto him – will Bruce now become an ally for Terry?
2. Is the Engineer really free from Brainiac?
We have now, twice, point blank, been told that the Engineer shows no sign of Brainiac’s influence – but that can’t be the case, right? There is clear indication that, in the future, Angie gets corrupted by Brainiac, and logic dictates that, since she was already under his spell, that it would be somewhere inside of her still.
3. Can Frankenstein be saved?
We know that he survives long enough to be compromised by Brother Eye/Brainiac, and we know that he keeps Hawkman’s arm (what Ray thinks is the source of the problem), so that leads us to two conclusions: either he gets better, or he gets corrupted real soon. What do you think?
