Synopsis: Someone has pieced together the mystery behind the plot to crush Gotham City…but it’s not Batman! The Riddler knows all – and he’ll never tell!
Batman:Eternal launches into the new year this week with an “okay” issue #39. Don’t get me wrong, the story moves along quite well and we get some good setups. I just didn’t feel the threat of the Riddler as much as I should have. Perhaps I still have the “Zero Year” version burning in my head, which could run laps around this experienced version of the villain.
Anyways, the issue shows (or says) how bad Gotham is right now while the Dark Knight is busy trying to track down the Riddler. We got some good dialogue here from Nigma (I liked parts of him this issue, just feel he could have been stronger) and a well-set trap that Batman obviously didn’t fall for… or did he?
Sliced in to this story is the former Arkham inmates that were taken down last issue as they are being transported to Black Gate. They seem to arrive at their destination until the back doors fly open, and the guards are shot. They aren’t the only ones and we see another plan unfolding…with Batman’s gadgets set to play a major role in next week’s issue.
Finally, Vicki Vale also returns to her Gotham newsroom. The reporter is questioning a lot and gets a humorous “pep talk” from her boss, Warren Spacey. The issue ends with an intern doing something a little drastic, that leads us to believe Vales days are numbered (but we know they aren’t).
That sort of wraps up Eternal #39. It had its moments and overall wasn’t a bad issue. It laid the groundwork for the final 13 issues and had some enjoyable pages. My problems lay in some of its confusing flow, and the artwork. This title has had a great consistency of capturing lightning in a bottle as far as artists go for the story. Felix Ruiz this week just didn’t blow me away. His illustrations seemed really sketchy and sometimes required me to look a little harder to understand what I was looking at. Ray Fawkes handled scripting duties and does okay for the most part.
I’ve read better, and I’ve ready a LOT worse in Eternal‘s epic run so if you have a few bucks to spare go ahead and give it a shot.
Rating: 6.5/10
