Synopsis: After being injected with Fear Toxin, Alfred is dragged away to Arkham Asylum!
My favorite issue of Batman:Eternal yet! This was great! I bought this issue, read it right away, then hopped back to page 1 to read it again. Yes, I liked it THAT much. James Tynion IV scripted this issue and I thought he did a wonderful job. Perhaps it was the lack of flopping to so many different storylines? The main ones in this issue were: Bard, Batman, Alfred, Gordon and BARD! He gets two mentions because of the twist at the end.
But first, let’s rewind. And by that I mean back to 2005 with a movie called Batman Begins:
Right?
Anyways, Bard is the star of this week’s Batman:Eternal, getting the promotion of Gotham City Commissioner from the opening. After reading 20 issues, I (along with others I’m sure) believe this was a great move. In the meantime, Gordon’s sentencing from way back in issue #1 is announced.
Yikes. At Gotham Manor, Alfred plans to have some father-daughter bonding time, which gets interrupted.
By whom you may ask? SPOILER ALERT:
What?! Tommy Elliot joins the cast. I know Hush has a lot of fans, and haters. I like the character and this I didn’t see coming. How will this affect Alfred for the next 31 issues of Eternal? Stay tuned.
Back to Bard, we all trust him but the Dark Knight isn’t so quick to jump on the bandwagon…
And, as usual, he’s right. Here’s why…
Again, this issue knocked it out of the park for me. I enjoy how Tynion takes us to different stories, but keeps it limited. I haven’t enjoyed the chapters of this epic tale where we are adding a page to each developed tale, especially the ones I couldn’t care less about (Harper Row). This stuck to what’s important: Bard, Batman and Gordon… with a little Alfred on the side.
And I love me some Jason Fabok art, which it was announced he will be taking over Justice League duties (read DKN’s report here ). This guy is one of the best right now, and I wish he’d stay in Gotham forever.
Believe it or not, we aren’t even halfway through Batman:Eternal. But after this week’s issue, I couldn’t be happier.
Rating: 9.5/10
