Review: Batman Eternal Vol. 2

Quick Summary

Pros: The continuation of the previous volume’s story is well done and keeps the mystery just as intriguing. The focus on secondary characters is enjoyable and a smart move.

Cons: The Arkham Asylum storyline is a disappointment. Most of the art is pretty lackluster.

Overall: Part two of this Batman mystery proves to be just as intense and mysterious as the first one. Readers will be kept engaged as the mystery progress and constantly entertained by the variety of the story. Not every plotline is a winner and the art isn’t that great, but these mistakes are easy to overlook when compared to how good the rest of the story is. If you liked the first volume of this series then you will definitely like this one as well.

Story

Batman Eternal Vol. 2 continues the wonderful mystery from the first volume and provides a unique and enjoyable changeup in the book’s focus. While the book is still based on Batman, it almost feels like his story is secondary to the additional characters in this book. Catwoman, Spoiler, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Alfred all get great stories about how they exist independent from Batman. It is a nice way to give readers a Bat-break in the middle of a fifty-two issue story and a fun move overall. Overall, this volume proves that, at more than halfway through the series, there is still plenty of greatness left in Batman Eternal.

(spoilers start here)

The Batman story in this book follows the Dark Knight’s realization that Hush has been behind things from the start. The villain sets out to destroy Gotham and defame Batman along the way. It is an interesting maneuver to watch play out as it is a political rather than a physical assault. This provides for a unique and even more interesting story with plenty of potential as the series continues. Plus, the volume ends by revealing that Hush was simply another player in the game, thus leaving even more potential for the next volume.

While this Batman plotline is interesting, the real fun in this book comes from the stories about minor characters. Selina coming into her legacy, Spoiler turning from a scared girl to a bona fide hero, Jason and Batgirl’s interactions, Julia discovering her father’s secret life, and Alfred calling upon his military training in the caves below Arkham are all fantastic plotlines that give lesser used characters a time to shine.

Out of all of these stories, Spoiler and Alfred’s are particularly good. Seeing Stephanie Brown trick her father into going outside Gotham City limits was one of my favorite moments in this book. It solidifies Spoiler as a smart and strategic character, and she hasn’t even met Batman yet. Alongside that, Alfred’s had his moment to shine as he took down a variety of threats using his military skills. He even tricked Killer Croc into leading him right back to a secret Bat-cave entrance that he knew of. Plus, Julia discovering his secret life provides some much needed resolution to their strained relationship from the first volume.

These stories also have the secondary effect of providing readers with a slight break from the Dark Knight. Fifty-two issues is a long story to tell and having it be 100% focused on Batman would become boring quickly. This changeup allows the first and final volumes to be more focused on Batman without burning the readers out.

The only subplot which didn’t turn out that great was the one following Batwing’s exploration through Arkham Asylum. The entire Blackfire plotline ended abruptly as soon as the Spectre showed up. It was so quick and unexpected that it felt like there was no real payoff. With Batwing’s armor acting strange and Gotham by Midnight starting, it is possible that this plotline can pay off in the future, despite not being interesting on its own.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The art in Batman Eternal Vol. 1 (Review) jumped around in quality, simply due to the necessity of having multiple artists working on one book, but managed to keep a core group of fantastic artists on the majority of the book. Vol. 2 does not do this and the art suffers because of it. The artists on this book range from average to below average, there are no stunning issues like there were in the previous volume. This means, from a visual perspective, this book is easily a downgrade, enough so that it will likely be obvious for even the most distracted reader.

This, in turn, causes the art inconsistencies to become more noticeable. A character could look one way in an issue and then look completely different in the next issue. This flaw was present in Vol. 1 but was obscured by the overall quality of the work as a whole. With a lower standard of quality supporting it, the inconsistencies in this volume become more of a hindrance than before.

Continuity

Batman Eternal Vol. 2 is the continuation of a series that mostly serves as a companion to Scott Snyder’s Batman series. The events in this collection are a direct continuation of the events of Batman Eternal Vol. 1.

The story here continues in Batman Eternal Vol. 3.

This volume also references the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• Rex Calabrese talks to Selina about how she pulled away from everyone after the death of her friend Lola. This death happened in Catwoman Vol. 1: The Game.
• Batman mentions that Catwoman has a history with the Ferryman. This is a reference to their past encounters in Catwoman Vol. 1: The Game.
• Distrust between members of the Bat-family and Batman is brought up again. This distrust is due to the events of Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).

 

Back to Batman Eternal Reviews