Review: Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 1
Quick Summary
Pros: The main story is extremely fun and exciting. The flashback story is also entertaining and helps develop the main story. The characters themselves are excellent and their interactions are highly entertaining. A couple chapters contain some beautiful visuals.
Cons: Some aspects of the story feel forced or unbelievable. The artwork is inconsistent in a few places.
Overall: This is a solid beginning to a series with a lot of energy and a lot of potential. It takes an interesting premise, uses it to generate some great suspense, introduces a bit of mystery to keep readers interested, and sets the entire adventure against some solid artwork. It also stars a wonderful group of characters who are enjoyable every step of the way. Any fan of the Bat-family, especially Dick Grayson, should consider checking out this book.
Story
Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 1, by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, and others, is a fun and energetic journey with a fantastic group of characters. The entire book is centered around a solid concept, one that brings up interesting questions about Batman’s methods while also making sure there is enough action and mystery to keep things interesting. Batman’s allies then turn this already entertaining concept into something even more enjoyable, as their personal issues and charming interactions add a lot to the book. There are a few places where the story stumbles, but the negatives are all pretty easy to overlook. In the end, this volume is a fun adventure that fans of the Bat-family are sure to enjoy.
(spoilers start here)
The main storyline in Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 1 focuses on the Bat-family fighting against an organization that manipulates the personalities of disadvantaged people and then forces them into human trafficking. This results in a globe-trotting investigation that is part detective story and part action-drama. These characters thrive in that sweet spot between genres and are able to make the entire journey very enjoyable. The entire concept behind this narrative also raises questions about the ways in which the members of the Bat-family were raised by Batman, which is a great concept to bring up.
The other side of the narrative takes place in the past. It has Batman and Dick Grayson (who was Robin at the time) taking on the same threat that they are facing in the present. This helps show what the Batman/Robin relationship was like in the past and helps further develop the main storyline. The convergence of these plotlines also leads to some satisfying reveals about the secret propelling this book forward, especially in regards to the torture inflicted upon Cassandra Cain.
Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 1 also gives every character involved at least a few moments to shine. Though Dick Grayson is clearly the star of the book, Red Hood has some hilarious, true-to-character moments and Red Robin is able to properly show off his skills. Meanwhile, the three newer characters all get a chance to prove themselves in various ways, even if Harper ends up hogging the spotlight a bit. It also helps that everyone’s interactions are great and make this really feel like the dysfunctional family that it is often billed as.
The only problem is how inorganic certain elements of the story end up feeling. Dick explains his intrusion into Tim’s personal life by stating he didn’t have time to ask permission, which seems like it would have actually taken less time. The entire volume also seems to be trying to get readers to believe Batman made some sort of evil deal with Mother, which is so unbelievable that it actually takes away from this portion of the book. In addition, Batgirl and the We are Robin crew’s brief appearance feels pretty forced and doesn’t really add anything to the story. These decisions appear to have been made for an easy way to create a “cool” moment or temporarily push the story forward.
(spoilers end here)
Art
Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 1 opens up with a simply gorgeous chapter from Tony S. Daniel, with inks from Sandu Florea and colors from Tomeu Morey. It is a bold and striking way to start the volume that instantly grabs the reader’s attention by showing them this is a book worth reading. Though Tony S. Daniel only draws a few chapters in this collection, may of the other artists, like Scot Easton, are also able to provide visuals that look good and accurately capture the dynamic energy of this book.
However, Batman and Robin Eternal also falls victim to the same flaw that the art in nearly every weekly published comic falls victim to, visual consistency. Though many of the chapters here are great, a few aren’t nearly as good. This creates problems as readers go from chapter to chapter and see the visuals dramatically shift before their eyes. It isn’t as big of a problem in this book as it is in other weekly series but is still present enough to be noticeable.
Continuity
Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 1 is mostly a standalone comic event. It continues plot threads involving Stephanie Brown and Harper Row from Batman Eternal Vol. 3 (Review) but readers can enter this series without much prior knowledge.
The story here directly continues in Batman and Robin Eternal Vol. 2 (Review).
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- Dick Grayson started his new job in Grayson Vol. 1: Agents of Spyral (Review).
- Bruce Wayne has been out of commission since the conclusion of Batman: Endgame (Review).
- A new Batman took over in Batman Vol. 8: Superheavy (Review).
- Poppy Ashemore’s cannibalism is mentioned. This was revealed in Grayson #2, collected in Grayson Vol. 1: Agents of Spyral (Review).
- At one point, Bruce Wayne recognizes a voice. He met the owner of this voice in Grayson #12, collected in Grayson Vol. 3: Nemesis (Review).
- The “We are Robin” movement began in We are Robin Vol. 1: The Vigilante Business (Review).
- Nightwing mentions his recent encounter with Batgirl. This took place in Batgirl #45, collected in Batgirl Vol. 2: Family Business (Review).
- Bane’s recent actions in Gotham are mentioned here. These actions are detailed in Forever Evil: Arkham War (Review).
- The “Zero Year” is mentioned. This Year is shown across Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year- Dark City (Review) and Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year- Secret City (Review).