The book is split up pretty evenly, devoting an equal amount of time to the exploits of both Alfred and Batman with a dash of Spoiler thrown in for setup. While the Bane and Alfred back and forths are great and the resolution to their time spent together is very satisfying, the book suffers from a heavy dose of convoluted conveniences and confusion, but more about that later. Batman also had some great moments in which he effortlessly takes out 4 Arkham inmates. When it comes to physical confrontations, this story illustrates that psychosis is all that most of Batman’s enemies have going for themselves. Looking at Batman handle the situation, it is obvious that the true threat most of his villains pose is in their schemes, and that Batman has to spend a lot more time and effort locating them and figuring out what they are up to than in actually beating them.
Even though the Batman and Alfred scenes are indeed amazing, they could not offset the drawbacks of this story. There are downsides to this issue, and they all revolve around conveniences or things happening without appropriate explanation. Alfred overcomes the fear toxin. Was it overcome by force of will? or perhaps because the reality of the situation he was thrust into was scarier than any hallucination he might generate? Take your pick because it’s never really explained and I came to those on my own. (And I liked them better than thinking it was because the writers just needed him to get over it in order to continue the story.)
Next, Batman had a feeling that something was up with Alfred, requiring Julia to check up on him which in turn added emotional weight to her scenes. Along with being stressed out over doing all this computer stuff under pressure she is now forced to deal with the uncertainty of Alfred’s fate. While it does add poignancy to her scenes, the way it is introduced is once again unexplained and fit in just right for the sack of the story. This is the third or fourth time I have brought this up, and I get that Batman is smarter than us, but could we PLEASE have some insight into his train of thought. I want to marvel at his intellect, not be left in the dark.
At this point, it is starting to feel more like a crutch that the writers are using to get away with doing stuff that makes no sense. It just seems to me that the writers aren’t bothering to come up with/work out logical deductions for Batman to use to come to these conclusions. That is why they aren’t sharing them with us, because they don’t exist. Part of the fun of Batman is seeing him put the pieces together, and us realizing that they were always there and that we just missed them. This hasn’t been happening in Eternal.
Another example of convenience/no explanation is when we see Spoiler fleeing the area of a giant explosion. My first thought was: all the bounty hunters are still after her, but then it turn out to be the police. Since when were the police chasing her? Are they chasing her from when she broke into that prison that was holding her father? Or are these the cops that work for Hush, helping him coral her into his trap? Much like the Alfred toxin thing, you can generate your own story with the information given to you, but I’d really rather read the story that the writers intended and not the one I had to make up on my own because the story presented is not concise enough to provide me with some kind of cohesion.
Recommended if…
Seeing Alfred own everybody in his path makes you happy.
Seeing Batman own everybody in his path makes you happy.
You’re willing to overlook some logical inconsistencies.
Overall:
Alfred is great as always and the action set pieces staring him and Batman are a ton of fun, but the leaps in logic and the plentiful amount of conveniences was just too much for this fan to overlook. If you’re just looking to sit back and be entertained I’m sure you’ll get a lot more fun out of this book than I did, but for those of you who want a little more cohesion in your stories, you’ll probably feel similarly to me. The good still overweights the bad, making that book better than average.
SCORE: 5.5
Get full review from Batman News here
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