Written by: Ray Fawkes
Art by: Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs
Publisher: DC Comics
The best thing about Batman Eternal #16 is that it sticks with one plot, and stays with it throughout the issue. It’s sort of like when we got issues of Justice League focusing entirely on Shazam’s story line, rather than just having it in the back ups, especially considering that it’s the Arkham Asylum plot that takes up this entire issue, aside from a brief venture to Tokyo with Harper and Tim. This may irk some people, because there are undoubtedly other stories and characters that should be getting some more time. It’s been a while since we’ve hooked up with Catwoman or Stephanie Brown, and issue #15 offered an amazing tease as to what the Batgirl/Red Hood/Batwoman dynamic could potentially have to offer. That being said, I, for one, am glad that they stuck with the Arkham Asylum plot for this issue.
As I see it, this particular plot isn’t the most engaging in the book, but it’s definitely up there, vying for the top spot now that the gang war plot seems to be completely gone. Unfortunately, it definitely took a back seat for a while, especially up until the last two issues. Even in issues 14 and 15, however, what we got from the Arkham plot was little more than glorified teasers. Those teasers were awesome, yes, but there wasn’t quite enough there to really get invested in the story arc. This issue actually manages to remedy a lot of those issues, as we spend significantly more time with Batwing and the Specter, as well as the entire cats of crazies that currently populates the Asylum. The best scene in this issue, and one of the best scenes of the series so far, is easily Batwing’s confrontation with the Joker’s Daughter. The dialogue between the two is great, and not because they’re forging a dynamic or anything, but because Batwing is easily able to recognize how shallow the Joker’s Daughter is.
Not necessarily as a character, mind you, at least not anymore. Rather, he recognizes how shallow she is as a person, modeling herself entirely off of another villain, unable to forge her own identity. It’s those lines of dialogue that really grabbed me, and pulled me into this story arc. Surprisingly enough, it’s my newfound investment in Batwing’s character that has allowed this particular story to grab me and pull me in. I love the Specter, and he’s great here, but Batwing is really the character driving this story. Plus, each issue seems to have a different villain that plays a role in the story. Mostly, they end up just being puppets, and are presumably killed, I guess. This issue sees Professor Pyg taking that role, and unsurprisingly, his dialogue is great. The only real issue with this arc is the cliff hanger. It seems like something that should have a much larger impact on readers, but my response was something more like “Huh. I guess that’s cool.”
Now, the other plot line that appears in this issue is the Tim and Harper go to Tokyo show. I’ve made it clear that I really don’t like the direction that this is going in, but that changes with this issue. Kind of. I still really think that the Tim/Harper dynamic is a complete waste of a potentially awesome pairing. The dialogue between the two comes off as being a bit stale, and it ends up being rather disinteresting. The reason, however, that I say that there’s improvement in this issue is because of the where the actual plot is going. The two have to fight off some sort of mechanical tentacles (After all, they are in Japan…), which provides a pretty cool action sequence. However, an important change comes in the arrival of a new character, who we’ve only seen once before, at least in The New 52. His one appearance made him seem like a great character, at least to me, and so now I’m a little bit more excited about what this has to offer.
I hate to say that this issue lacks variety, because that’s not exactly what it is. For lack of a better term, however, I’m going to go with that. Because while this is definitely a very good issue, there seems to be a lot missing. Sure, they don’t have to check in with every plot in every issue, because that risk of the reader forgetting about something is not as prominent as a weekly as it would be in a monthly comic. However, the team behind this series seems to have forgotten a few plot lines, as they have slipped through the cracks in the past couple of issues. Stephanie Brown comes immediately to mind, as it’s been some time since she’s actually gotten a good deal of page time. But as long as the quality stays up, I guess it’s excusable that they aren’t hitting every sing;e story beat in every single issue.
