BATMAN ETERNAL #1 (REVIEW)

Batman Eternal #1

Writer: Scott Snyder
           James Tynion IV
           Ray Fawkes
           John Layman
           Tim Seeley

Artist: Jason Fabok

Cover: Jason Fabok
          Tomeu Morey



The Rundown:
The story begins where it is set to end. Batman beaten and battered, tied to a broken Bat-signal, as the city burns around him. Flash forward to the present where Harvey Bullock is picking up a new recruit who was heavily sought after by Jim Gordon himself, Jason Bard, from the train station. Elsewhere, Gordon is in the middle of a gun fight with Pyg and his henchmen, protecting some children while waiting for Batman to make his entrance. Which he does just in time to save Jim and the kids from Pyg's gun totting airplane. Batman and Gordon pursue Pyg and his men, with Gordon taking the stray and Batman focuses on apprehending Pyg. Jim Gordon follows the man onto the subway tracks and has him cornered while ordering the perp to drop his weapon. After a count of three, Gordon fires a shot, but it passes through the man, hitting an electrical box behind him. This causes an explosion and a fire to start on the tracks, quickly followed by the derailment of the approaching subway train. Batman is able to save Jim Gordon, and warn Bullock and other officers who arrived at the scene.
The damage is massive, and the death toll will be enormous. Acting quickly, Hady calls for the arrest of Commissioner James Gordon. An act that is carried out by a hesitant Jason Bard who's on his first night on the job. But, is put at ease after Jim gives him his blessing to place him under arrest. Flashback to the "end" of the story, where we once again see a bound, broken Batman with a voice asking him if he can see the grand design in it all.

The Review:
An extremely well done initial issue for the new weekly Batman series. The story felt like it was the beginning of something huge and eventful. It left us with tons of questions and of course anticipating the next issue and how all of this plays out. From page one we are left wondering who was able to get the drop on Batman and engulf Gotham City in flames. Is it a new villain? A returning villain coming back in a huge way? Even the events involving Commissioner James Gordon left us with quite a few questions. Is Jim losing his mind? If not, then who is working him this way? And even with Jason Bard, are we about to watch Jim Gordon groom his future replacement? Or is he a part of what is happening? The appearance is given, but even Bard's backstory is very similar to that of Gordon.
The art work was top notch from start to finish. With almost every single panel telling the story nicely and being visually appealing. With it being a weekly title there runs the risk of having to speed through the work, here is hoping that upcoming weeks are just as good as this one was.
Overall, it was an amazing issue, with a team of writers (although three of them are consultants) that big it is expected that the story would be up to par, and in this case went above and beyond that. As did the art, and they complimented each other nicely. What is even better, is that we won't have to wait a month to see what happens next!

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