User blog:60weeksingotham/Batman Eternan 1

Batman Eternal is the one of the most looked forward to books of 2014. I will be sharing with you my own opinion of the series. When I first saw the cover of the first issue, the first thing that I saw was something, in my opinion, that damaged the artwork and insulted the artist. The title covers up two characters faces Professor Pyg and the Joker’s Daughter. Professor Pyg is the main villain of the issue, so why is he covered up? Great artwork should not be obscured by lettering, if the title of the book covers up a characters faces then the cover does not have the full effect. One good thing about the cover is a bit of mystery, asking the question: Is Batman standing over Killer Croc or someone else? I don’t know, and I like it. Opening with “the end”, we see what Gotham looks like in the future if Satan took over, with all the fire and chaos. All the feeling of hope disappears when we see Bruce Wayne tied to the spot light bleeding to death; really creepy. We are taken back to the present with a drawing of Gotham’s Sky Line as a good background for the reader to hear what the world thinks of Gotham as a city in the words of Jason Bard, a new character in Batman and the new 52. Jason Bard is an everyday guy and that works well for this comic, I hope the writers develop this character more.

Next, we cut to Commissioner Gordon under fire from Professor Pyg’s robot pigs. I have no idea how I feel about this. Professor Pyg jumps in a plane and fires at Jim Gordon while squealing, when Professor Pyg is doing his squeal I have to take him less seriously. We see that Jim Gordon is panicking cause Batman not there and he is under too much fire. As we turn the page Batman jumps though a window in a robot epically destroying Professor Pyg’s plane, showing Batman as the bad ass that he is.

As Batman exits his robot we see the first close up drawing of Batman, this is a well done full display of our hero. We also see the first close up of Jim Gordon, it is just ok nothing new. Professor Pyg and his henchmen take off running as page nine has set up a classic chase scene, I haven’t seen this for a while and it’s a good addition to the story. As Batman and Jim Gordon get spilt up, Jim Gordon calls for backup. Why didn’t he do this before? It not like the whole GCPD hasn’t worked with Batman before.

Returning to Batman, we catch up to him as he pins down Professor Pyg and cuffed the piggy. The interesting thing about this page is it looks like a Court of Owls mask is in Professor Pyg bag. Is it an Easter egg or something more? We cut back to Jason Bard first time in GCPD, we learn how some of the cops think and feel about Jim Gordon. We hardly see this side of the GCPD and I really think Jim Gordon or the entire GCPD should get their own comic. We return back to Jim Gordon and find him cornered by one of Professor Pyg’s henchman in a subway station. Jim Gordon tells the henchman to drop his gun but the henchman argues that he does not have a gun, so he gets shot at by Jim Gordon. Tip: when a cop tell you to drop your weapon do NOT say you don’t have one.

As a train arrives Jim Gordon fires his gun, his bullet misses Professor Pyg’s henchman and hits a power box. Next comes a great way of laying out an “OH SHIT” moment with great expressions of fear, followed by a two page spread of total chaos as the train explodes killing three hundred people. As everyone recovers, Batman says to Jim Gordon that Professor Pyg’s henchman was not carrying a gun and proves it. This makes it look like Jim Gordon is seeing things. I’m really curious as to where the story is going with this.

When we see Jim Gordon being arrested, it makes sense why the GCPD arrested him, unlike other stories I have read. No one on the scene knows what is going on, not even Jim Gordon. The issue ends with Jim Gordon being taken away and every one at the scene talking about the event. This is exactly what would happen in real life, I think. Over all this was a great first issue. I know I said the issue on the cover was a big no-no, but it doesn’t take away from the story.

and see my review earlier at: http://60weeksingotham.wordpress.com/