Batman Eternal #42 Review

Script: Kyle Higgins / artist: Jed Dougherty , Goran Sudzuka & Roger Robinson / DC Comics Batman Eternal is one of these books that makes certain promises at its beginning and then reverse engineers those moments to slowly reveal how we get to those moments. With the story obviously inching closer to its resolution, Scott Snyder and his musical chairs game of creative talent have been handing out more long promised payoffs than a church Bingo Night. This week’s sees the one I, in particular, have been waiting for since the series began. This issue features the rise of the newest addition to the Bat-family: Harper “Bluebird” Row. The Mad Hatter is up to his old tricks thanks to an upgrade from Batman’s mystery troll. Now, with the rest of the team incapacitated, the new girl has to step up to the learning curve quickly if Gotham is going survive yet another horror in this year of living dangerously. Meanwhile, the Spoiler gets some time out of harm’s way as….oh, who are we kidding? Let’s face it. The Spoiler is never out of harm’s way. Kyle Higgins is back on scripting duty and basically served his purpose. The plot was tight and the dialogue didn’t seem to be a nuisance. Once again, the fatal flaw this week was definitely the artwork.

This time, the trouble was just too many cooks in the kitchen. Jed Dougherty, Goran Sudzuka and Roger Robinson all did the visuals on this issue. It takes less people to pilot the Jaegers in Pacific Rim than it did to draw this book and it sh…