Batman Eternal #11 Review

See, THESE are the kind of issues I look forward to from Batman Eternal. Last week, we saw the downside to a weekly book with perpetually rotating visual talent. I don’t know if the term “chicken scratch” works as well to describe pencils as it does for handwriting, but that’s the only word I can come up with to describe last week’s art. Chicken scratch. However, as the baton is passed, things have started looking up again in Issue 11. This week, we take another break from focusing on the Dark Knight shine the spotlight mainly on the ladies of the Bat Family…Batgirl in particular. With her father being framed for murder, it’s put her in a bad mood to say the least. So, now she’s headed out to Brazil to chase down a lead with which she can hopefully nail Carmine Falcone. This leads her to a showdown with a local baddie, Scorpiana. This delivers some satisfying action with a a twist of the bizarre more reminiscent of Batman Inc. than the trip to Hong Kong a couple of issues ago. Meanwhile in Gotham, Stephanie Brown is in detective mode, looking for insight into her father’s past and maybe the key to spoiling (See what I did there?) his plans. Despite feeling somewhat telegraphed and maybe a little late coming, this Cluemaster origin story turns out to be a pretty good read considering he’s sort of a C-lister at best.

However, the really strong material highlighting Alfred’s interaction with his estranged daughter, Julia Pennyworth, feels gone just a little too soon. Also, th…