This probably isn’t the best issue to jump back into the solo world of the Dark Knight. It is by no means a bad book by any standards, instead it just serves as nothing more than filler issue that does little to really drive the series forward.
In fact, it feels more along the lines of one of those “Say No To Drugs!” comics that inundated us as kids in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The only difference is that Batman Eternal has a fantastic writer behind it, so it can get away with it -sort of.
Scott Snyder always does wonders not only with Batman, but with his long and storied history. It always nice when he mentions the less than impressive rouges that peppered Batman’s rogue gallery and this issue has a nice bit where we get to see (ha!) the ten-eyed man featured for a bit.
Batman himself serves as a secondary to much of everything going on in the story. Batman Eternal #44 really revolves around what everyone else is doing with regards to all the escaped Arkham inmates (always fun seeing Red Hood in a series role, even if it’s just a single panel). Batwing and Bluebird get the most page time of the bunch, but little is done to drive the story forward in a meaningful way. It just reeks of filler and is an issue that if you skipped, you wouldn’t be missing anything.
The most surprising part of Batman Eternal #44 is the callback to the image in Batman Begins where the criminals in The Narrows see Batman as a real Bat monster because of the fear gas that was released. It’s a striking panel and the entire segment, while feeling more than a little “been there done that”, is done very well with some really engaging art work thanks to Aco.
Of course, since Batman isn’t dealing with one of his classic rogues it all feels very bland. I don’t know if this is something indicative of the writing as Snyder does some amazing work, or if it is telling of the Batman character himself. He has been so elevated to near god like status in recent years that when he is fighting street level crime(s) he looks like Superman fighting a 90 year old lady.
This means that you can see the twist ending from a mile away. We know that this baddie that is causing problems is just a scapegoat to a much bigger threat. While it’s effective on paper, in the world of modern Batman any fan could see it coming. Instead of the “No way” kind of twist ending they may have been shooting for we get a “It figures” kind of ending. It’s just not a story that has any real substance.
At the end of the day Batman Eternal #44 is a decent book, but one that does very little to drive this current story-arc forward in a meaningful way. The writing is feels pretty average which is weird, considering six people had their hands involved in it. It should also be noted that we get a few pages at books end devoted to The Suiciders, a new series coming to Vertigo Comics. It’s all so “meh” and I really wished they used the space for more Batman.
If you aren’t following along with Batman Eternal then you can skip this one and jump in with the next issue If you are a fan of the series you are going to still feel a little let down, but will appreciate seeing what else is going on in Gotham.
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