Batman: Eternal Issues #1-4 Review

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This is Kevin Conway, and I am the Goddamn Batman.

Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig on

our latest comics and discuss them with a rotating

panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back. and enjoy

this week's Pull Bag. Hello and welcome to the

Pull Bag. This is episode 67. This is the official

start of the Batman 75th anniversary month coverage

here inside the Pull Bag. I am of course your

host, TMT One Mike. Joining me is Steve Megatron.

Hello. Hello. How are you? Tired and good, but

for the most part, good. Tired. Yeah, we are

here and we are here to kick off Batman month

with something from the future Throughout the

span of May we will go through 13 podcast episodes.

Yes. I know I went overboard Sorry, I actually

give a preview of what's gonna be coming up in

the next episode episode 68, so I'm not gonna

repeat myself here and people will be like, oh,

repeat yourself much? But today, you know, we're

here to talk about Batman Eternal. But before

we get to that. We have two emails, both from

Scanner51, one of our super fans. He says, Scanner51

here, let me start by saying, hell of a podcast.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything I listened to

on the network. I love the episode you guys did

on the variant covers. A lot of what you said

I agree with, but mainly the pricing and the

OCD aspect of it. Several months ago I got the

chance to meet Jim Lee, so I bought two variant

covers of Justice League No. 1. I paid $5 over

list price for both. Not mad about that, I saw

that he did before Watchmen, Night Owl No. 1,

cool looking cover, went to buy it and saw it

was at least $200 online. $200! There was no

way I was going to drop $200 for that, plus my

wife would kill me if I did. As for the OCD part

of it, I have become obsessed with the white

blank variant covers from DC. Currently trying

to get them all, I have four to go. I also become

obsessed with covers that connect together. Four

mini posters, JSA, JLA, from the mid -2000s were

great for these covers. I'm missing two, but

I'm fine with that. I don't know the point of

variant covers other than to entice people to

buy them to spend more money. They got me on

Forever Evil number two, but I was able to get

Ethan Vance Graver to sign the cover for me.

I'm going to try and limit my buying a buy ingredient

covers from now on. Again, if I buy too many,

my wife might kill me. Love the pull bag. Talk

to you guys again. Keep up the great work." And

then he wrote in again and says, first off, great

podcast. My 10 month old and I listen to the

network on our Friday walks. As I wrote above,

I have a 10 month old daughter. When told we

were having a girl, all I could picture was a

princess and fairies. But hey, there are strong

female heroes out there too for her to look up

to. So for the past ten months I have been buying

female -centric comic covers for her room. Batgirl,

Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and so on. I'm very

picky, but about what I buy, the cover has to

be cool -looking, and of course female, have

a strong powerful look, and at least three quarters

of the hero must be visible. Man, that fourth

quarter always gets dropped, doesn't it? I think

the coolest one she has is a JSA cover of Liberty

Bell by Alex Ross. I've been doing the same for

myself, though with the hopes to get either the

artist or writer to sign it later. It's like

a cool wallpaper now for both her room and our

empty third bedroom. My wife is not on board

with this idea. My question is, do any of you

guys collect comics based on cover artwork alone?

Basically, to me, it's like I'm collecting art

and putting it up for display. Like I said, cool

-looking wallpaper. Thanks for reading your loyal

listener, Scanner51. For me, I will buy a cover,

or I will buy a book, but it's because the cover's

part of it, but it has to be a story I want to

read. the whole point of comic covers, you know,

it's the same thing as a movie trailer or a commercial

on TV. It's to entice you to pick it up and see

what it's about. And most of the time, I try

to find the coolest covers I can. However, at

the same time, I've turned into where I'm not

even collecting comics at this point. I'm getting

them, reading them, enjoying them at the time.

Recording podcasts about them here inside the

pull bag and then trading them in for For the

next You know batch of stuff that I want to get

What about you Steve? Do you collect the comics

for the cover arts? sometimes Sometimes it depends

on the cover like sometimes I could not give

a crap less about the interior and Just because

the the cover art is so spectacular I considered

the story in the book to be bonus material If

it's something I didn't care for anyway But I've

been known to pick up an issue here or there

just based on the cover like I think legend or

the Dark Knight it was Batman comic They had

an issue where it showed Bane breaking Batman's

back Yeah, and I picked it up because of the

nostalgia for the Nightfall comics, where Bane

did that to Batman. And it was very reminiscent

of that old issue. So I picked it up because

it's modern art of Batman and comics, and I've

actually never read the issue. Yeah, I keep hearing

about Batman and Bane, and Bane breaking his

back. I've seen it in animation several different

times. We kind of saw it in The Dark Knight Rises,

but I still have yet to read that story. I need

to go back and read that eventually. Alright,

so like I said, we are here to talk about the

first four issues of Batman Eternal, and you

might be listening to this and saying, but Tf2

and Mike, you said no more single issue coverage

anymore. What's going on here? Well, here's the

thing. Batman Eternal is a year -long weekly

series. DC is doing celebrating 75 years of Batman

Yes, the pull bag has gone to trade coverage,

but I just couldn't wait with these because You

may or may not agree with me I don't I don't

know we because you and I haven't really talked

about eternal too much kind of saving it for

this I Am in love with this book after reading

these first four issues It's just as good not

gonna say it's better than but it's just it's

on the same level of awesomeness as the court

of vows story that Snyder did for the first run

of the ongoing and I Have to be able to talk

about these and singles at least for now It might

change when we get to issues five through eight.

I might stop after that. I don't know What were

your initial thoughts on Batman eternal in the

whole five -year jump and everything else? Mean

honestly, I like the The being jumped in the

future rather than jumping five years ten years

in the past Yeah, I'm sorry six Yeah All right,

so we're just gonna dive right into it now I

have the print issues I believe the first four

print issues might be going into the grand, not

grand, but the prize packs for the GCRN five

-year online contest, I don't know yet. But I

am looking at these through ComiXology, so I'll

be going through them on their guide. You know,

ladies and gentlemen, when Steve first got me

into comics, when he coaxed me into reading Death

of the Family, issue 13 of Batman, I was solely

print. I need it in my hand. Digital? What's

that? I'm not gonna buy a $500 iPad just to read

some damn comics. And I found out that Comixology,

you can use their website to do the same thing

you could do on an iPad. It's just on your computer.

And their guided view technology is so amazing

because it takes you story. It takes you basically

storyboard by storyboard and it draws your eye

to certain things and what they draw your eye

to is It just depends on what the panel is, but

it's absolutely amazing So we start out with

the end Gotham is burning. That's not good that's

not good at all i like it better when it burns

god all's i can think of now is let me tell you

something oh fire marshal bill uh gotham is burning

um and someone says your allies have been slaughtered

your city is burning to the ground i have taken

everything from you piece by piece Watch Bruce

watches you lose everything and then we flash

to now I Gotta say you know Having the story

start like this is very interesting Excuse me

very interesting Because you have no idea what's

going on at the end So we see you know Gotham

is basically um it's basically under martial

law uh it's you know it's got a curfew now and

we um we see yeah we see uh Harvey Bullock and

and Bard uh Jason Bard transfer lieutenant out

of Detroit and they're meeting for The first

time and barred thoughts that he was gonna be

meeting Gordon and a firefight breaks out You

know and I believe That Gordon is talking to

Batman And we have professor pig now Professor

pig the first time I had ever seen him ever knew

about him was the boy the Batman cartoon Seeing

him in that and comparing that to this it's very

Interesting how they adultified him compared

to what he is in the cartoon As far as his mask

goes because his mask is more obviously cartoonish

Because it's a cartoon in the cartoon if that

makes any sense Mm -hmm so Gordon is facing off

with professor pig and Then we run into Batman

What do you think of the art in this so far Not

that bad. Actually. I it's it's pretty much along

the same lines as what we've been reading in

detective Yeah, it's almost like capital blows

art Yeah, a little bit. It's the artist on this

one that The artist on all four of these actually

is Jason Fabuck and he does amazing, amazing

work. So, Batman comes in, saves the day, asks

about... How the children are and go and says

some of them might need to go to the hospital

Pig dose them with something trying to make them

into dull tron dollotrons But they're alive Batman

for now And you commissioner this warhorse is

still some fight left in them And they go and

they go on attack and we then switched to another

part of the story where someone looks like someone's

robbing us oh no no this is another part of the

story they're chasing them that's right and batman

says take the stray man i've got pig it's really

and this is really where the story picks up because

we all know what's gonna happen when batman catches

professor pig so i think it's great that they

have us they have the reader follow gordon instead

of batman because i mean it's batman i mean come

on yep so we um we get to pig um we um Then flashback

to the cave and Alfred calls him. He says you

should get down to the subway, sir The Commissioner

isn't chasing his man on the tracks, but there

are trains approaching from both directions done

done done Copy that penny one. Okay. I need to

talk about this. Okay, I Recently as of I think

zero is the start of zero year It might have

happened in death of the family, but I don't

remember it because I would have bitched about

it then too Batman says okay. I know Batman can't

say Alfred. I get that because he would people

would figure it out But calling, you know, you

know cave one or Penny. Well, it's just I Just

a little thing that irks the hell out of me What

do you think about the chase so far? It's not

too bad. I mean, I don't know, like the first

issue I'm kind of meh on. I'm liking the dynamic

of focusing more on Gordon and Batman. Having

the old crime bosses and having the crooked mayor

and everything going on. It's it's You can definitely

tear tell they're gearing up for something Huge.

Oh, yeah, most definitely because it's not just

a crooked mayor. Major Forbes is also crooked

We meet him and he's talking about he's talking

to bard and Bullock and um and then you know

Forbes says then you don't understand a damn

thing not that Gordon does either never did quite

grasp how this city is supposed to work so you

can clearly tell without even really knowing

a lot about Forbes that he's crooked because

This is going back kinda, Snyder is kind of referencing

year one a little bit with the whole crooked

police thing and everything else. I like that.

So we get back to the man on the tracks that

Jim was chasing. Now, I was kind of confused

about this at first, but then I looked at the

panel again and the dude is holding a gun. So,

I don't know if it's... ...supposed to be...

...Gordon's perspective... ...Gordon's perspective

and our perspective that the guy holds a gun...

...or if it's supposed to be that we're just

being lied to the whole time because after Gordon

shoots the guy... ...there's no gun. But in all

of these panels even when Gordon shoots at the

guy and hits the the the high voltage line There's

still a gun in the guy's hand and then there's

no gun So Batman Is screaming cut all power on

the grid, I don't care how many buildings it

shuts down stop those trains The system's not

responding sir override it damn it We get to

the train they're not gonna be able to stop and

ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry And we end up

having a train wreck and it's a massive massive

train wreck And what's so great about the comixology

going guided view panel by panel is you get storyboarded

shots of this train wreck in small little pieces

of how everyone's affected, how Batman's affected,

and after the page where Batman's affected, it's

just black. And then you arrow over to the next

page, and I was just trying to disarm him. I

never meant to, and... You know Batman says Jim

I was patching the security footage that man

wasn't carrying a gun. Yes. He was we all saw

it Yeah, it's it's starting to look very fishy

like they're framing him on purpose Yeah, yeah

pretty much And you know this is where the whole

Frame -up happens the crooked cops want to get

rid of the good cop And then I love the exchange

between Gordon and Bard. You're going to recruit

Jason Bard from Detroit, right? It's an honor

to meet you, sir. I just wish you'll do great,

son. I wouldn't have recruited you if I thought

otherwise. Do you remember what I said to you

back over the phone? Yes, of course. No, not

you. What? Oh, I don't know. Continue. Not you.

I'm reading the line. Do you remember what I

said to you back over the phone? Yes, of course.

Don't you forget it. Don't you ever forget it.

Now do your job so you can get to helping these

people. I'm not important. They are. He asks

him, do you understand? Yes, sir. So they arrest

Jim Gordon. And we flashed to... Can you believe

the commissioner did all this? Well, he's only

human. He was found to screw up subtype. We all

can't be Batman. Can't you see it now, Bruce?

Can't you see the grand design? Next, James Gordon,

public enemy number one. I like the first issue.

It pulled me into the world. You know, it leaves

me with questions of what's going on, like what

happened during these these five years or what

happened between the then and the now and and

how how it all happened. And I know that Snyder

and his team of writers, because it's not just

Snyder on this book, it's Scott Snyder, James

Tenney in the fourth, Ray Fox. Faux Fox FAWK

is John layman and Tim Sealy And it's really

really interesting I will say though that I'm

Just They really need to get rid of channel 52.

I really hate that. I wish they'd just bring

back the letters page Yeah, pretty much because

If they want to advertise things that are happening

throughout the Batman universe or the new 52,

that's what they should use this All Access page

for. That's really what they should use that

for. But anyway, first issue overall, I enjoyed

it. I thought it was a good read. I thought...

Reading it in the guided view on a comixology

was an interesting way for storytelling. Very

awesome. It made me want to really pick up the

second issue, which obviously I didn't use while

we were talking about it. What are your overall

thoughts on the first issue? Nice set up overall.

It's nothing spectacular yet. Keyword there is

yet So for issue 2 the cover is a Batman silhouette

with Jim Gordon in cuffs. What do you think of

this cover? I Think it's a cover Doesn't doesn't

entice you at all I mean, I like it. I like it's

a silhouette of Batman over over the front of

it, but It's I I find the covers are great for

this. I just, some of the stuff I wish would

move a little bit faster, but I get that they're

setting up for something epic. So I'm still...

So issue two opens up with Gotham City Hall.

And we have Mayor... Haiti, talking with Forbes,

I believe. And we see, you know, we have Mayor

Haiti finding someone that is saying exactly

what I said it would, well. Haiti goes, what

the hell is this damn city coming to? And then

someone shows up. Exactly what I said it would

five years ago. He says, you. And we don't really

find out who that person is just yet. We get

a nice wide shot of the train accident. And then

we go to Vicky Vale and her editors and her other

people. You know they want to run the story and

her editor wants her to run the story, but there's

no real facts in yet I Love the other guy he

says after after he tell after the the editor

tells Vicky to post it He says the the other

guy says there walks a man. I would happily be

to death with a sledgehammer And then Vicky says,

you've been reading way too many Joker retrospectives.

Let's just get this thing over with. Thought

that was absolutely awesome. So we go to Cherry

Hill. This is where Barbara Gordon lives, and

we're focused on a picture of her and her father.

And her phone or bat signal thing, whatever,

just went off. She says, I just heard about the

accident. I'm changing into my work clothes now.

Batgirl, that was more than an accident. In this

city, I mostly figure who's behind it this time,

Batman. That's why I called. I thought you should

hear it from me. And then apparently he tells

her, and she's just like, no. And we get onto

the narrows. And we see Harper Rowe. Yay, Harper

Rowe. Oh, God. So her and her brother, technically

she's part of the Bad Family now, I guess. And

we see her, we see the Red Hood. We see Luke,

who I assume is Luke Fox. Yeah, Fox Manor. We

see him, we see Batwoman, we see Red Robin, who

apparently is in New York, he's in Metropolis

of all places, I mean, New York City. I do love

the exchange, though. Forgive me, but should

you really be discussing this mid -battle? It's

Alfred on the com. And he goes, it's just robots,

not the hearing kind of robots, either. How can

you be sure I built them? Absolutely love that.

So we come back to Gotham Central Booking We're

gonna get you out of there Commissioner Step

out of the shadows so I can see you. Nobody's

on guard. They're still down at the subway station

pulling out bodies He says how many people I

I have to know Batman and the panel where it

shows Batman's face is just It's priceless, it

really is, because this is some big shit that

Gordon has got himself into. So they have a conversation.

What do you think of how they're portrayed here,

the friendship between Batman and Gordon here?

It's showing that Batman's not gonna give up

on... Commissioner Gordon. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely

love that. So we get back down to. We go to the

roof of City Hall later. And we see that Mayor

Hattie is remembering you know the bodies washed

up along the breakers the way your man would

burn every burn away every discernible creature

do you remember the other side of it Sebastian

do you remember the way this city would bend

to your will and we still don't see this character

I mean And that's what I love about this second

issue is we're still left in the dark as to who

this actually is. Because it's not Poison Ivy,

it's not Two -Face, it's not the Joker. He's

probably dead, but we come to find out... I think

we find out in this issue that it is Carmine

Falcone, which is interesting. This is an active

crime scene. You can't be down here. It's on

days like this... you wander in the depths of

your mind why you came to the city don't you

officer strode um how did you know my name i

know a lot of things nancy for instance 30 seconds

from now you won't remember that i was even here

you won't remember the way um looking directly

into my eyes made you feel and it's this mysterious

green guy who apparently is um What's his name

Major Forbes, so that's interesting Still loving

Jason Fabric's art is amazing in this it really

is all the different colors and the way the designs

are on the city We go to we go to Arkham And

it's It got a little weird in here in Arkham,

don't you think? As far as... As far as the giant

green skeleton? I guess so. I mean... Blackfire?

That's a little strange. We go back to the MTA

building. Batman's basically knocked everybody

out. and we run into Catwoman this is really

what makes this story interesting for this issue

and she realizes that it's different tonight

and he says I don't have time I don't have time

for you right now Catwoman she's like She's basically

flirting the hell out of with Batman and I like

their dynamic here I'm still not too much of

a fan of the the orange goggles, but the rest

of the suit looks great on her And Batman's trying

to figure out who is behind all of this And he

goes no not him And we find out that it is, like

I said, Carmine and the mayor. And we see that

it is Carmine. Something happened within these

five years. Again, we get to like why does the

ambush bug have to be the news reporter now?

God these channel 52 things Overall issue 2 was

really really exciting. I absolutely love the

art in it. I I Love the way that Facebook has

designed Catwoman. I love the design on I love

how Snyder's writing is really keeping me on

the edge of my seat. This is what I look for

in a comic. If the comic can keep me on the edge

of my seat and keep me guessing and not being

able to predict what the hell is going to happen

next, then it's done its job. If it's not something

that is, as I'm reading it, is boring the hell

out of me, then it's done its job. Any, uh, what

are your final thoughts on the second issue?

Uh, overall not too bad. It was nice seeing some

cameos in there from other people other than

Batman, uh, as well as, uh, showing that he actually

is afraid of somebody that's not a freak. Yep.

I'm just waiting for... Wait, I'm sorry. They're

both dead. I was gonna say I'm waiting for Damien

and and Dick Grayson to show up, but they're

both dead Issue three issue three as soon as

I saw this cover I was like, oh my god. Yes It

is the Batmobile screeching down the street with

an explosion behind it Which I believe those

are either criminals cars or cop cars. I can't

figure out which ones I don't see any actual

police markings, but it could be either or It

could be what do you what do you think of the

Batmobile design on the cover for issue 3? I

like that one Not my favorite, but I still like

it Yeah So in issue 3 this is where we get more

of The return of Stephanie Brown now the last

time you and I talked about her was in Batman

28 When they gave us a preview of what eternal

was going to look at it. Here's the thing Do

you remember reading 28? Do I remember what one?

Issue 28 of the ongoing that's is that the one

where Batman was in the future Yep Yeah, then

I do Yeah I'm wondering if that's going to be

the outcome Because they gave us a glimpse there,

but here they're telling us how that's gonna

become reality So I'm wondering where that fits

in basically Because this is leading up to that

because right now we're being introduced to Stephanie

Brown here in eternal and she's out on the street

and you know her mother's like Stephanie Brown

you listen to your mother she wants to go back

to her father's house because she forgot something

she goes back and she sees that her father is

actually the clue master what You've got to be

kidding me seriously a Batman villain so I mean

it's it's like friggin Sandman or something from

the 66 series the clue master sounds like a flash

villain Yeah, it sounds really lame It is really

doesn't sound really lame. It is really lame

So his associates are like Arthur you told us

we wouldn't be disturbed It was your job to secure

the place look up for God's sakes call Call me

clue master Dad, why are you dressed like that?

Who are these people? What the hell is going

on here? And they basically shut her up. We go

to GCBD headquarters later And we see more with

Bullock and Forbes and bullocks like you watch

your mouth Forbes And we are introduced to Captain

Maggie Sawyer. It was interesting to see her

here considering she's usually in Metropolis.

I had no idea who the hell she was. Maggie Sawyer

was, at least from the DC Animated Universe,

she was a top coffin metropolis with Dan Turpin.

In the comics, I believe she was Batwoman's girlfriend.

Ah. So, there is that. So, Bard goes to see the

Commissioner. Bard says you won't be in here

long. You're not the first person to say that

tonight. I doubt I'll be the last. And they go

through the fact of he's out there, Batman's

out there, he's doing his job, and Bard walks

away. We then cut to the Iceberg Casino later.

And we see the penguin. What do you think of

this design of the penguin? It's kind of a mix

between the first BTAS and the first Bat Film.

Yeah. And partially from the previous of the

comics. So, I mean, it's I kind of see what they're

going for. I mean, it's again, it's the Penguin.

I haven't really liked any of the Penguin styles

since maybe the 60s. So Batman shows up Penguin

tries to make some small talk Batman basically

just screams enough tell me everything you know

about the whereabouts of Carmine Falcom What

is this? Are you trying to ruffle my feathers?

He's gone long gone. I made sure of that years

ago Because the penguin is under the impression

that he rules the city now and Batman says you're

telling me you don't know what's happening the

Batman is trying to give me a history lesson

apparently Carmine Falcone is back in Gotham

City that's not possible I would have heard I

would have known if I find out that you're working

together after what I did to him you think he

would ever side with me So this is setting up

something that the penguin did to Carmine that

we don't know just yet and that's That's really

interesting to see and again the whole history

thing that the whole what has happened in the

in these five years I love how the Snyder and

the rest of the writers are basically just drawing

this out Yeah, yeah Absolutely love that so So

we go back to the mayor's office With major Forbes

is there now with Falcone and the mayor Forbes

says I'd say the police have better things to

do than worry about something like that. Now.

That's just what I was hoping you'd say we then

go back to the bat cave and the bat caves a little

bit interesting i don't know how much it's changed

over these past five years but if you look at

that first panel it has one of the original bat

suits and what i can only assume is the robin

suit one of them anyway has the super giant computer

And Batman basically says it doesn't add up Alfred

none of it does Derek Grady the man Gordon Chased

out under the train tracks. He left the city

five years ago with the other top Falcone men

He was a ghost in the system until yesterday

when he came back to Gotham City He used his

real name at the airport it seems clear he wasn't

pigs henchmen longer than a few hours Did he

walk into the room and pigs diluted mine merely

accepted his presence So I love how Batman's

trying to figure all this out and I love how

Alfred is trying to help him What do you think

of this the the whole detecting thing here It's

fine it's I don't I don't really have any preference

about it What do you think of the art in the

cave? How the arts done in the cave? Doesn't

really look all that much different than it normally

would Yeah, there's a few slight differences,

but it's I mean I the Suitcase was you know This

was different, but I Mean for the most part other

than that it really wasn't anything major And

the final page in the cave is We see Batman heading

to the Batmobile and we see a basically I don't

know what This is like a mixture of the 89 to

the Batman forever and part of the tumbler a

little bit. Don't you think? For the Batmobile.

Yeah It was a little strange looking how they

set that up. I I like it, but I don't So then

we cut back to the home of Arthur Brown who is

Stephanie's father And they're saying that there's

only one loose end and that's the girl She wakes

up her father's gonna shoot her You know, she

says stop. She gets away, jumps out the window.

Please God, this can't be happening to me. We

go to Gotham City later, somebody pulls a gun

on Batman. He says, I'm guessing you're the man

who led this operation trying to encroach on

the Penguin's territory. It's a dangerous game.

you'll be safer in Blackgate. So we then go back

to the Iceberg Lounge where they put the penguin

and his henchmen and we find out that it's a

coordinated strike. Penguins like this is a private

meeting young man. I'm sorry. It's just 12 of

our weapons deposed across the city. They're

all burning and Penguins like no not already

and he's and somebody else asks him what's going

on and he says Falcone Imperceptible man, mr.

Mosaic hypnotic mr. Combustible call your men.

I need them all tonight. This city is going to

war So the police are all getting ready to go

for war and Major Forbes basically comes in and

says, no we're not, we're not going anywhere.

And then we switch back to the streets and we

see the Batmobile. Now what do you think of it

here in action? I think it's in action. Funny.

Funny. And Batman's like how can Falcone be so

bold so quickly how can he be so prepared? And

he says what the hell is going on? The Going

back to the GCBD and they're arguing and Maggie's

like people are dying out there You don't have

the authority to stop us from doing our jobs

Did you see the the chalkboard? Yeah, they have

Joker and Court of Owls. Yep. That was a nice

nod. Cold cases the Joker? Court of Owls. So

that might be a hint for what's coming in the

future after Zero Year. So we have Forbes and

Haiti against Bullock and Sawyer. And she's basically

telling him, look, they're counting on us to

do our jobs. And then we see more of this chalkboard

and part of it says Cherry Hill, part of it says

Icarus. There's a Jim Gordon thing on there.

I'm trying to, uh... Dick Grayson, Nightwing,

Deceased. Uh... Jerks. Um... So, Forbes' basic

mission for the police force now is to not even

do anything about what Falcone is doing. Their

mission is to hunt the vigilante known as Batman.

And he draws a giant bat symbol on the board.

And he mentions Zero Year. Yeah, he mentions

Zero Year. Unfortunately. At least it's just

a mention. So Stephanie calls her mother, tells

her what's going on. Well, she doesn't tell her

what's going on. She's talking to herself, waiting

for the phone to pick up. then we go next Batman

versus Batgirl so we've got that for issue three

I gotta say I'm still loving the story I'm still

you know really interested to see what the heck

is going on here because it is very interesting

We've got so many things going on. You've got

whatever's going on with Cobblepot. You've got

whatever is going on with Falcone. You've got

Professor Pig. You've got all these things going

at once. And you would think juggling all of

this stuff at once would make it seem like it's

too much. Or it would make it seem like it's

a Spider -Man 3 syndrome. Snyder and the other

writers do it very well. I mean, it's a whole

story that, you know, basically takes you in

different directions without overloading you

with too many things at once. Yeah, I get that.

So the final issue we're going to talk about

is, of course, issue four. It's Batman versus

Batgirl. The cover is basically Batman and Batgirl

in a fight in a lightning storm. And again, this

reminds me of The lightning strike from Dark

Knight Returns when he is silhouetted against

the lightning Even though this time around it's

just it's just him and Batgirl fighting Let me

guess you don't care for this cover either. No,

I like it Cool so So this issue is basically

Batman and Batgirl all the way There's a little

there's a few revelations in here about Stephanie

Brown, which is really interesting This is something

I did not see coming and we'll get to a little

bit later We start with Batgirl. No all this

destruction all this death This is and then we

go to We go to this is all your fault James Gordon

And she keeps saying no as she's fighting pigmen

And this is the trial of Gordon, and the judge

is basically saying, because of your negligence,

and it's interesting how they've crafted this

script for this story. You've got the trial going

on at one point, and you've got Batgirl fighting

all these guys at the other point, and the conversation

in the story, even though they're not talking

to each other, the judge talking to Gordon, and

it's like Batgirl, I assume... She's basically

hacked into some audio transceiver Batman has

at the courthouse or something and she's listening

into the trial That's the only thing I can think

of But it's an interesting way to tell the story

We go back to the trial 162 dead billions in

damage critical Gotham infrastructure destroyed

You know, and the judge is like, I'm sorry, Commissioner

Mr. Gordon, but the prosecution is correct that

you are a flight risk. Which, it's interesting,

because I didn't expect Barbara to be at the

trial. Well, I kind of did and I kind of didn't,

but how they set up the story in the beginning

with that girl on one side and the trial on the

other, and then all of a sudden she's there at

the trial, that was an interesting switch. Yeah,

I was it was kind of nice seeing her there not

necessarily having to Be in the suit Right And

she stands up and yells out no this isn't true.

He didn't do it and judge says order in the court

we flashed to Batman versus Batgirl and The title

of the story injustice for all Yeah, that wasn't

coincidental. I just like the nod to Justice

League. So, Batman and Batgirl here, they look

straight, like I love Fable's design on them,

but they look weird. Yeah, I noticed the art

changed in this issue too. Yeah, but I almost

I almost like it better because it's almost like

the batman and beyond batman the animated series

kind of stylized The reason why it changed in

this issue Isn't because it's fey book anymore

the art in this one is Pencils by dustin nijin

again inks by derrick fridolf's Colorist is John

Callas, and the lettering is Rob Lee. The cover

was done by Jason Fabook. But it's basically

Dustin Nijan and Derek Freedolfs with the art.

But this Batman here on this title page that

we see, Batman Eternal and Justice for All, you

know what he reminds me of? Who? Arctic Batman,

the action figure, is what that reminds me of.

Nice. And Batgirl she kind of her suit is at

least in this image. It's a little bit purple

So it kind of reminds me of the 66 Yvonne Craig

suit And even in the courtroom here is Barbara

Gordon her her actual suit is is a little bit

Black and purple, which is interesting So she's

still you know popping off at the mouth and the

judge is like you better shut he doesn't say

this but basically you better be quiet or you

know find yourself in contempt and Gordon you

know is basically telling her this isn't helping

And they they take Gordon away and we flash back

to what I assume is the current and you know

she says leave me alone Batman Batgirl you can't

do this I said leave me alone and I thought she

was gonna smack him I really thought she was

gonna punch him out like like Robin did in old

wounds that's what I was hoping for anyway Batman's

like compose yourself Batgirl this batman this

this panel with Batman saying that his cowl I

Don't know if it's I Think it's the nose because

the nose piece on the cowl here Kind of reminds

me of the vetoes penguin nose from Batman returns.

It's a little strange looking in that image You

know and he basically tells her look around pigs

henchmen You're beating them half to death and

her response is what are you gonna start giving

me lecture on excessive force now? They're scum.

I call this justice But this isn't justice You're

after is it did you see Jim Gordon a in that

courthouse? I don't know what makes me matter

the look on his face is they hauled him away

or the smarmy smirk of that So be Forbes as he

sent a fellow member of the GCBD to the river

or up the river Like you said I you know the

various angles on Batman and Batgirl in their

costumes Yeah, it looks very animated series

like and I do like that It's an interesting way

to go and Don't mind that the art changed, but

I still would like to see more of a fae book

on this So we get to Stephanie Brown she finally

gets a hold of her mother and She basically tells

her you know you know I can help you where are

you staying? You know stay there. I'll be there

to get you and Her mother flips on some sort

of video phone or something and she basically

contacts Stephanie's father so she knows what's

going on I was like wait wait wait what come

on you gotta be kidding me so she knows what's

going on apparently that's interesting I'm gonna

see it's gonna be interesting to see how that

plays out we then go back to GCPD headquarters

and Forbes and Bart are going back and forth

and you see the paint guy painting over Gordon's

office door and Forbes is basically saying Gordon's

a sloppy cop who breaks laws and cuts corners

maybe sir but Blackgate prison I feel sorry for

anyone and I feel sorry for all the families

of every person whose death certificate I had

to poor over after that train crash so they're

basically throwing the commissioner under the

bus here I I'm not sure if I well I like the

the art on Batman and Batgirl the new art I'm

not sure if I like the new art on on the cops

Harvey is fine Harvey looks like Harvey is supposed

to look Although I will say they gave him a yellow

jacket. So hey Dick Tracy. Yay Let's see what

else here Any any thoughts on the scene so far

do you have a favorite scene to this point where

we get the cops and everything else I Don't have

a favorite scene per se but I I am Liking the

direction that they're they're going and it's

kind of taking Batman's friend and mentor out

of the equation Yeah Yeah, so we go back to Batman

and he crashes down on one of the villains because

we're at Falcone's penthouse So Batman is basically

kicking the crap out of everybody Somebody says,

no more. What's going on here? I wanted to talk

to Falcone. Your men didn't want to let me. You

said no interruptions, boss. You said no interruptions.

We'll discuss this later. I'd love to forgive

my employees. The general competency of hirelings

seems to have diminished in my absence. You know

Batman asks him about Grady and everything else

and Batman basically points out that he's come

here to start something and he's already begun

and Basically leaves by telling him I'm watching

you Falcone and then we get The Batwing you really

can't see it very well because it doesn't do

a close -up on it, but That's an interesting

hover batwing don't you think mm -hmm I hope

we get to see more of that So we get back to

the cave and Alfred says that Barbara refused

to listen a reason and we have Barbara and Bruce

Going over the computer and she's looking at

the footage again. She's looking at the holographic

footage of the train crash and commissioners

uh... uh... his shootout and she finds a guy

and does facial recognition and uh... bruce's

is asking her this is your culprit based on what

you know he's trying to show her that you have

to step back and look at this objectively you

have to uh... you know Not go off of emotions

and you have to you know, really get to the truth

and she says she's going to She says I'm not

going to let him I'm not gonna leave him to rot

and Then we have welcome to Blackgate where the

Commissioner is now being put into Blackgate

prison And we see warden Zurbados, please call

me Agatha. What an absolute pleasure to see you

Gordon She's basically a female Nightwing because

she has no eye no right eye anyway So they basically

stick Gordon in general population not Not a

good thing for Gordon at all whatsoever now what

do you think of this ending here because we're

almost done with this one um and uh gordon's

cellmate leo new guy you can call me leo um i'd

say make yourself at home which you shouldn't

really bother cops in blackgate they don't last

very long and cops in blackgate jen pop they

might as well skip the trial um you had your

head and And hand you your death sentence right

here and now. And we end with, uh, next, um,

nanobot nightmare. What do you think of this

Leo guy? Do you think? We've seen this happen

before. Do you think that's Bruce? No. Really?

Yep. See, I almost thought when I read it. I

almost thought it might be Bruce to keep a better

eye on On Gordon What is interesting about this

issue is we get Batman and the new 52 of the

future with the channel 52 page this is probably

the only channel 52 page I Really kind of like

when the futures and the blood moon shall rise

we see batman beyond we see some sort of other

batman we see superman robots we see uh... what

else do we see here uh... i believe that's mister

terrific in the background uh... so very very

awesome uh... i cannot wait Like, I am really

stoked for this series. This series, all four

issues are just amazing for me. They really are.

What about you, Final Thoughts on the fourth

issue? It's definitely leading somewhere. It

seems like they, you know, it's a lot nicer than

what it once was at the beginning. Yeah. Mean,

I think it all has to do with story and setup

and you know They have to take at least the first

two to set everything up and then three and four

kind of still set up but not They pay certain

things off, but then they they take you into

other directions and new directions Absolutely

love it We're gonna take a quick break here come

back with final ratings after this Sorry third

night in a row with no sleep We are back, and

for the first four issues of Batman Eternal,

issue one, I'm gonna give it a four out of five.

I really did like it. It's a nice setup. It's

interesting how Snyder and his team of writers

can direct us in so many different things without

taking away from each thing. I absolutely love

that. I love the whole in the future thing without,

you know, jump ahead in the future and then tell

us in flashbacks of what the hell happened or

whatever else. For the first issue, like I said,

I absolutely loved it. What about you? It was

pretty good. I really like the cover, so that's

probably why I like that one just more. Yeah,

awesome. Issue two. I thought it was pretty perfect

storytelling. I'm gonna give it a five. I really

thought it was great how they continued the Gordon

setup, how they worked on the, you know, they

did the train accident. How we have this mysterious

green -eyed monster somewhere, you know, lurking

around who I think is Forbes, but I could be

wrong. What about you on issue two? I'd probably

give it a three Okay, okay for me on issue number

three with the Batmobile I Don't know the story

dragged a little bit here as I read back through

it I'll give it a four and a half If it did a

little bit more than what it did, even though

it did a lot, it would be perfect, but I'll put

it at almost perfect. What about you? Four, number

three? Yeah. I'll give it a three and a half.

All right. For me, number four, issue four, it's

Batman and Batgirl. I love how the two of them

approach detective work differently. or she basically

does the searching for information but she goes

off without really thinking about it so it's

going to be interesting to see what happens when

she does this in later issues. So, I like the

art changes. They're a little strange with some

of the other characters, like the cops, because

I think when Fae Book was drawing the cops, they

looked a little bit more hard -edged. And when

the Jinn is drawing them and Free Dolls, they

seem a little bit more cartoony. I like the cartoon

style for Batman and Batgirl in issue 4, but...

It doesn't work with the rest of the characters,

I don't think. Not with the cops, anyway. Specifically

the Bullock, Bard, and Forbes. Number four, I'll

give it another four and a half. It is really

enjoyable. What about you for number four? I'll

probably match yours. All right. Now, let me

ask you, after reading these first four issues,

Are you gonna want to continue reading this this

series or um I'll probably wait and pick it up

as a trade so I could read it all at once Because

it's not one of those ones. I care to spend four

dollar four dollar four dollar week after week

Yeah Well, I'd rather spend the three well actually

This isn't a this isn't a four dollar book. You

know that right? That it's it I'm not too impressed

with a lot of the DC stuff coming out right now

Yeah, no, these are all these are all 299 issues.

So there are three dollar books So they're not

they're basically the same price as a Nightwing

or a Batgirl issue. I Would rather pick this

up then pick up Batman right now, honestly Even

though issue 30 was pretty damn good for the

first chapter of the final chapter of zero year

I'm still more excited for Eternal than I am

for the current Batman ongoing that Snyder's

doing. Oh, then I will totally agree with you.

So, yeah, I'm not sure. You know, this was kind

of a test. I'm not saying that we're going to

continue doing single issues for Bad Eternal.

We might. We may not. Steve may not want to do

issues five through eight, so I may have somebody

else come in. I'm not sure. Probably. I don't

honestly know if I could wait for trade on this

one, I really don't, because it's got me excited

to reading Snyder's Batman again. you know, to

read him writing that character. The Eternal

Series has got me excited for reading his writing

for Batman again, just like I was excited reading

Court of Owls. So I don't know if I could wait

for trades on this one. I really don't. All right,

coming up next here on Batman Month, we kick

it off once again with episode 68, where JT and

I talk about Batman 66, issues five through eight.

Steve, where can the people reach you online

if they would like to do so? On Twitter at SCP

-21. You can reach me on Twitter at TF2 and Mike.

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