Batman Eternal #15 Review

 

Arkham's extra spooky, Tim flies to the home of kabuki, and a plastic surgeon's in deep dookie. In this fifteenth installment of DC's Batman weekly, our team of writers break out supernatural elements I'm not used to reading about in Batman titles, but Dustin Nguyen's art suits well. It's too bad a lot of it involves Batwing, a character I can't even remember half the time exists. As usual, there's very little actual Batman in this Batman weekly. I guess he's too busy cracking that drug ring in 'Tec, or hunting down Ra's al Ghul in Batman &. But at least we have plenty of... uh, Jim Corrigan, I guess.

 

Red Robin finally arrives in the Land of the Rising Sun with Harper Row in tow. Apparently Harper's going with the Grifter look with that schmatta tied to her her face like that. I don't know why she feels she needs to conceal her identity in Japan. Most people don't even know who she is in America. Tim Drake is a somewhat public figure, being basically Bruce Wayne's son, whereas Harper Row is some alt teen from the Narrows in Gotham. Tim gives her that "I don't need an amateur tagging along" bullshit line that Batman gave him. I'm sure she'll listen as well as he did.
 

"No dice? Awww, I was going to break out a couple of D8s so we could play some GURPs."

 

Corrigan and... Fox, right? He's Lucius Fox's son, I think. Batwing Does anybody read that book? I'm all for diversity in the Bat family, which consists mostly of white males (Batman, Red Robin, Agent Grayson, Red Hood) and white females (Babsgirl, Batwoman, Harper, but hey, there are females at least), but did Lucius Fox also need a kid that was a crimefighter? That makes Bruce, Jim, and Lucius now. Oh, and Alfred, I guess. When did that even start, by the way? Did I miss his origin? Was that at the beginning of the New 52? Just bring back Cassie, DC.

 

Anyway, Corrigan and Batwing infiltrate (read: walk right into) Arkham Asylum, and it's become a really bizarre scene. I mean, more than usual, even. Magpie is manning (womanning?) the front desk, many of the inmates are either wandering the hall or missing, Scarecrow is being used for some kind of voodoo or something, and there are freaking zombies that can emerge from and melt into the floor. It's almost like Doug Moench's ghouls & ghosts tales of Batman from the 90s. Apparently the zombies are subordinates of a guy named Mister Bygone. I've never heard of or read about him before in my years reading comics, so I'm assuming he's a new character altogether. So we'll have to see what this new guy's about.

 

And nothing of value was lost.

 

In Rio, Batgirl and Red Hood follow up on the lead the telenovela star gave them about Dr. Mangaravite, the plastic surgeon. But when they get to his clinic, Batwoman is already there, following up her own lead on a separate case. She's already kicked the man in the face, but Batgirl wants to interrogate him herself, and something tells me for once, Jason Todd is going to be the good cop.
 


"Your face, however..."

Oh, also, back at Arkham... Joker's Daughter again. Yawn.

 

Next week: More Joker's Daughter. Damn it.

 

Frankenstein Jr.?

 

- Penguin Truth
(2014)

 

Story: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Script: Ray Fawkes
Consulting Writers: John Layman, & Tim Seeley
Art By: Dustin Nguyen
Colors By: John Kalisz
Lettering By: Rob Leigh
Cover By: Dustin Nguyen
Editor: Katie Kubert
Asst. Editor: Matt Humphreys
Group Editor: Mark Doyle
Batman Created By Bob K--AHAHAHAHA, NO. Batman Created By Bill Finger


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