Review: BATMAN ETERNAL #52

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BATMAN ETERNAL #52
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins, Tim Seeley
Art by Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Robson Rocha, Guillermo Ortego, David Lafuente, Tim Seeley, Ray Fawkes
Published by DC Comics
Release Date: April 1, 2015

One hell of a wild year comes to an end as the writing team, headed up by James Tynion IV and a ton of artists bring the first volume of Batman Eternal to a close, showcasing the best aspects of the Bat family and how Batman really is more than just Bruce Wayne.

This final issue is a strong one, with Bruce having a final showdown with Lincoln and the strength and courage of the Bat-family on display. There are some great moments with some standout characters from this series, and Tynion handles their dialogue brilliantly. Each of their unique personalities are captured well, and he’s got a massive cast to deal with in this issue. Several storylines are wrapped up or set up as primers for upcoming events in June, but at no point does it feel cheap or rushed. Tynion manages to stuff a lot of story into this issue and caps off this weekly nicely, driving home that Eternal has really been about the whole (now very extended) family and the great character work in this series continues into the final issue. Gotham is richer for having gone through this year of hell, and the landscape of Gotham is much more interesting than when this series began. There has been a transformation and some shifts in power that will be very interesting going forward and there are many characters, such as Spoiler and Bluebird, that I can’t wait to read more of.

There are a ton of artists contributing to this one, many with conflicting styles, but for the most part it works. There are natural breaks in the artwork, with different artists wrapping up different storylines and the styles suit their individual assignments well. While I think this issue could have potentially been stronger with a unified art team, this collaboration works and there were few points where I felt the artwork was lacking. Fawkes’ work, in particular, was interesting in the context of a superhero universe and something I’d be interested in seeing more of. This isn’t the best Eternal has looked, but the artists do their job and bring these stories home well, capping off a year of what has been a surprisingly high quality book week in and week out. When you see this many artists on the cover a book you usually assume it is going to be a mess, but in Batman Eternal #52 it clicks together nicely.

Batman Eternal #52 is a rock solid finish to what has been an impressive weekly series. The Bat family is well represented, and hell, above and beyond the family, Gotham’s many sides are shown quite well in this issue. It is a fascinating city and it has only become more interesting through this series and this issue shows that very well. If it is going to be crafted this well, I say bring on another volume of Eternal, I’m ready and willing to dive into it.

The Verdict: 8.0/10

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