Batman Eternal 12: Oh, the guilt! The unbearable guilt!

[espanolbot]

Last week, we had Babs heading to Brazil to interrogate an actor there as to why he was standing on the subway platform back in Gotham just prior to the headlong collision between two trains that her dad was blamed for. Jason followed her down to give her backup, which turned out to be a good idea, as the Scorpion-themed supervillainess from Batman Inc was trying to carry out a hit on the actor at the time.

In other news, Steph used her time in the library to look up information about her dad's supervillainous past. Turns out that he's always been a dick.

And we return to the story, where Jason Bard has contacted Harvey Bullock and Maggie Sawyer about his on-going investigation into the gangwar between the Penguin and Carmine Falcone's mob... The gangwar that officially doesn't exist due to Commissioner Forbes. He thinks that he might actually have a way to end the war without further loss of life, as well as possibly working around Forbes to do so, which combined with the work he shows the other detectives, impresses them enough to say he can call them by their first names.

Later, we catch up with Jim Gordon, who is being moved from Blackgate Prison (which he's apparently managed to survive in despite being deliberately placed in the general population with the glaringly obvious hope that he's knifed to death before trial) to the court house as his trial's begun. He meets Batman, who is impersonating one of his guards in the van, and he gives Jim the low-down of what's going on in the city. Batman tells him not to worry as, he's worked out that Jim was set up and that the hundreds of deaths he's accused of weren't really his fault... only for Jim to point out that Batman hasn't actually found any evidence yet that actually clears him.

Saying that someone wanted him out of the way isn't really enough when there's no physical proof of HOW he did it, or who that person even is. Jim says that believes in the system though, despite everything. If they find him guilty of manslaughter than so be it, and if Batman finds him innocent... well, that's good too.

Elsewhere, Harper Row is hacking the Bat Family's wireless criminal database thingy to try and see if they have any information with the nanotech disease her brother's come down with... only to accidentally set off a whole bunch of alarms while Tim's trying to interrogate Professor Pyg (who the GCPD FINALLY arrested after his attempt to vivisect Carmine Falcone a couple of weeks back). This leads to Tim having to cut the interview short, as he flies off to see who was trying to hack his data...

Meanwhile, in Brazil, the stress of trying to find out what's going on with her dad seems to have taken its tole on Batgirl, who takes Jason's presence in Brazil (despite numerous warrants for his arrest there) is a sign that Batman doesn't have any confidence in her ability to work on her own... That Batman never trusted her, and considered her second-best to the Robins... which I think is a bit of stretch, reboot or no. She storms off, and Jason seems to follow along behind at a distance.

Back in Gotham, the Trial has begin!



Hey, Lois and Jimmy cameos! After the opening statements, Vicki explains to her intern that she isn't actually going to be writing a story at this point in the trial, as all of the stories would effectively be the same, with no unique angle to spin it on. The real story she's interested in is the gang war, but there thus far hasn't been anything she could actually lead with... which is the point that Jason Bard shows up, and asks her can have her story if she's prepared to help a cop do something really stupid.

Back at Wayne Manor, Alfred and Julia are managing to patch things up somewhat, though she's still baffled why he decided to become a butler considering the huge amount of accomplishments that he had before hand. He was the best medic the British army ever saw, for example, as well as an internationally famous stage actor. Why quit all of them to be a servant to some rich people who'd never appreciate that?

It's at this point that Tim storms in, having worked out that Harper was the one who hacked his stuff, and wants to find out what Alfred and Bruce have on her. He sees Julia there, and suspiciously asks why she's still there, and is shocked when Alfred explains that she's his daughter. The butler makes his excuses ("Teenagers, am I right?") and bustles Tim away, with the pair of them ducking into the Batcave before Julia could follow them. Alfred explains that she broke up with Julia's mum years ago, who then made it clear to him that she didn't want Alfred to be part of Julia's life... which is kind of harsh.

Tim only seems vaguely interested in this though, and wants to know who this girl is that's been pestering Bruce for the last couple of months. Alfred, having met Harper in person and seems kind of fond of her, says that saving Bruce's life at least once doesn't really count as "pestering", but give him all the informaton he has anyway.

Later, Jason and Harvey meet Batman about Bard's Cunning Plan.



Meanwhile at Blackgate, Jim is taken from his cell in the middle of the night. It seems that the warden wants him to talk to someone... and that someone is... James, Jr. to Jim's shock. Not so much to the audience's though, as didn't he appear in Suicide Squad like the week after he supposedly died in Batgirl?

- Overview: Damn the art in this issue was gorgeous! Very Frank Cho-ish in a lot of respects, and definitely one of the best looking issues thus far. The plot seems to be heading on nicely, and it's nice to see that the Good Cops are operating their own schemes to do the right thing despite the almost comically inept way that Forbes is running things now. Barbara's outburst at Jason seemed just kind of weird though, maybe it's because I'm more familiar with her preboot version but her apparently being worried about needing validation from Batman just seems out of character. No Steph this issue though.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

..... Justice does not care if a man is good or evil.... it does actually... when a man who has a track record like Gordon, "Makes a mistake" they USUALLY take that into account.


hmmm is it just me, or are some of these villains making glaringly cartoony mistakes...

at first i thought it was a writing thing... but now i think it's on purpose... it's like a play is being put on....

[shadowpsykie]

as far as Barbara's reaction, i think it's like you said, the stress of the situation might be getting to her. It's not that she needs his validation, it's more that, if you remember fromprevious issues, she doesn't think he's doing everything he can to help her dad. Sending Jason (for backup not to derail her mind you) migh be his way of supporting her (but you know he's not big on communication that one) however she sees him "not helping" and Sending Jason as a sign that she thinks HE thinks she needs to be babysat. in other words. Her dad is her trigger and it's been set off.... even preboot Babs could be just as bad as batman sometimes. that whole "Fisting Broken superheroes thing" was kinda a douchey thing to do.

hmmm the mention of harvey dent is interesting... what if HE is a part of this?

Also, i am liking Jason Bard...

[ablackraptor]

Yeah, I'm liking Bard too. He's very dangerously close to becoming a pet character or a mary sue if they're not careful, but so far I'm liking his character.

[draganoche]

I can't help but feel that he's either a plant or about to fail miserably. Maybe it's just cynicism talking but I feel that something is about to backfire and make things even worse

[icon_uk]

Given how many issues they have left to go on this one, I can't see it being a resounding success.

[mrstatham]

I like how the prosecution (I presume) moves to dismiss the idea of Gordon as a 'hero' and then goes on to call him 'the hero Jim Gordon' alongside detailing the body count as though the severity of Gordon's 'crime' is increased because he is/was the best cop in Gotham.

[icon_uk]

The old "And Brutus is an HONOURABLE man" approach.

[starwolf_oakley]

Even if we take into account Jim seeing a gun for reasons, that still means he shot that one fuse box, right?

[espanolbot]

That's Jim's reasoning, he still arguably did what they're accusing him of (they're even charging him with manslaughter rather than murder, like they probably would in the Marvel Universe) the question is whether they can prove that he was responsible for causing those events to happen in the first place, or whether it was just doing to him being horribly unlucky and unprofessional.

[silverhammerman]

I can't be the only one who finds it hilariously unnatural to have Bullock say "The Zero Year" as though that's a thing that an actual human being would say. Zero Year isn't even a normal phrase or something that a person would conceivably say, it's a very clearly a title, it'd be like Harry Potter saying "Hey remember back during The Prisoner of Azkaban..." instead of just, third year.

It'd actually be less jarring to just have Bullock make a reference to Batman's first appearance and just drop in an old-school editor's note at the bottom of the panel.

[icon_uk]

Not just you, it seemed like clumsy product placement in a film or TV show.

[burkeonthesly]

"Back in the Zero Year, Jim Gordon would just call that number on his Nokia Razor, and we'd wait on top of the Starbucks for Batman to show up. $29.99."

[blueprintstyles]

Zero Year was What Riddle called the situation Gotham was in when he had control, everyone heard him call it that and it stuck like a nickname. Also I think its important to remember that the fuse box shouldn't have affected the track, but its plausible enough to make him seem guilty in the eyes of the public. Its just a really good frame job.

[icon_uk]

If it's something that any halfway competent Defence attorney could demolish with a "But shooting that fusebox wouldn't cause a crash like that and here are half a dozen qualified lectrical engineers to confirm why not", how is it a GOOD frame job.