Batman Eternal 16
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scans_daily We begin with Jim Corrigan trapped beneath Arkham, where he is confronted by Mr Bygone from the end of last week's issue. The man claims that he was checked into Arkham because he was hearing voices, resulting in his wife leaving him with their child, in addition to him loosing an arm, and turning into some weird magical creature. Creatures manifest from the smoke pouring from his wound, and he explains that they are the manifestations of people's sorrow, and since the Spectre has been the cause of much suffering over the years, it looks like Jim's literally going to be eaten by his own feelings of guilt.
Below Arkham, the Joker's Daughter has... somehow, hacked into Batwing's suit, and is using it to relay fake messages to Batman in order to prevent him from coming to Arkham. Batman buys it, primarily because he's busy with other stuff at the moment, mainly keeping an eye on Jason Bard to make sure he's keeping to the straight and narrow. Which seems to be the case, besides him shooting a gun out of the hand of a suspect (apparently what Jim Gordon tried to do is standard practice?), which impresses Vicki Vale who attempts to ask Bard out on a date...
Meanwhile, in Japan, Harper and Tim are investigating the source of the nanotech disease attacking the citizens of the poorer section of Gotham. They're attacked briefly with robotic tentacles, but after disabling them, their inventor Sergei agrees to talk to them...
Back under Arkham, Corrigan finally has enough of being poked and chewed by manifestatioins of the Spectre, so he decides to explain things to Mr Bygone. He DOES regret the things that the Spectre has done, just as much as he regrets the times when the Spectre should appear but doesn't. But at the end of the day, he has to just live with it, one way or another, and punches Mr Bygone unconscious.
Batwing, meanwhile, has had just enough of Arkham's craziness.
It seems that they've somehow turned Maxie Zeus into an eight foot tall super-strong version of himself in order to download their "messiah" into him. Batwing manages to defeat him via electrocution and strangulation, which was apparently what the cult expected him to do, because as he staggers off to find Corrigan the cultists drag Zeus away to prepare him for the ceremony.
Batwing come across one of the Arkham Staff, who mumbles about having been dragged below the hospital and having had THINGS done to him. Things that cause him to project his spirit outside of his body, killing everything it touches.
Yeah, I can REALLY see why Gotham City choses to move the inmates to another facility in November. I would be surprised if they decided to salt the earth and hire an multi-denominational group of priests to perform a weekly spiritual cleansing of the place for the next couple of decades.
So the plan is just to bring back Deacon Blackfire from Hell, and to spread the craziness brewing in Arkham out across the rest of the city? Not sure how that plan fits in with the scheme involving Falcone and Forbes, but okay. I mean, they must be related because Blackfire repowered Dr Phospherous way back when just to secretly add to the gangwar and stuff.
I thought that this was a pretty good issue, though not one of the best. The large number of plotlines that needed to be covered lead to the issue seeming a touch tonally inconsistant, though I'd imagine that it would flow a touch better in the trade. Going from the Standard Superhero Action of Tim and Harper's subplot, to the more grounded Bard and Jim Gordon story, to the almost BPRD stuff going on in Arkham just seems a touch wibbly on first reading is all.
Below Arkham, the Joker's Daughter has... somehow, hacked into Batwing's suit, and is using it to relay fake messages to Batman in order to prevent him from coming to Arkham. Batman buys it, primarily because he's busy with other stuff at the moment, mainly keeping an eye on Jason Bard to make sure he's keeping to the straight and narrow. Which seems to be the case, besides him shooting a gun out of the hand of a suspect (apparently what Jim Gordon tried to do is standard practice?), which impresses Vicki Vale who attempts to ask Bard out on a date...
Meanwhile, in Japan, Harper and Tim are investigating the source of the nanotech disease attacking the citizens of the poorer section of Gotham. They're attacked briefly with robotic tentacles, but after disabling them, their inventor Sergei agrees to talk to them...
Back under Arkham, Corrigan finally has enough of being poked and chewed by manifestatioins of the Spectre, so he decides to explain things to Mr Bygone. He DOES regret the things that the Spectre has done, just as much as he regrets the times when the Spectre should appear but doesn't. But at the end of the day, he has to just live with it, one way or another, and punches Mr Bygone unconscious.
Batwing, meanwhile, has had just enough of Arkham's craziness.
It seems that they've somehow turned Maxie Zeus into an eight foot tall super-strong version of himself in order to download their "messiah" into him. Batwing manages to defeat him via electrocution and strangulation, which was apparently what the cult expected him to do, because as he staggers off to find Corrigan the cultists drag Zeus away to prepare him for the ceremony.
Batwing come across one of the Arkham Staff, who mumbles about having been dragged below the hospital and having had THINGS done to him. Things that cause him to project his spirit outside of his body, killing everything it touches.
Yeah, I can REALLY see why Gotham City choses to move the inmates to another facility in November. I would be surprised if they decided to salt the earth and hire an multi-denominational group of priests to perform a weekly spiritual cleansing of the place for the next couple of decades.
So the plan is just to bring back Deacon Blackfire from Hell, and to spread the craziness brewing in Arkham out across the rest of the city? Not sure how that plan fits in with the scheme involving Falcone and Forbes, but okay. I mean, they must be related because Blackfire repowered Dr Phospherous way back when just to secretly add to the gangwar and stuff.
I thought that this was a pretty good issue, though not one of the best. The large number of plotlines that needed to be covered lead to the issue seeming a touch tonally inconsistant, though I'd imagine that it would flow a touch better in the trade. Going from the Standard Superhero Action of Tim and Harper's subplot, to the more grounded Bard and Jim Gordon story, to the almost BPRD stuff going on in Arkham just seems a touch wibbly on first reading is all.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-23 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-23 09:18 pm (UTC)Why they're sticking her in the Suicide Squad (yeah, so much for narrative tension with that character) I have no idea. Considering it also has Slade in it, maybe they're just sending all of their crappy characters to the book or something?
no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-25 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-23 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-24 02:23 am (UTC)