4 issue Test #13 - Batman and Robin Eternal

The weekly miniseries is something DC brought back in 52, an excellent title written by 4 renowned writers focusing on the minor heroes in the DC Universe after the big 3 were taken off the table thanks to infinite crisis

Then came Countdown, an awful work head-written by great writer Paul Dini and a load of crappy writers intended to set up an event it didn’t set up, kill things without mercy and push tie-ins wherever it could. It was awful and killed the miniseries off for a while. With the New52 came 3 new mini-series. Future’s end, Earth 2: World’s end, neither of which I’ve read but I can’t say I’ve heard great things about, and Batman: Eternal, intended to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Batman, which I did a 4 issue test of in January despite the fact issue 4 came out in April of the previous year.

Batman: Eternal was reasonably well written and successful enough that a 26-issue second mini-series Batman and Robin Eternal, this time celebrating the 75^th anniversary of Robin. I don’t like to give too much background as I feel a new title should provide that anyway. But it’s best to know that during the Batman story endgame. Batman and his long-time nemesis the Joker ‘died.’ James Gordon became a fully police sanctioned Batman with a robotic suit as he lacks the skills Batman had. Bruce has since returned, but with no memories of his time as Batman and lacking the skills.

I hate the idea of Jim Gordon as Batman, I’ll just go out and say it. I haven’t been picking up titles with him as the focus because Jim Gordon to me is the legal centre of Batman. He’s Batman’s ally in the police and the main difference between him and Batman is that he is a firm believer in the law. Becoming a vigilante is backwards for his character, and I hate the ro-bat suit. One other thing. Dick Grayson revealed himself to Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl and the Red Hood to be alive after his ‘death’ in Forever evil and becoming a super-spy (see my 4 issue Test of Grayson for more info)

OK, let’s take a look.

This is a fairly decent cover, my only complaint is that Bluebird looks like half her head has been chopped off. You got full body shots of the rest of them, have it with her too

Issue 1 opens in Cairo, Egypt several years ago as a kid, having just come out of the theatre witnesses his parents being gunned down by a cloaked figure. We cut to ‘then’ where Dick Grayson as Robin narrates that the chase at the end at the end of the mystery is the most thrilling part of the job

We cut to now as Dick Grayson is pursuing a ‘techno-futurist weapons designer’ with them both on motorcycles on a building. Poppy, his mission partner is chewing him out, saying he’s not going to be there in time for their real mission. Dick says he’s called in some backup. Bullets hit some of the windows, shattering them, forcing the weapons designer to drive higher up the building. The shots are being fired by the Red Hood whose staying non-lethal on Dick’s orders. He warns that this kind of spectacle might attract ro-bat. He drives straight into some neon lights and the bike explodes, he falls to his death

No, he’s actually now on a roof with Red Robin, who has already overridden his systems, the guy pulls a gun, but Dick and the Red Hood punch him out. Jason asks Tim out for a drink (I’m just gonna use their civilian names) Tim replies that he’s only 16 but Jason says it’s Gotham. Dick asks Tim for a grappling hook so he can swing across the city.

We cut to the narrows where Ro-bat is chewing out his support staff about being outsmarted by what appears to be a carry battery attached to an internet router. Jim says that his experience in having a smart daughter of his own lets him know that they tend to stick around and uncovers his target behind a dumpster.

It’s Harper Row, alias Bluebird but who gives a sh*t. Jim wants to impound her weapons but she uses another piece of tech she’d developed to freeze his circuits so she can get away. At some opening gala Dick has arrived looking rather like Clark Kent, he talks aloud about his mission, to disarm a dirty bomb in the building, to Poppy despite the fact that everyone can hear him and he begins to reminisce about a past adventure that had started here.

The Scarecrow. Batman and Robin had tracked down Jonathan Crane who had essentially kidnapped his students and made them fight. Batman and Robin take them down but Crane got away. Batman was so driven to stop him they travelled across the world to hunt him down. A few children approach him, one of them saying that ‘she’ thought this would be the perfect place to kill him. Dick questions whether his hypnos are working

OK, OK, hypnos are an implant to wipes the image of someone from your memory, you only see a sort of hypnotic spiral, this also renders them unidentifiable to security cameras. In deep cover, it’s still conspicuous, as is all the talking about your mission on open coms.

The kids all hold up guns and start shooting at him. Dick backflips behind them and makes his escape. He returns to Poppy but she has a gun pointed at him, she says that “Mother says hello” before shooting, hitting his shoulder, Dick grabs the bike and van and drives away. Poppy warns ‘orphan’ that Dick has escaped and says the others should be immediately removed from the table. Orphan reminds her that he doesn’t take orders from her.

The primary target is the one that could lead them straight to ‘her’ he himself goes to stop. Dick calls for help but is kicked off his bike by an unknown assassin. AKA Cassandra Cain, she kicks his ass but Dick realises that her moves could’ve been lethal, she’s holding back. She says only one word ‘mother’ and leaves Dick with a Flash drive with the bat-symbol on it.

Harper Row returns home with Chines. Her brother, Cullen, whose hair has grown so long I barely recognised him informs her that Steph is upset she’s been left behind. Harper replies that the Batbot is on patrol for costume kids. Cullen tries to convince Harper to give up. He doesn’t want to lose her like they lost their mother. Harper reassures him that she’ll be fine before she’s confronted by the Orphan; she is ‘the key to everything they cannot know’ and must die.

Dick arrives at the batcave and tries to access files for Mother and The Orphan, gaining nothing. He inserts the flashdrive and a hologram of Batman is projected alongside a list of the civilian identities of Batman’s allies. Batman says that the mystery they faced chasing crane ran far darker than he knew. Anyone could be under mother’s control, and Batman isn’t there to stop her. We cut back to Egypt to see that under the control of mother, Batman killed the child’s parents.

Wow, I’m not sure I can look at Batman in the same way again knowing that. He committed the act he was born to stop. There are lines you cannot cross and you’ve just crossed that line.

It's another decent looking cover showing Batman and Robin feeling the effects of the fear toxin, why Robin's in the position he's in I don't know

Anyway, issue 2. Issue 2 opens with Harper at the mercy of the Orphan, Cullen has run for help. Cassandra arrives, kicking the orphan in the back and away from Harper. She targets the Orphan’s weakspots and hits hard, breaking has gas-mask thing. Dick arrives nearby getting a report from Matron, aka Helena Bartinelli. She says that Poppy was clean aside from her actions back in Grayson #2 (again, see my review of that for details) he asks about Mother, but Spyral’s come up negative. Dick’s head to the people he didn’t know off the list, Harper Row. He flips into the house as Stephanie Brown watches.

The orphan knocks Cassandra backwards but she soon gets the upper hand again, Harper recovers, grabbing the Orphan’s electric gun (I assume it’s his anyway) and using it against him. Dick grabs him but drops him, Cassandra goes after him whilst Dick is left to deal with things here. Dick helps tend to Harper, finding out that’s she’s a superhero as spoiler breaks in. Dick wonders if they’re giving superhero costumes out of cereal boxes (given the ‘we are Robin’ title out yes, yes they are)

Stephanie recognises him as Dick Grayson thanks to Forever Evil but Dick says he just needs help tending to Harper. Stephanie comments on the weird smell in the air, it’s fear gas.

We cut to outside Gotham, several years (we don’t know an exact date because time is a complete mindf*ck in Batman universe) Robin is calling out, trying to lure Crane out but Batman silences him. Batman observes the way the corn had been squashed in the field is similar to how hoaxers create crop circles, he wants to send a message ‘I am fear.’ They jump someone they think is Crane but turns out to be an ordinary scarecrow. They are both sprayed with fear toxin.

Robin sees vision of Batman’s enemies and eventually Batman himself telling him that he’s not good enough. Robin falls to the ground, apologising that he isn’t good enough for his mentor.

Back in the present, Dick has Harper patched up. He asks for Stephanie’s name and is relieved that it isn’t on the list. Red Robin arrives, having spotted events thanks to having the house bugged. Stephanie’s a little annoyed but Tim assures that he isn’t playing peeping Tom. The camera didn’t pick up much as they were out of range within seconds. Dick realises that Jason is the next target and calls in, Jason is in a bar, with a patron knocked out and a gun at Cassandra’s head.

OK, that ending made me laugh, so issue 3? 

This cover, well, what are all the kids doing, I don't remember much about kids in the issue

Issue 3 opens with Cassasndra kicking Jason backwards, he activates some blades in his arms to gain an edge. At Gotham’s south side Poppy is erm… is erm… doing something with nano-robots are something whilst revealing she was working for mother, which we already knew so erm… next page?

Jason has Cassandra on the ropes, or at least he thinks he has, until Dick arrives and sticks the blades through the bar, trapping his arm. Dick, with Tim, Harper and Stephanie says she was trying to protect him and they’ve all been targeted. Dick explains the situation to Jason as Harper passes out again. They need better medical facilities in order to patch her up.

They come to the Batcave where Dick plays the confession Bruce made to him. Harper is in a medical device that Stephanie assures her will patch her up fully. Tim, Jason and Dick surround Cassandra. Jason tries threats, Tim tries patronising, and none of these are effective, Cassandra gets up and touches Jason on the hand, Tim on the head and Dick on the chest (might be symbolic of something) she walks over to the casket where Harper is held as Tim notices Dick is bleeding.

It’s Helena trying to get in contact via flesh eating robots (lovely). Helena has discovered a mention of ‘Mother’ in the journals of Agent Zero, Spyral’s first agent. Agent Zero’s journals reveal that as she had yet to perfect the hypnos implant, she considered Mother and her claims to invent the perfect human beings for the need as a backup.

Dick concludes that Mother is some sort of human trafficker, but Jason points out that Batman could’ve used a ‘designer human being’ or three.

We cut back to several years ago where Batman has taken Robin back to the batcave. An anti-psychotic injection had proven ineffective and Robin’s feeling the effects of the fear gas. Batman wants Robin to describe the effects so they have something to track down Crane. Dick gives an apt description of the fear toxin’s effects. Robin asks what Batman saw, but Bats says he saw nothing.

Helena also reports about Poppy, who’s dead after ingesting her nanites, they managed to briefly get into her cell phone, and tracked several calls to the Beacon tower, where the “Gotham Embraces You” Gala is being held in honour of Bruce Wayne.

Dick tells the others to keep an eye on the girls and heads out. Harper recovers and sees Cassandra tell her to follow her. At the gala, Bruce Wayne is taken to the kitchen for a tour and is confronted by various axe-welders, all under mother’s control.

This cover is pretty much showing what happens, Dick defending Bruce from some thugs (nice little detail to have Bruce's shadow be Batman's)

Issue 4 opens with Dick saving Bruce from the axe-wielders. He pushes Bruce into a storage locker and tells him to stay put as he fights against the axe-wielders. He’s soon given help by the bunch of the ‘we are Robin crew’ and eventually also by Batgirl (who had been called in by Tim without Dick’s knowledge). With Bruce safe, Dick asks that Barbara keep an eye on him, which she agrees to do. Time talks to the ‘we are robin’ crew and warns they’ll make enemies. There were no police sirens tonight because this is a deep rooting plot.

Back at the batcave. Harper confronts Cassandra who’s about to make her exit. Stephanie tries to convince her to just shoot but Harper realises that Cassandra won’t harm  her, she allows Cassandra to exit and follow after her leaving Stephanie frustrated about being alone. Dick, now with his hypnos implants on, talks briefly to Bruce before reporting into tim.

The names on the Gala list were the people holding the axes, anyone could be a pre-programmed agent ready to be activated. The axes were custom made and Dick is following that as a potential lead. He asks why he couldn’t help but there was a data moat around the tower. The tower was built with Wayne tech which means that mother got past every firewall in the place. Their names were also on the list which means any of them could soon be activated.

As Stephanie and the Red Hood argue about Harper and Cassandra’s escape, Tim gets a call, he is now also under mother’s control.

So that was Batman and Robin #1-4, how did this hold up?

Well for the most part it was handled rather well. The artwork, whilst not entirely consistent was good. The writing’s pretty good and it holds up pretty well as an arc

Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV handle the story whilst James Tynion IV did the script for #1, Tim Seeley did #2 and #3, with Steve Orlando doing #4. It’s all handled rather well.

Having Tim Seeley do the scripts for #2 and 3 worked well given their handle on Spyral. Tim Seeley is also the writer of the main Grayson title and has a grasp on the character and the situation he currently finds himself in.

Despite some of the big things, I’m glad they’re going for a lighter tone in this story. Whilst there are certainly dark moments, it’s focus on more light-hearted with some genuinely funny moments is appreciated.

I also give kudos to doing justice to Cassandra Cain. Pre New52 a writer known as Adam Beechen destroyed the character, thankfully there was some revival as became Black Bat but the damage was done. She is supposed to be highly trained but barely spoken character, and that came across well here. The artwork helps make her facial expressions mean something.

What I’m not keen on is the story itself. The idea that these 3 (4 if you include Harper) are pre-programmed agents created by mother to be the perfect child-soldiers for Batman is not an avenue I’m particularly happy with. I don’t really see how she connects with the scarecrow because I don’t see what someone like her would need of him. I also add that I still hate the idea that Batman failed so miserably that he himself killed the parents of a child that was around the same age he was when he lost his parents.

Whilst there’s certainly an engaging mystery I hope the payoff works against these ideas or at the very least gives them resolution to it. They are their own people who became the soldiers of Batman by their own choice (or by the Joker’s will in Jason’s case if you believe Red Hood and the Outlaws #0) and are skilled because of their own efforts not because of some perfect human bullsh*t.

So, the Flashbacks, in the first issue they served the story but that really hasn’t been the case in #2 and 3 and they were dropped entirely in issue 4. It helps provide some interest in the Scarecrow but it’s a slow story so far so…)

My other issue is despite the title being Batman and Robin: Eternal, Robin isn’t in any present day activities. Damian Wayne is not on the list and that might be important later on. We’ll see where this goes.

Rating

#1 7/10

#2 7.5/10

#3 7.5/10

#4 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Next: We cap off our DCYou reviews with Cyborg

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Images used in this review are from Batman and Robin Eternal and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use