Batman Eternal #11

By Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, Raw Fawkes, Ian Bertram, John Layman & Dave Stewart

Gotham takes the week off as this issue focuses mainly on Batgirl’s endless tirade to prove her father’s innocence. Tim Seeley does the scripting this week with consulting from Ray Fawkes and John Layman as Batgirl falls deeper into her delusions. She’s chasing any lead she can find and beating it for information, but isn’t that usually someone else shtick? (Who knew you could see a smile through a red hood?)

Seeley scripts a great story that draws the reader back into the struggles Barbara Gordon/Batgirl has been dealing with in relation to her father’s incarceration. She’s a loose cannon, blinded by fury, and a familiar face comes around this issue to remind her of that.  We’re reminded of various side stories taking place in this series and given some great background to certain characters. The dialogue between characters is spot on, even priceless at times (a certain game show host goes on a wonderful rant).

Ian Bertram and Dave Stewart are on art duties this time around and…Wow! Bertram’s sketch approach separates this issue from previous ones as Stewart brings each panel to life with great color schemes. The faces of each character is intensified by Bertram’s detail, villains are made even more vile, and the heroes more angry (a certain red-head is very angry). A scene featuring a “dreamlike” version of Batman showcases both of these artists so well, the gruesome detail of the bat covered in black and violet really shows the warped images that may come from a child’s mind in such a situation. Another great scene shows a mad villain crashing through the doorway with a look of insanity on her face (she has quite a few cringe worthy scenes). The depiction of characters this week goes for a more cartoon approach rather than the more realistic we’ve seen in previous issues, and it works! Characters are detailed but also obscene, they’re ugly while beautiful (that makes sense right?) and each panel is a lot of fun.

Seeley scripts a great issue from the story by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV and is only pushed to greater heights by the artwork of Ian Bertram and Dave Stewart. The beginning scene tying up with the ending is a proper call back to the events in earlier issues, but does well to not disrupt Batgirl’s story taking place. This time around Batman Eternal hits a high note, it rips doors from their hinges, and throws scorpions (really…scorpions!) with a story that brings the funny and action all wrapped into a wonderfully drawn comic.