Batman Eternal #13

By Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, Tim Seeley, Mikel Janin, Guillermo Ortego & Jeromy Cox

Lt. Bard takes a big stand against the happenings in Gotham in this week’s issue of Batman Eternal. The Bat himself doesn’t appear in too many panels, giving this issue room to breathe and look at revelations from the Gordon case/imprisonment as well as give us an idea of the trouble Harper has been up to.

James Tynion IV takes the scripting duties this week and creates a similar outline to last week’s issue. We’re given great dialogue used to flesh out the scenes and the cast of characters is balanced very nicely. He is a writer that takes to the task of flowing through the multiple stories very well within a single issue. His scene with Lt. Bard in this one is well-crafted.  Bard creates a scheme the reader can follow if having kept up with earlier issues.  This is a character that has taken the route Gordon used to find himself on, before becoming filled with doubt about the cities chances for hope, and in turn presents a character we’ve been familiar with right from the very beginning.

The art in this issue is consistent with what we’ve seen throughout most of this series. Mikel Janin and Guillermo Ortego are our artists, with Jeromy Cox as the colorist. Together this team does a great job and creates detailed scenes and facial expressions. The look Steph (daughter of Cluemaster) does when her friend is hounding her on her cell phone is a great one – the puffed out cheeks and rolling eyes. Another scene with her shows a burning house, her standing in from of it, quite detailed. The panel following this scene is a close up of her face, tears dripping down, and shows the reader that after all this time she’s still wearing mascara.

This issue is another great installment in a series that’s been promising all the way through so far. The tensions are building on the force, and Gordon is left with a decision to make. This time around we’re given a lot to think about.