Batman Eternal #24

By Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins, Tim Seeley, Andy Clarke & Blond

“It gets more complicated the longer you look at it…”

Did somebody say ACTION? Really? Could’ve sworn I heard somebody say it, but anyway, action is what this issue is all about. Cluemaster is tasked to get rid of his daughter, Stephanie, for knowing too much, and as the cover to this issue suggests, she’s ready for him to try.

Ray Fawkes is the scripter for this week’s issue and makes sure to bring some resolution to the Cluemaster/Stephanie storyline, something we’ve been waiting to see for weeks. Cluemaster is given an ultimatum from his boss, either she dies or he dies, so being the loving father that he is he ends up chasing her on his motorcycle in a fit of (what seems like) rage. A short scene serving as a memory of a younger Stephanie depicts her riding her bike off a homemade ramp (something we all did as kids, admit it) and him being a concerned/angry father warning her not to do it because she’ll hurt her arm again (which she does). This little scene plays out in a similar way to their chase scene, with him chasing her down, but with the stakes raised much higher than a simple broken bone.

On art this week is Andy Clarkes with colors being done by Blond. The chase scenes mentioned above are really cool and play a lot with the lighting of the street lights and the night sky, but a scene that really stands out is one featuring Batman. In this issue we’re brought back for a brief moment to Batman staring down what he assumes to be a ghost of some kind. If it makes contact with you it appears to be fatal, so he does his best to dodge the man/ghost and ends up getting the better of it. A scene featuring him standing above a knocked out Arkham Doctor as he says to Penny-Two the quote mentioned above depicts the art of both artists very well. Behind Batman in this scene is a large painting very fitting to the quote, it’s an abstract piece that if you stare at long enough it certainly does become more complicated. Clarke depicts a chiseled/battle worn Batman standing in front of the painting as Blond does a great job of making him pop while also keeping the picture in the background a big focal point of this full-page spread.

This week brings us some much anticipated action, as well as free up Batman to jump in his next mission – Where’s Batwing? Why isn’t he answering?