Batman and Robin Eternal #14

By James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Fernando Blanco, Roger Robinson, John Rauch

“Cass, can you take me to the central computer? Wherever the controls for the creepy robots might be? And hopefully some kinda big red ‘cancel nuke’ button…”

Well, that escalated quickly.

Issue #14 of Batman and Robin Eternal brings on some awesome fight scenes, both from the present and the past. Dick Grayson, along with Bluebird and Cassandra, continue the fight against Orphan (who pulls a totally unexpected move that may or may not have been revealed in the above quote) while we once again visit the past to see the events of Batman and Mother unfold – this time with more Scarecrow in the mix! As the cover suggests we see a bit of a team-up between Batman and Scarecrow. This team-up however may not happen the way you’d expect, or maybe you would, since Bats pulls a pretty hardcore ultimatum over Scarecrow…like a boss (of course).

Scripting this week is James Tynion IV (he’s writing this story along with Scott Snyder) as he once again shows his knack for delivering the action sequences. This issue also does a good job of returning to the humor this series has been missing in a few of its issues (humor and action are always great combinations). Some of this humor can be seen in the above quote, as well as in another scene that kicks off the issue. The scene starting us off shows Batman and Robin both in the Batmobile as Robin suggests to Batman “Shouldn’t we be slowing down?” only to hear from Batman a flat “No”. Robin follows the reply with “Heh. Awesome”…and then they drive through a wall…because he’s Batman.

On the artwork for this week is Fernando Blanco and Roger Robinson splitting art duties along with John Rauch on colors. The scene featuring Batman driving through the factory wall is pretty awesome, but these guys pull off a lot of other great pages too. A scene featuring Orphan not far into the issue shows off the intense looks these artists can pull off while just showcasing the eyes of the villain (he wears a mask over most of his face). In the image his head is in a box of red, the rest of the scene is a combination of white and blue besides his hands which are also encased in red/orange. The intensity of his face is pushed into focus with the colors by Rauch as we see how menacing he looks and how dangerous the blades in his hands are. Also on the page are expressions from Bluebird, Grayson and Cassandra and it’s the latter’s eyes that interestingly match most closely with Orphan’s in how intense and determined she appears to take down her former teacher.

Issue #14 of Batman and Robin Eternal brings back the humor (but not Red Hood and Red Robin!!!!!!) while delivering some great action scenes accompanied by equally great artwork by Blanco, Robinson, and Rauch. Tynion IV pulls together another action-packed script as he makes room for twists and turns in the Batman and Robin story happening in the past as well as in the present. Seriously…what was Scarecrow thinking? You can’t mess with the Bat.