There are no words.
The Eternal story continues! Writers Scott Snyder, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, and artist Ian Bertram join us in this issue's story! Batgirl is in Brazil, fighting Scorpiana, and trying to prove her father's innocence; Alfred and his daughter have some quality bonding time; Stephanie Brown learns more about her father's origin from average game show host to super villain; and Selina reads a letter from her father. Will you dare to read this issue, or pass?
The Good
I only enjoyed two story elements in this issue. The first being Alfred and his daughter, Julia. I like how the writers threw in the minor plot twist of giving Alfred a daughter. Sure at this point in time; her introduction into the Batman-verse and this series doesn't make any sense, but still, I like how the bond that is broken between the two gave me a breather of all the craziness that happened in this issue. I really enjoyed how Julia thinks her father traded being an honorable surgeon for the comfort of pampering a billionaire, and how that puts a wedge in their relationship. I like seeing that kind of tension in characters like this, because we all know it isn't true. So I'm interested in seeing how that will workout with the father-daughter-relationship, and how she'll eventually join the "family."
The final thing that I enjoyed is Stephanie Brown! Learning more about her in this New 52 universe is really awesome. I really enjoy the direction that the writers are taking with her character. How she is "Spoiling" the identity of her father's criminal career to the entire world via a blog on the internet. It's quite clever and makes sense on how she'll eventually become the hero known as "Spoiler." Her story and Alfred's story, were two things that made reading this issue a bit more bearable.
The Bad
While the writers story, that involved Batgirl looking for answers to prove her father's innocence and Selina Kyle reading a letter; was a part of the problem, the entire way the stories were put together just did not help my reading experience. The issue opens up with Selina about to read the letter from her father then before any of that truly begins; it cuts to Batgirl fighting Scorpiana; then to Alfred and his daughter; then Stephanie Brown looking for more information on her father; back to more Batgirl; more Alfred; more Stephanie; more Batgirl; then finally it closes with Selina Kyle reading the entire letter from her father! Really? There were way too many things that happened in this issue, and 90% of them didn't even have to happen in this particular issue.
That 90% of the story that could've been cut would be Alfred and his daughter, Stephanie Brown looking up info on her dad, and Selina Kyle's letter from her father. While I did like Alfred and Stephanie's contribution to the story, it was totally unnecessary. The cover of this issue focuses on Batgirl vs. Scorpiana; this entire issue could've focused on that, instead of splitting between all these different story elements. And just how each segment of the story went from one part to the next; was not done with the level of finesse that I have come to see from this series in prior issues. Every jump to the next story felt like each segment was individual [and isolated] ultimately not aiding to the larger picture.
The artwork, by Ian Bertram, did not help either! His artwork is not my cup of tea; his style is just a bit bizarre. The characters look fat and bug eyed, all while giving this weird ominous look of death throughout each scene. His art style looks almost like Chris Burnham, which is a compliment. It's good to always strive to be like another great Batman artist. However, Ian Bertram's art style looks like a very, very, very unpolished version of Chris Burnham's. Ian Bertram's artwork isn't for me, I'm not hating on the guy whatsoever, I just don't like his art style. It is not what I would come to find in any (modern) Batman title. The best thing for Ian to do is to find a style that fits him best, as his style just seems like a unpolished version of Chris Burnham's. However if this is the style he wants to stick with, I would say he does do an excellent job in bringing an ominous look of death into every scene.
The Verdict
Alfred and Stephanie's side of the story did not save this entire issue. While Alfred and Stephanie's story was enjoyable, it could've been cut along with the Selina Kyle aspect of this story. That way the writers could focus, entirely on Batgirl and her mission of trying to prove her father's innocence. The artwork definitely did not help this issue, as the look of everything (especially the characters) threw me off of this weirdly spliced together issue. Batman: Eternal #11 is the worst issue of the Eternal series and should be avoided! 1 out of 5.
Batman: Eternal reviews