Batman Eternal #5 Review
Batman Eternal continues to forge ahead. The Jim Gordon story gets put on the back burner this issue in favor of some scenes with Tim investigating the children that were attacked by Professor Pyg in the first issue of the series. It's great to see Tim Drake integrated back into the Batman universe again. Since the start of The New 52, it's really felt like he's been segregated from the rest of the Bat family with only an occasional cross over. It was also cool to see some of the emotional fallout from Death of the Family play out in a brief conversation he has with Bruce since I haven't really seen that anywhere else.
The issue's b-story revolves around Vicki Vale trying to dig up a story about the gang war that is being started by Carmine Falcone's return to Gotham. This leads to a couple of cool scenes with Harper Row before Tim's story crosses over with theirs toward the end. Speaking of the end of the issue, there's a reveal that was handled pretty poorly. It shows reveals a character who is directly tied to Tim's investigation. I'm pretty sure I know who it is, but the reveal is done in two small panels on the last page. It makes the end of the issue feel super abrupt because the reveal itself comes basically out of nowhere.
Andy Clarke did the art on this issue and while I miss the consistency of the art in the first three issues, I'm always happy to see Andy Clarke draw Gotham. I've always been a fan of his, and we don't get anywhere near enough of his pencils. The colors in the issue were done by Blonde, who regularly colors Kenneth Rocafort's art, and they were great as well. It gave the art a different vibe from that of last month's issues, but it's basically the start of a brand new story thread within Batman Eternal, so it didn't bother me.
All in all, aside from the very abrupt ending, this was another solid issue in Batman Eternal. It's clear that the creative team on this book have a whole bunch of loosely connected stories to tell, and I can't wait to read them all.
