Batman works with Scarecrow, who has been working for Mother and developed a new fear toxin, which could reshape the future.

In the past, Robin and Batman invade a chemical plant in Prague to find out what Scarecrow is up to. What Batman finds out is more horrific than he could have imagined, as Scarecrow has a new fear toxin which can scar the brain, and it's all being funded by Mother. Meanwhile, in the present, Grayson, Cassandra, and Bluebird deal with Cain and everything takes a turn for the worse.

The jumping between the past and the present really helps escalate the suspense in the book. Each story is pretty great on its own, but the conversation between Scarecrow and Batman steals the show. James Tynion IV does a phenomenal job with the dialogue and actually humanizing Scarecrow, who has come off as more of a monster in past years and a lot less of a doctor, which at one point, he was. Keep in mind, this is a much earlier version of the character, so there's still that human element left inside Dr. Crane.

It's fantastic to see that this weekly series, which just reached the halfway mark last week, is still exciting and holding the interest of the reader. The last couple of weekly DC series did not do this. What B&R ETERNAL has going for it is that it builds on the relationships between the children of Gotham. Bluebird and Cassandra have an excellent, emotional moment towards the end of the issue that brings them closer together.

There are two different artists on this book. Fernando Blanco did the scenes in the past and Roger Robinson did the present day scenes, with John Rauch on colors for both scenes. There are some problematic moments with Robinson's art during the action sequences. There are a few moments where the action feels stiff and rigid and doesn't convey the sense of movement or fluidity that it should. However, Robinson does a wonderful job getting the emotion these characters are feeling onto the page. Blanco does solid work, as usual. He does a great job showing the fear in Scarecrow's eyes in one scene. The split between artists works exceptionally well. Rauch's colors really bring everything together to create some cohesiveness between the two styles.

Not every issue of this book is a revelation and it shouldn't be, but issue #14 of BATMAN & ROBIN ETERNAL does give the reader insight into Scarecrow's work and what makes him the character he is. Tynion does a nice job giving the reader a human look at the character and while there isn't anything huge revealed at the end of the issue, which is a nice change, the overall issue was a great read, minus a couple art missteps, and this weekly series continues to be a great read.

It should satiate the Grayson fans for now, enjoyed it quite a bit and the plot moved along nicely.

Kinda disappointed that the fight was off-screen

Dick Grayson beat The Orphan 1-on-1 fair and square wow...i honestly didn't thought that he would be able to, as i was reading the issue, i thought that wherever it stopped being just a talk, Cass would beat him to the ground, but instead Harper and Cass left the scene and Dick did a very good job on his own, specially considering that his opponent is the only character to have actually landed hits on Cass and forced her to "work for it" so far in this new continuity.

That said, i think that DC wants everyone to think that Dick Grayson is in the big leagues on this new continuity...he impressed Shiva with his skills on Nightwing #0 - Perpetual Motion...he landed hits on Shiva while having a broken rib on Nightwing #14 - Die for Me...he stallemated Batman (Bruce Wayne) on Nightwing #30 - Setting Son...he gave trouble to The Midnighter several times on the Grayson series...and now this...DC is pushing him to a-list status, so i guess that he is, now, he's amoung the best fighters in the world on this new continuity.

The best moment for me, was Cass and Harper in the end after realizing that they wouldn't desactivate the bomb in time, deciding to die kicking a$$...Harper is still annoying but she's slowly growing on me...the second best moment for me, was Cass saving Harper from The Orphan by catching a dagger with her right hand...classic Cass bada$$ne$$.

I am still worried that they will replace Cass and Stephanie's friendship from Pre-52 and instead push the Harper and Cassandra BFF thing which is what they are doing right now. Sure they are fine but come on...please don't replace those memorable connections just to push Harper as the 'new hottest character out there !' it never works. It just makes it more annoying to see a character getting pushed to a point of annoyance and gives the opposite of the desired effect. You need to let characters grow naturally instead of suddenly making them the key to everything ! Like how they focused on killing Harper because she is somehow ''special'' which we have yet to see. Show not tell, as I always say.

Also, I am glad Dick is getting some respect. Sure he can hold his own against better fighters but he also uses his smarts and use his tools 1 on 1 , they probably would've lost that fight but since he is more than just a fighter, he used his smarts and used a Tranq dart instead while getting beat up ! Genius ! Fight smarter, not harder !

In a long dragged fight, he might've lost since he was already beat up but he was smart enough to use a Tranq dart..to subdue the opponent. Fight smarter, not harder. But yea, I am glad he is getting the respect. He WAS Batman after Bruce disappear and pretty damn good at it while also dealing with a bratty Damian as Robin. That time itself elevated him into big leagues. It might be Pre-52 but still

@wowlock:

1) Nah, Harper is Snyder's favourite, i doubt that she'll stay around for the long run, while Steph has IMO a better chance, and i like her more as well.

2) Yes, Dick didn't beat him purely hand-to-hand, but their fight was mostly off-panel, and we saw him keeping up with The Orphan in close combat for about 9 panels...yes, Dick used the dart but David used a sword initially and daggers after, etc, the point s Dick out-fought him in close-combat, that's no small feat.

Dick is the first robin! Never died! nuff said.

Haven't checked this weekly out in awhile. Don't know what's going on at the moment besides the Scarecrow stuff coming back into play. Guess I'll pick it up as I go along.

@arkhamace: In Jason's defense, he wouldn't have died if the fans weren't such haters at the time lol

but he will never be the first robin but the first who failed which is very unrealistic because every child would fail in such criminal environment