BATMAN ETERNAL #6 Preview/Discussion

[Jay Kay]

I hate the Ghost's new design. Takes everything out of what the character was...sad really.

He still has a top hat and a monocle without a visible head. Those are literally the only things that makes him stand out as a character.

[ReverseReverseFlash]

He still has a top hat and a monocle without a visible head. Those are literally the only things that makes him stand out as a character.

He has a zombie head actually...He used to be a ghost, like the classic version, but he tried to resurrect himself and ended up with a zombie body. So really, it makes no sense for him to behave as a ghost in this story. He's a ghoul now.

I like his redesign over the Scooby Doo villain look, although I'd prefer the ghoul aspect of his body go away and just be a ghost in his current costume.

[Inertia]

Looking pretty good, as usual.

[Jay Kay]

He has a zombie head actually...He used to be a ghost, like the classic version, but he tried to resurrect himself and ended up with a zombie body. So really, it makes no sense for him to behave as a ghost in this story. He's a ghoul now.

I like his redesign over the Scooby Doo villain look, although I'd prefer the ghoul aspect of his body go away and just be a ghost in his current costume.

Was he introduced before in the New 52 with a zombie head? Well, in that case, this is even better!

[Bruce Wayne]

I think he had a freakish head back in the Johns's Hawkman stories whenever he became visible.

[The Kid]

Quick question that I should have asked a long time ago. Do I need to read Snyder's run for this? Haven't read anything since Death of the Family since I was planning on catching it up at once

[AlexanderLuthor]

Quick question that I should have asked a long time ago. Do I need to read Snyder's run for this? Haven't read anything since Death of the Family since I was planning on catching it up at once

There are some references to things that happened in DoTF, but honestly I think if you are fine reading this as a stand alone even if you haven't read a word of Snyder's run. He's playing with a lot of the same themes that run throughout his run - but they aren't something a new reader would need to have seen before to get the gist

[Bruce Wayne]

Quick question that I should have asked a long time ago. Do I need to read Snyder's run for this? Haven't read anything since Death of the Family since I was planning on catching it up at once

I skipped DoTF and Eternal reads fine to me.

You might want to know who Harper Row is and maybe read Batman Year One though.

[Jay Kay]

I skipped DoTF and Eternal reads fine to me.

You might want to know who Harper Row is and maybe read Batman Year One though.

Why Year One? Do you mean Zero Year?

[Barry]

Liked Batman Eternal #6 much more than issue #5.

[RobinFan4880]

SPOILERS:

The art was stunning, much better than last issue! The story great! I loved the fact that Gentleman Ghost got a cameo (and probably much more in coming issues). I wonder how Bruce got a hold of the Nth Metal, I bet there's a cool New 52 story for that! This is the first time I've really had a chance to read Luke Fox as Batwing and I have to say, I am impressed. He's a pretty cool character, not at all like I imagined him to be. I may pick up his TPBs sometime soon.

I *really* liked the reveal of the villain. I enjoyed her one shot issue a few months ago and was wondering when they were going to bring her back. The Joker's Daughter's plan is evil, to say the least. I hope Batwing takes her down!

[Dzetoun]

In and of itself it was a pretty good issue. But plotlines are starting to build up thick and fast, with little sign of how and where they are going to connect. So far we have Gordon, nanobots, Stephanie Brown, Falcone, and now the supernatural twist, with references to personal and emotional subplots under the surface. There is starting to be a Lost vibe to all this, which is not necessarily a good thing. Luckily they have a strong-handed showrunner in Snyder -- although it isn't as if Snyder has never let plots get away from him, before. Still, there needs to be more sense of continuity and progress, which will probably come once we get past the foundational issues and into the longer mini-arcs.

[K. Jones]

Thanks to the solicits we know these four issues - Batgirl, Red Robin, Batwing and the next one, are one-shots spread out, yeah, foundational. So we know why it feels a little all over the place, and can speculate on when it'll dial in and how the three-part arcs will smooth the narrative.

For me personally, I don't mind the all-over nature. I like Gotham City and zipping around different threads. It's a good mystery tactic, and I find enough of a through-line via Bruce's stuff to link it, for me, and make it work. This issue was fun. Mysticism, Batwing being a super-heroing rookie and science-minded, Corrigan's weird personality. It was an okay lead-in to a new "Cult", which unites some of the really weird, disparate underground/sewer stuff that's been in different titles. In fact, that's the first context where I've found that the Joker's Daughter works for me. I'd like to see Croc's gang of forgottens go to war in the sewers with all this supernatural Blackfire stuff.

I was stoked to see Maxie Zeus. Dear god, DC ... make him electric blue and milk the Arkham Asylum design. Electrocutioner is lame, make my shocking villain Maxie. If this mystic sewer Arkham stuff gives me a blue neon grid god, I'll beam. Perfect foe for Harper Row, too.

[InformationGeek]

Hey guys, was it just me, or was the "doctor" leading that guy through Arkham's sublevels Professor Milo? Kind of had the same haircut.

[Claude]

Oh boy. The Joker's Daughter. Excitement.

She could have a good plot around her this time, but that's still a bad design.


Apart from that, and the odd dialogue slip ("Hey, that worked!" "If by that you mean.... didn't work!" **both fall about laughing**) this continues to be a lot of fun. Nice to see Batwing involved with the main family, he's not a character who's appealed much before but there's a solid role for him here. And, y'know, I've never once actually read a Jim Corrigan story, I'm now realising - it's great to have him here.