BATMAN ETERNAL Megathread: Grand Finale (49-52)

[sunofdarkchild]

Better put that in spoiler caps, cause its still very early to reveal. I got the issue as soon as it was on comixology and have been itching to discuss it for hours, but I'll wait a few more.

[K. Jones]

I like it. I'm just not sure I buy it. Not in a red herring sense, just as the "final reveal." Seems unlikely.

Look, I'm as cool with seeing Cluemaster be high, high up in this as anybody. He's a dastardly dude capable of playing some long games. We saw him play similar (but smaller) misdirects in everything from War Crimes to Batgirl: The Lesson. It's sort of his thing. And all the video-game references in the titles of the stories, especially lately? The way the thing is structured and has power-ups and ends with an enemy gauntlet, Mega Man style, before climbing a Wily Tower to face a big bad. I even like the idea of somebody planning a Batman Defeat Gauntlet in their suburban garage.

But not without patrons. Not without financiers. Somebody "else" was still in the Bat-Cave with Hush and Alfred. Somebody still mentioned El Penitente. Somebody was probably right on about Riddler's cold-weather precautions (I posit that Cluemaster is essentially "The Riddler replacement". Somebody was still barking out of a megaphone handing the keys to the car to the super-villains while Hush was locked up and Cluemaster was standing right there in the crowd of Batman rogues, hearing somebody say "here, take WayneTech stuff and run amok!" And there's the matter of the opening "voice" knowing Bruce is Bruce, which we can't assume Cluemaster knows. And then there's all of Riddler's ridiculous clues.

So I can buy that Cluemaster is in on it to the very top, and that the "master plan" is his design. But I still think he's an artist with a patron. Number 5. (Making it Falcone, Hush, Milo, Mad Hatter and Cluemaster, because Riddler and Ra's al Ghul were like pfft eff this noise.).

Of course now I've got some re-reading to do.

Other things I really liked:

Jason making fun of the "Robin II Memorial".
Babs punching Joker's face a lot, because of course she did.
Cassandra strain. Ha! Nicely played.
Penguin goes where the wind blows and syncs up with the teases in Catwoman: Futures End.

[sunofdarkchild]

I like it. I'm just not sure I buy it. Not in a red herring sense, just as the "final reveal." Seems unlikely.

Look, I'm as cool with seeing Cluemaster be high, high up in this as anybody. He's a dastardly dude capable of playing some long games. We saw him play similar (but smaller) misdirects in everything from War Crimes to Batgirl: The Lesson. It's sort of his thing. And all the video-game references in the titles of the stories, especially lately? The way the thing is structured and has power-ups and ends with an enemy gauntlet, Mega Man style, before climbing a Wily Tower to face a big bad. I even like the idea of somebody planning a Batman Defeat Gauntlet in their suburban garage.

But not without patrons. Not without financiers. Somebody "else" was still in the Bat-Cave with Hush and Alfred. Somebody still mentioned El Penitente. Somebody was probably right on about Riddler's cold-weather precautions (I posit that Cluemaster is essentially "The Riddler replacement". Somebody was still barking out of a megaphone handing the keys to the car to the super-villains while Hush was locked up and Cluemaster was standing right there in the crowd of Batman rogues, hearing somebody say "here, take WayneTech stuff and run amok!" And there's the matter of the opening "voice" knowing Bruce is Bruce, which we can't assume Cluemaster knows. And then there's all of Riddler's ridiculous clues.

So I can buy that Cluemaster is in on it to the very top, and that the "master plan" is his design. But I still think he's an artist with a patron. Number 5. (Making it Falcone, Hush, Milo, Mad Hatter and Cluemaster, because Riddler and Ra's al Ghul were like pfft eff this noise.).

Of course now I've got some re-reading to do.

Other things I really liked:

Jason making fun of the "Robin II Memorial".
Babs punching Joker's face a lot, because of course she did.
Cassandra strain. Ha! Nicely played.
Penguin goes where the wind blows and syncs up with the teases in Catwoman: Futures End.

Like I said before, the fact that his wife could pay off a bounty hunter suggests that he and she are filthy, filthy rich. That's probably what tipped Steph off to his real part in it. I'd guess that Crystal is 'the voice' giving the villains instructions.

[Godlike13]

I can't take it serious. Im sorry i just can't. Him? Really? But i guess it does kind of follow suit with Hush, and how the Riddler was thought of as a joke. Yet still. He's just so lame.

[ispacehead]

Great issue!

Batman at his best and worst at the same time.

Interesting ending, but it's still not over. Lest we forget, the final issue comes out on April Fools Day.

If he spoilers:

Cluemaster

end of spoilers does know the secret, how did he find out?

[darkseidpwns]

I can't take it serious. Im sorry i just can't. Him? Really? But i guess it does kind of follow suit with Hush, and how the Riddler was thought of as a joke. Yet still. He's just so lame.

Batman Eternal is a joke imo,I'm gonna pretend it never happened,good thing Endgame doesn't even bother with it. Months and months of filler garbage for Cluemaster? the guy who got arrested halfway through the series?(how did he even get out anyway?), they jobbed Scarecrow,Freeze and Bane for this lame villain? what's the point of even making him a big bad guy if you're gonna mess up actual big bad guys,heck what's the point of even making him a big bad for Batman's 75th anniversary story?

[teddyeatsyourface]

Well, that was unexpected. But I suppose that was the point all along. Lol, it's like Loeb's Hush but done 10x better.

[ispacehead]

it's like Loeb's Hush

It's like Hush x Knightfall at this point.

[AUScowboy]

Yeah, pretty sure Cluemaster isnt our ultimate antagonist, but just the final of the five fingers (or whatever the going speculation is..). I really like this issues art, pacing and payoff. Bring on the chained up, unmasked and bloody final two chapters!!!

Edit: Sonofdarkchild pretty much called this issues last page reveal lol..

[Arnoldoaad]

I totally didnt saw that reveal coming

[The Lucky One]

Cluemaster being the big bad would be above his paygrade, way above.

That probably wouldn't go over too well.

I guess the counterpoint to that would be that most of Batman's most popular villains have been C-listers or below at some point. Two-Face, Riddler, Scarecrow, those guys all disappeared for decades after their early Golden Age appearances, or were laughing stocks for a while.

Don't get me wrong, I see your point; but I assume some people also looked at Paul Dini like he was crazy when he said, "You know what? I'm going to write an incredibly poignant, heartwrenching story featuring Mr. Freeze... you know, Mr. Zero, the fourth-rate Captain Cold knockoff." And then he did it. It's all in the execution.

[sunofdarkchild]

Tynion: I WILL say the lines spoken on the first page of “Batman Eternal #1″ happen in the first five pages of “Batman Eternal #51.” So don’t be too sure. But also the story is DEFINITELY not over yet.

http://www.mtv.com/news/2107192/batm...-james-tynion/


And the 'he knows Bruce is Batman' point is kind of moot since the cowl was removed by that scene.

[ispacehead]

And the 'he knows Bruce is Batman' point is kind of moot since the cowl was removed by that scene.

We don't know yet that Brown will be present... (or conscious ) for the unmasking.

The cowl is damaged but not removed thus far.

[Nite-Wing]

Well I guess Cluemaster got bumped up to big bad somehow
The way its happened honestly feels like they plugged him in instead of someone everyone else was thinking like owlman or ra's

[Dmreyn]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here. On one hand I get the rumblings and rants coming from the reveal at the end of this issue, but at the same time it does make sense. Yeah Cluemaster was a C list villain for a while. But that was in the "old 52". History changed, villains changed, people have come back to life, etc, since then. And honestly, we were expecting Hush/Bane/Ras/March etc, and if it were one of them, it wouldn't have been a surprise. Would you have rather read all 52 issues and been like "yeah, I figured it was just Hush all along, it just took 52 issues to get there". The new 52 is trying to shake things up a bit. Everybody raved about the Riddler, who was mostly an annoyance, a punching bag for most of his existence in before the new 52 (save for a few choice stories) get his chance to be the "big bad" in Zero Year. And that annoyance took down the whole city and almost beat Batman. Yet a similar character in manner and style can't do the same thing in Eternal, when it comes down to it? I don't know. I like my classic villains for sure, but it's always cool to see somebody else get the limelight once and a while.