Soooo... let's talk about Batman Eternal 4?

[RobinFan4880]

New continuity, new rules, new roles, new relationships.

[FHIZ]

Still doesn't mean it's great. There's a distinct overload of angst and depressing BS in the New 52, and to take away Steph's relationship with her mother is quite honestly a big blow. She's already the daughter of a super villain, she always has been, her character doesn't gain anything from losing the relationship with her mother. In the world of the New 52, while a lot of things are just new for the sake of being new and shaking things up just because, there's nothing new about a Gotham vigilante whose parents are out of the picture. Having one supportive parent was something truly unique to Steph in the past given Gotham's landscape, and she's apparently lost that now.

[Dzetoun]

Still doesn't mean it's great. There's a distinct overload of angst and depressing BS in the New 52, and to take away Steph's relationship with her mother is quite honestly a big blow. She's already the daughter of a super villain, she always has been, her character doesn't gain anything from losing the relationship with her mother. In the world of the New 52, while a lot of things are just new for the sake of being new and shaking things up just because, there's nothing new about a Gotham vigilante whose parents are out of the picture. Having one supportive parent was something truly unique to Steph in the past given Gotham's landscape, and she's apparently lost that now.

I agree, if that indeed turns out to be the case. There is an outside chance that this is not what it seems. It is possible that Steph's father was deliberately angling for her to escape, and if so then the situation might, in fact, be brighter than in the previous continuity. I wouldn't bet much on it, but it's a possibility. Unfortunately, it is more likely that, as you say, it's just more New 52 depressing, angsty, unnecessary BS.

[Punisher007]

We don't know how this will all play out, so it's way too soon to judge anything at the moment.

[godisawesome]

Having one supportive parent was a shared trait of Tim and Steph for the longest time. Then you threw in Cass and her weird relationship with Cain and you had some very nice contrast with both the traditional Gotham-orphan recipe and each other.

I really hope they bring Tim closer to earth in this series. Him fighting robots seems very New 52, but it could be working as a establishing moment for new readers. And he was actually using his Bo staff as opposed to the wonder-wings.

[Flex Mentallo]

Good Issue, Love the Fabok cover and the Nguyen interiors. I liked the cuts between batgirl and the courthouse, the "hirelings competency" comment, the aforementioned last payphone comment.
Do you guys think Steph suspects or realized her mom is in it? The way she says the quiet bye after hanging up suggests it and walks away after being told to stay put kind of suggested it at second glance but I might be reading into it.
Also, crazy falcone can waltz back into town and attack all those penguin strongholds as well as have the mayor (and commissioner) under his thumb so quickly and easily..

[Conway]

I felt the same about the momentum being a bit ruined here, which was something I was hoping wouldn't happen.

This is almost the exact opposite of how I felt. I thought the last issue stalled out and got boring, this issue tied all that stuff together and made the characters compelling again.

[Penguin Truth]

I find it amusing anybody cares enough about Stephanie Brown to care whether her mother is secretly evil or not.

Maybe she's under some influence. Even Arthur seems to be a bit more evil than he was before.

[Kid A]

I'm pretty upset about Crystal being in league with Arthur. I get where they're going from a narrative perspective -- establishing that this is a conspiracy that has its tendrils everywhere and Steph can't trust anyone -- but they could have done that without sacrificing Steph and Crystal's relationship, which is such a central one. (Oh, but I forgot, in the DCnU heroes aren't allowed to be happy ever.)

And I know that Arthur may not be an abusive husband/father in this continuity, but it still kind of sickens me to see Crystal working with him.

Hopefully it's more complicated than that, though it doesn't look that way. Ruining Steph's relationship with her mother would be a real blow to her character.

God, I miss BQM.

[Naked Bat]

I would say Eternal continue to deliver to me so far. The world building stuff is really great, and the characterization is interesting. Not to mention, Fabok then Nguyen? We're really lucky. The art is top notch.

[The Doctor]

Pretty good i thought, the story is kind of going a bit slow, but that's offset by the weekly format. 4 issues and really all that happened was Jim Gordon getting into big trouble and that one old baddie came back. Still though I'm enjoying it though I do want things to begin escalating and see some of the elements from that wasted Batman interruption.

[Batman Fan]

Another good issue I thought.

[RADRAD]

I'm very okay with the twist that both Steph's parents are in collusion with each other. She's why I jumped onto this book, but it's managed to still have some interesting setup behind it and the people of Gotham itself.