CREDIT: DC
Rating: 4/5 – A Satisfying Conclusion to This Latest Weekly Series.
By ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
It’s over. The Batman and Robin Eternal weekly series wraps up with this, the twenty-sixth issue. Depending on what happens with Rebirth just months away and DC shifting to a bi-weekly series for many of its most popular titles, we may have seen the end of weekly series for a while. I’m definitely OK with that. Batman and Robin Eternal, like the series before this, had its highs and lows but required a significant monetary investment from the reader with 4 or 5 issues coming out each month. Although the few issues preceding this felt as though they dragged on for far too long, this final issue’s pacing was just right and contributed to this being one of my favorite issues of the series.
James Tynion IV’s script opens with a touching moment between Harper Row and her mom before her unfortunate death years ago. These few pages alone make Harper’s character worth reading and makes her struggle with the villainous Mother all that more impactful. Mother has Cassandra Cain held prisoner while she tries to make Harper Row kill her for the death of her Mom, while Nightwing and Azrael race to save them both in Mother’s arctic base. There’s some predictability in the writing and there’s a few scenes I saw coming a mile away, but it still didn’t take away my enjoyment of the Bat-Family coming together to stop a word wide threat. It was a bit weird to see Midnighter joining the group for these past few issues, but that’s more of a nitpick since he didn’t detract from the story.
The art in this issue was the strongest it’s been since Tony Daniel’s solo issue five issues back. Scot Eaton, Carlo Pagulayan, Igor Vitorino and Geraldo Borges, each with their own inker all contribute this issue, and each style complimented the other with Eaton’s art standing out the most. There’s a nice epilogue that has the recently returned Bruce Wayne-Batman interacting with many of the sidekicks that was nice to see, ending the series not only on a high note, but on a happy note as well. I can’t say I’m sad to see this weekly series end, but I’m glad it ended so well and look forward to seeing these characters after the rebirth.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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