Welcome to Batman Forever, a weekly review of “Batman Eternal” from DC Comics.
I’ll look at the weekly comic every time for a short review and a prediction as to what comes next. And, as a special treat, I’ll reproduce one panel from each week’s comic with some of the many action figures I have laying around.
Here we go!
Batman Eternal #3:
BLAME BLAM BLAM! Gotham is heating up as someone has set Penguin’s hideouts on fire and the now-corrupt Gotham PD will do nothing about it. Stephanie Brown has discovered a sinister secret. Batman punches people right in the face!
This thing has more twists and turns than Chubby Checker in a blender. If it weren’t a weekly series, I’d worry there was entirely too much going on in this story.
I’m intrigued as to who’s really behind all of this. It can’t all possibly be Falcone. (Also, what — if any — relation does the New 52 Falcone have to the one I love from Year One/Long Halloween. He’s kinda dead.) Or is it whomever is backing Cluemaster and other members of the Secret Society of Super Villains in Gotham?
It looks like Falcone is trying to both take back his criminal empire in Gotham (and DC will set him up as the primary Bat-universe villain, which I love) while simultaneously trying to take down Batman by running him ragged Knightfall-style.
I also love Batman as a vigilante on the wrong side of the law, and he’s definitely in the sights of the Gotham PD now.
Next Week:
I predict Batgirl and Batman will butt heads over solving this case, especially with Barbara’s dad at the center of it. Penguin calls in some favors to fight against Falcone. Falcone doesn’t change out of his stupid Affliction-style rose shirt. Good cop Lt. Bard gets offered a bribe.
Next week’s cameo: Catwoman comes back. The Spectre reveals himself to someone.
Was I right?
Last week, I said, “Batman moves to take on the bad man behind it all. We learn why Catwoman is afraid of him. Jim Gordon gets beat up in jail. We learn the meaning of ‘Blackfire.'” I also predicted Penguin would cameo.
Penguin hilariously gets thrown through a table by Bats. Batman does indeed go after Carmine “The Roman” Falcone, but he does so by first going after The Penguin, who is apparently The Roman’s nemesis, before beating up a tattooed Falcone goon. No Catwoman this issue, and Gordon appears sitting in his jail cell with nary a scratch. No mention of Teen Titans villain Blackfire (or any other Blackfire, for that matter).
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By night, Kevin Coffey fights crime as a masked vigilante. By day, he’s the music critic for the Omaha World-Herald, Dungeon Master, lover of the Muppets, husband and father. He also enjoys making snide comments during movies (his wife has asked that he stop, but he refuses). Read his musings on Twitter (@owhmusicguy), music reviews and previews at Omaha.com, and bloggy stuff at his blog, Rock Candy.
