Batman Eternal by Snyder and Tynion issue #2

Although the heading of my reviews for Batman Eternal have named only two writers, make no mistake that this series is collaborated by five of them, and it's by the second issue that it finally shows in the most unflattering way possible. While reading the contents of this story, I found the parts of its sum very interesting. Several daring things are happening. Relevant characters are being introduced. Some of the best illustrations are offered. The visual quality of Batman Eternal so far was inarguably majestic in scope and I'm so engrossed looking at the panels and the details in the background while perusing through. However, the cohesiveness of the story itself is not that strong. Because of the appearances of many scenes seemingly disconnected from each other, the entire thing doesn't hold up by the second reading.

That's the biggest and most discernible flaw for issue #2. So many things are happening alongside together that each scene cut had become abrupt with no graceful transition whatsoever. I'm happy to see that two-paged collage of the Bat-family (Batgirl, Red Hood, Red Robin and even Lucius Fox were present) because it was so gorgeous to behold, as well as reading that conversation between Batman and Gordon (although I am continuously worried about the latter now since he's starting to question his own sanity. If Jim Gordon loses hope, Gotham will surely go to hell). However, the scenes are simply not given room to breathe. We keep jumping into other scenes that by the second reading I'm actually pretty dizzy about the pacing. And you know my thing about a balance in pacing when it comes to storytelling.

SPOILERS TERRITORY: In addition to this, we also get two villains squeezed in the pages. Since I wasn't there during the 'Batsgiving' moment, I wasn't spoiled about the return of Carmine Falcone which will play out majorly for this series. His appearance didn't bother me because I enjoy the mob presence in Gotham in the old continuity and seeing Falcone again means Gotham will shift back to that familiar territory. And how awesome would it be to see Falcone and Penguin duke it out? But that grand entrance for Falcone was rushed just like most of the scenes here. The thing about Catwoman was also confusing. Why is she chummy with Batsy? I still consider her a villainess but whenever New 52 has a crossover appearance of her in other titles, her claws are pulled back and she's seemingly neutered. I ship the Bat and the Cat more than anyone else I know but I don't like it when her cunning and villainy are diluted in favour of a forced team-up between her and Batsy.

As for the other villain, I believe that's Doctor Phosphorous and we aren't even given a second to give a shit about his weirdly timed development. I don't know enough about this character and when he came to Arkham Asylum in that brief moment with some disposable character, I was not intrigued. Does he have something to do with the train massacre? For this issue, he was short-changed and had to play second fiddle because Carmine Falcone is more important and the dethroned mob boss is back for blood.

Main artist Jason Fabok has some of the most diverse art styles in comics today. I've read ahead in Detective Comics with John Layman (BECAUSE HOW COULD I NOT WHEN TONY DANIEL'S RUN HAS BEEN DISAPPOINTING?), and Fabok just brings so much color and energy in Layman's scripts especially their work on the Joker tie-ins. This issue was no exception. However, I have a lot of nitpicks about the entire thing so I think I'm going to have to rate this lower than I expected. I loved the scenes by themselves but they were scattered and schizophrenic next to each other. And I like my pacing solid and well-executed.

RECOMMENDED: 6/10