Vicki Vale – Inter-comics.com

ORACLE OF COMICS #012 – BATMAN ETERNAL #8 – GUIDED BY DARKNESS!

Batman Eternal #8 Trouble
If every issue of Batman Eternal was like this, I would be a happy reader.

In fairness, it has been a while since Eternal has had a truly bad issue. There was fun to be had last time and the few issues before that added a few more layers to the mystery, hooking us right into the conspiracy of the story. However, it still felt a little inconsistent and jumbled. The eighth issue settles into what I thought Batman Eternal would be: inching closer to the answer hidden behind Gordon’s incarceration. This issue forgets Dr. Phosphorous, forgets the mysterious nano-technology and forgets the reveal of Joker’s daughter that has been mysteriously brushed away for the time being. We are back to the square roots of the Dark Knight: Batman, Falcone and a helluva amount of corrupt cops in between.

Batman Eternal #8 Message
What I liked about this issue is that it focused on Batman beating up Falcone’s goons, but it seemed like it was more of an issue devoted to the supporting cast. We were still spending an issue with Batman, more than we’ve had in a long while, but it was through the eyes of other people. Jason Bard, the man who opened this whole story for us, gets a lot of development. His motives and personality are put on the table, hammering home to the point that he is a good cop in a bad town. We’ve seen this story before, but in Gotham, this plotline never seems to run out of material. Vicki Vale also makes a return, the feisty reporters character earning every streak of dialogue. Her scene with Bard was smartly written, Vale turning to her womanly charms to get the story out of Bard. Is a romance blossoming or is Vale up to something? It’s a small sub plot, and most might think it wastes precious frames, but, in my mind, it adds depth and lifts the story arc higher.

Stephanie Brown gets a mention too. She remains my favourite strand of storyline here, because it is so disconnected from everything else that I am left scratching my head at where the Cluemaster fits into everything. I am waiting for the twist with great anticipation. The story isn’t even brought up too much. We just see a shattered phone booth, two days after we last left Stephanie, covered in blood and bullet-holes. The following scene plays out really cleverly and I cannot wait to see where this leads.

Batman Eternal #8 Vale
I am still lost at how time fits into all this. Vicki Vale went from witnessing a twist with the nano-bots, another storyline that was harshly dropped, to appearing at a crime scene, as though she was making a first appearance. A character who popped up last issue is now in Hong Kong, in the space of a day. That will need explaining. It vaguely works at the moment, but seeing as Batman is heading off to Hong Kong, time needs to be planned a bit more carefully than it has been in past issues.