- Written by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
- Pencils by Tony Salvador Daniel
- Inks by Sandu Florea
- Cover by Francis Manapul
Grayson, Red Robin and Red Hood fracture, not knowing whether they can trust each other or the legacy of Batman. In the past, Robin gets his chance to redeem himself in Batman’s eyes and take on Scarecrow.
Pickup your copy of ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ #6 at Comixology now!
As the cover suggests ‘Out of the Past’ is very much a flashback tale continuing the story of Batman and a young Robin chasing after Scarecrow and how this ties in to the story of Mother.
The flashback tale this issue is bookended by scenes in the present between Dick and Jason, with a guest spot by Harper and Cassandra. There’s light on story but heavy on emotion as Jason pleads with Dick not to lose faith in his friends and rightly pointing out that for all his faults Bruce made the right choice in picking each of the Robins (again not the gang). Jason has become the conscience on Dick’s shoulder and right points him towards including Harper and Cassandra in his investigation rather than shutting them out.
There’s no appearance for Tim this week, sidelined with anger from Dicks intrusion on his personal life in the previous issue.
The bulk of the issue is taken up in the past as Bruce and Dick continue their hunt for Scarecrow. First up it’s time for the impressionable Robin to make a mistake which he spends much of the rest of the story languishing under. Not listening to Batman was a mistake that he won’t make again and nicely sets up his present day attitude of following in Bruce’s footsteps.
The story quickly moves on to a lengthy exchange between Bruce Wayne and Maxwell Dossey. It’s a slightly confusing exchange as the two trade veiled insults but Dossey does give away information regarding his wife which sets Bruce on a mission to Prague searching for Mother. The conversation sets up a new obsession for Bruce as we witness the opening of the Mother case file, admittedly however I got swept up in a new Batman story with Bruce inside the cowl.
Recounting the story to Jason sets Dick on the same path that Bruce was on in the past and as such ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ continues to use strong story craftsmanship to mirror past and present whilst giving us as the audience pieces of the story at different junctures in the timeline.
Tony Salvador Daniel is the artist in control of this issue, his work actually stands out a little more this time around. There’s a slightly Jim Lee-esque feel to the pencil work which I really like in this issue so that’s a big plus over the past few weeks.
This is the standout issue of the series so far for me.
4 stars
