Batman & Robin Eternal #2

‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ #2 cover by Tony Salvador Daniel, Sandu Florea & Tomeu Morey

• Written by Tim Seeley, Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
• Pencils by Paul Pelletier
• Inks by Tony Kordos
• Colours by Rainier Beredo
• Cover by Tony Salvador Daniel, Sandu Florea & Tomeu Morey

The Orphan has come to the Narrows to kill Harper Row—will interference from Cassandra Cain and Grayson be enough to save her? And, as Grayson desperately tries to unravel the mystery of Mother, he remembers Batman & Robin’s first confrontation with the Scarecrow and his fear gas!

Pickup your copy of ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ #2 at Comixology now!

Back with its second issue ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ is not breaking any new ground beyond that of its first issue by continuing the formula of mixing flashbacks with present day action to create a rich story.

Building on the flashbacks featuring Scarecrow this issue depicts Dick’s first experience of fear gas, it serves as a great insight in to his mindset during his early days as Robin and a reminder of how far that he has come over the years.

These flashbacks are also giving artist a chance to show off the new design for his Robin costume, redesigned to set him apart in flashbacks from the late and post-New 52 eras. I also can’t complain about the chance to see Bruce Wayne in his classic Batman costume again whilst he is sidelined in the present day continuity.

Much of the present day action follows the fallout from Orphan’s attack on Harper. A great way to acclimatise Dick to her presence but also to centralise the characters for these opening chapters of the story as she is a central focus point.

In this continuity others are not familiar with Cassandra as Dick is so there’s a familiar level of threat around her which hasn’t existed in comics for well over a decade now. I hope this reintroduction eventually leads her to become a regular character in the franchise once more as her time in the Bat-family ushered in some great stories for all involved.

Also harking back to stories past is the continuing appearance of Spoiler, aka Stephanie Brown. She had been entirely removed from continuity in New 52 era DC Comics only to return in the first run of ‘Eternal’. She has been relatively dormant in the months since ‘Eternal’ ended, only making brief appearances tied to Harper and her involvement with Batman. Previous incarnations of the character were tied very heavily to Cassandra Cain, eventually leading to Stephanie’s time as Batgirl. Having them both in this series cannot be a coincidence.

Pencils this week are provided by Paul Pelletier, ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ #2 is a more out there looking issue thanks to the scenes of Robin under the influence of fear gas so Pelletier has room to introduce some more colours and have fun with perspective etc.. which last weeks artist Tony Salvador Daniel was not able to do. Pelletier maintains the middle of the road comic imagery so facial features are well defined and faces remain consistent throughout but again this book doesn’t venture too far beyond the ordinary.

Things are shaping up well story-wise for ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ there’s definitely a level of intrigue which has only increased from issue #1 to #2 and the pacing works well for a weekly series. It now just needs to lift the artwork out of the ordinary and in to the extraordinary.

3 stars