- Written by Steve Orlando, Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
- Pencils by Scot Eaton
- Inks by Ronan Cliquet, Wayne Faucher & Steve Pugh
- Colours by Gabe Eltaeb
- Cover by Francis Manapul
Grayson vs Red Robin! Grayson digs deeper into Red Robin’s true origins. Will he find the answers he seeks, or will it splinter the Bat-team forever!
Pickup your copy of ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ #5 at Comixology now!
Coming off the back of a shock twist at the end of issue #4 ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ dives head on in to an issue exploring Tim Drake’s past whilst balancing a growing mix of stories.
This issue takes Dick Grayson to the home of Tim Drake’s parents whilst Harper lands herself in trouble after following Cassandra out of the Batcave. Issue #5 also brings back the flashback story which was notably absent from the last issue.
The growing number of stories continues to develop organically out of the scenarios at play which is a marked improvement over the full nature of ‘Batman Eternal’. The length of the issue remains the same yet the different stories still manage to continue their respective developments nicely. ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ is undoubtedly Dick Grayon’s story so he remains at the forefront at all times and any scenes not featuring him are relegated to second string.
There’s little to be gleamed from the flashbacks this week sadly as they do little more than bring the story a step forwards. Most of the exposition comes from Dick’s visit to the Drake’s. We’re seeing the beginnings of Grayson questioning everybody around him, his experiences with Spyral have clearly damaged his trust in others and we’re seeing that bleed in to his Gotham life now.
It makes for an interesting story as we as readers have had no reason to doubt his motives until his mysterious phone call with Mother so this issue sheds some much needed light on proceedings.
Harper Row is turning in to a breakout character in ‘Batman & Robin Eternal’ after being pushed in to the background following the events of ‘Batman Eternal’. With Bruce out of the picture Harper lost her chance to be trained up under her Bluebird guise and with Gordon not interested in sidekicks she clearly felt her time in the vigilante spotlight was up. This series is offering her the chance to jump right back in to the fray and earn her wings. She has the tech knowledge to match Tim but lacks fighting skills that could easily be learnt from new friend Cassandra.
The story between the two is beginning to heat up now they have had further run in with Orphan and it will be interesting to see what it develops.
Scot Eaton is the man behind the pencils again this week. Nothing new to report with the artwork this week.
3 stars
