Writer – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, Ray Fawkes, John Layman
Artist – Mikel Janin
Colours – Jeromy Cox
Letters – Taylor Esposito

Captain Sawyer, John Bard and Harvey Bullock have a plan to stop the gang wars in Gotham and perhaps bring down all of those that are involved as well. Meanwhile, Batman is accompanying Gordon to trial as Batgirl and the Red Hood try to clear his name. There is also somewhat of a surprise ending with Gordon on the receiving end, which will mean something to some readers and nothing to others if they do not peruse the other Batman titles. There was not a lot of movement in the issue, as it only featured our respective heroes talking and discussing things while making little headway in the case. It was nice to see the subject of the series, Gordon, make an appearance as those are far and few between. Further to all of that, Vicki Vale makes another appearance, Red Robin fights Professor Pyg and Harper Row does a bit of hacking, upset over her brother’s condition. Mikel Janin provides some beautiful artwork for the issue and is a huge difference in tone and quality between this issue and the last. The writing is as solid as ever but other than the part of the book featuring Gotham’s finest which moved the plot along, the issue did little and seems to be spinning its wheels a little bit. The title has not gotten as bad as Futures End with its watered-down pacing, but Eternal could move things along just a little bit faster. That being said, there was still enough here to entertain and seeing all the various members of the Bat-Family involved in this book does tend to keep things fresh as there are so many moving parts it would be far too much for one man, specifically Batman, to handle all by his lonesome. As for what comes next, it is sure to be at least as much fun as this issue was, if not more.

3 out of 5