Writer – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins
Artist – Dustin Nguyen
Inker – Derek Fridolfs
Colours – John Kalisz
Letters – Steve Wands

The twenty-third issue of Batman Eternal ends up being jam-packed full of things going on, none of them good. Catwoman has a chat with the Lion in prison where he tells her that only she can unite the various gangs of Gotham with her as the kingpin and only then will the bloodshed stop which immediately makes the reader wonder if the Lion has some ulterior motive. Batman continues to face off with the Architect when Gotham is suddenly hit with an earthquake, an aftereffect of saving the Beacon Tower and the two go at it like wolves. Hush is a little peeved at the way things have gone down, but perhaps sees a bright side in all of it and to top it all off, Commissioner Bard wants to declare martial law, yet another slap to the face of the citizens who live in the city but perhaps something that is needed at this point in time. The writing team continues to keep the momentum going from the last issue’s action-packed extravaganza and throw in a bit of Catwoman to the mix to keep it interesting. What the Lion has proposed is not out of the question and actually seems to make sense, so if Selina takes him up on the offer, it will definitely make for an interesting change in the status quo in Gotham going forward, should it all go as planned that is. Though Batman might have failed to capture the Architect and though he did end up saving his tower, the fallout from the earthquake should make things quite interesting for everyone in the city and not in a way that anybody would call good. So with another fantastic issue from what was a weekly book, one has to give kudos out to everyone involved for making Eternal a must-read the last number of issues, not to mention Dustin Nguyen whose pencils shine when he is on the title.

4 out of 5