Writer – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins, Tim Seeley
Artist – Simon Coleby
Colours – Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters – Dezi Sienty

Batman Eternal finally jumps back into the Arkham storyline with a full issue devoted to it and it begins with readers seeing Batwing having an especially hard time of it, but finally being able to report back to Batman about the resurrection of Deacon Blackfire. Also, Jim Corrigan, otherwise known as the Spectre, is in a bit of trouble thanks to the aforementioned Deacon Blackfire who is intent on sacrificing him and all. This was somewhat of an interesting tale that was spoiled quite a bit by the release of Arkham Manor the same week. While Manor did not ruin all of the events going on nor did it go into specifics of any particular event within the Asylum, reading this book is almost anticlimactic which is a shame, though it does not affect anything should one have skipped Arkham Manor entirely. There is some good action going on, quite a bit of it in fact and just how Deacon Blackfire connects to Hush should be an engaging little story once that starts to unravel, so there are some things to look forward to amongst all the other plot threads the writers have been weaving. Alfred does not look to be any closer to a cure as he is still afflicted by the fear toxin and while that is a shame, it somewhat motivates Batman and the rest of the team to do their best. What is most interesting about all of this is just how big a deal was made by the return of Deacon Blackfire and one cannot deny that he is indeed a villain to look out for, especially as he is giving The Spectre a run for his money in this issue, so it is good to see that he was not the culprit of all that has been going down so far, that there is indeed someone else behind it all and really, that is as it should be for there are quite a few issues left in this fifty-two issue maxiseries. With some solid artwork from Simon Coleby and enough suspense and action to keep the pages turning, this was another strong issue of Eternal.

3.5 out of 5