Reading Comics 142 "Snyder Eternal?"

via Big Easy Comics

This year has seen something of a remarkable turnaround for me.  I think everyone experiences it, realizing an opinion you've held for a while and have felt pretty strongly about might be easier to change than you'd have thought.  In the case of Scott Snyder, I actually started out as a fan, back when he first showed up in the pages of Detective Comics and launched American Vampire with Stephen King and Raphael Albuquerque, but somewhere along the way, probably at the launch of the New 52 and the apparent assumption by everyone that Snyder had somehow supplanted Grant Morrison as the most significant contemporary Batman writer, in the middle of Batman Incorporated, which always seemed a little galling.  And I found the work Snyder produced at the time to be less inspired than I'd hoped.  So I tried my best to give up on him.

But I kept checking in.  The first time I thought I might reconsider was when I believed he was ready to do something very radical with the Joker, after "Night of the Owls" concluded on a cryptic note concerning a possible brother of Bruce Wayne.  "Death of the Family" has since proven to be a prelude, actually, to another Joker story, "Endgame," which began a few months ago.  Once word got out that this mysterious arc involved the Joker, I knew I'd have to give Snyder another chance.  Even if he reaches different conclusions than I thought he might, suddenly Snyder seems quite interesting again.

I checked in earlier this year during "Zero Year," the obligatory origin story every creator who wants to make a permanent mark on the Dark Knight must attempt.  When a character who showed up in the arc later appeared as a possible new Boy Wonder in the pages of Batman and Robin: Futures End, I got to thinking of another new character Snyder had introduced and has been making headway to becoming a significant addition to the mythos, Harper Row.  From the start, fans assumed she was being primed to become Robin.  Snyder threw a curveball in Batman #28, a prelude to Batman Eternal.

I assumed the issue would be a pretty big deal, but when it showed up months later in a value bin at my local comics shop, I had to assume either than readers in my area either weren't very savvy, or this is a development that has lost some of its luster since word originally spread.  I didn't scoop up the issue right away, but finally I bought it, along with my first sampling of Batman Eternal itself.  Eternal is one of three weekly series DC launched this year.  When 52 debuted in 2006, its creators wondered if such a project could succeed.  When it did, DC continued with various other weekly comics.  Now it seems there's no stopping this trend.  Eternal has a chance of being one of the most important Batman stories in Snyder's mounting catalog.  Like Futures End it takes place in the future, but seems to be a lucrative chance to revisit pieces of the lore that have slipped by the wayside, and even an opportunity to expand it.  In the preview issue, for instance, Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl, all-around missed character from previous DC continuity) finally made her New 52 debut.  And Harper Row was unveiled as Bluebird, the start of a new tradition.

The Batman Eternal issue I sampled was #26, which recaps Hush's origin.  Hush, of course, originally appeared in the bestselling arc of the same name, part of Jim Lee's original DC experience from more than a decade ago.  Later, Paul Dini further explored his story by revealing how Tommy Elliot first became Hush, in the pages of Batman: Streets of Gotham, which is what the issue echoes.  Characters with consider history like Batman become increasingly difficult to build new material around, but Hush has been one of the most welcome additions in recent times, so it's always nice to see him again, and as far as I'm concerned, his presence in Eternal is a sign that it's doing something right.  As I understand it, though the real villain is Jason Bard, a character Snyder may be repackaging but otherwise has been around for nearly fifty years.

Batman #37, meanwhile, is the third installment of "Endgame," and apparently has suggested disturbing new things about the Joker, a character who has always been disturbing, but in an absurd way.  When the '80s made him into a killer, it changed him considerably, and most of his appearances since have tried to reconcile that with the kind of ultimately harmless goof that is necessary for repeat performances.  Snyder has been doing his level best to complete that transformation.  I've begun to realizing it's this instinct that distinguishes his work.  And may well be worth praising after all.  He's adding to the Batman legacy.  It's becoming easier to see that now.  And that's a good thing.