Batman: Eternal #52

writer: James Tynion IV

artist: many, many artists

Batman: Eternal turns out to be a kind of attempt to broaden the impact of Scott Snyder's Batman, stretch out the sketch that's emerged in the pages of the New 52 Batman without having to actually take out the required space in the pages of the series itself and various related titles, the way it would have been done years ago, irrespective of the crossovers Snyder's run has initiated.  What I mean is, Eternal is basically the "No Man's Land" etc. of the Snyder era.

And it kind of exposes Snyder's limits all over again.

He lacks the ability to deliver a truly killer punch (too often, he's let Greg Capullo do that for him).  Never mind that Eternal was a full collaborative effort.  I don't put the blame on James Tynion, who has been working with Snyder throughout the New 52 era.

Snyder has been doggedly chasing after other people's legacies.  The page I include here reflects Bane in "Knightfall," but less famously it even echoes Nobody, a character Peter Tomasi created in the pages of the New 52 Batman and Robin, for the excellent and defining "Born to Kill" arc that kicked off that series.

As usual, Snyder has once again circled around back to his Court of Owls, which also featured the idea of Batman being overwhelmed and looking like he's defeated before coming out victorious one way or another.  I get that this is a storytelling trope in general, but Snyder has done himself no favors by continuously returning to it.  (Even Grant Morrison did this, but he knows scope.)

I want to like Snyder.  I see flashes of brilliance that confirm the hype, how the whole Court concept has etched itself into the annals of Batman classics.  And if anything, Eternal should confirm it.  After all, the whole idea boils down to someone attempting to expose Batman as just a man.

Maybe the rest of the series sold the idea far better than the final issues does.  But here it comes off as limp, and of course that's what I'm saying about Snyder's whole approach.  He has big ideas but can never really pull them off.  Writers like that are legion, and they beg for collaborators.  Just not ones like Tynion.  Again, this is not a knock on Tynion, but rather to say that Snyder needs someone to drag him to greater heights.  At times he seems to have completely understood this.  His partnership with Kyle Higgins, for instance, greatly improved both of them.  I also fully believe that without Stephen King, American Vampire would never have happened, certainly not the way it has developed.

Clearly a lot of people disagree with me.  I'm not troubled by this.  I want to see better from Scott Snyder.