You know who we haven’t checked in on in a while? Catwoman! I wonder how her campaign to become the new crime lord of Gotham is going? Let’s find out in the latest issue of Batman Eternal!
Spoilers below!
Batman Eternal #37 (DC Comics)
Lead Writer: Tim Seeley
Other Writers: Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins, Ray Fawkes, and James Tynion IV
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Story
Selina Kyle has moved in and taken control of the gangs in the city with her father’s name and influence, managing to keep them from killing each other and any other innocents caught in the middle. Of course, there are people who are not too pleased with her and a Ghost Dragon is sent to assassinate her, but she fights him off and continues with her reign. Elsewhere, at the Luke Fox’s apartment, he and his roommate are starting to see ghostly apparitions from Arkham Asylum in their place.
Spoiler Corner
Ever since the Arkham Asylum was destroyed, several of its inmates and people under its control are missing. Batman is checking around and searching Gotham for them, running into Killer Croc on the way while checking a lead at the docks. Croc tells him he hasn’t seen any of the inmates and has him leave, mentioning that he can tell that Batman’s at the end of his rope. Once the Bat leaves, a mysterious Catwoman figure shows up with a deal for Croc.
Somewhere in Gotham, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Bane, and a few others are held up somewhere. They are trying to figure a way out of the city and Scarecrow suggests that they stick together to figure a way out. Bane wants to leave and go solo, but Scarecrow convinces him to stay, saying that his chemistry expertise can help him make his venom more powerful and have fewer bad side effects. Later that night, Poison Ivy offers Bane a similar offer, with the exception that he takes her solely out of Gotham. While all of this is happening, a stray cat is watching them with a little camera around its neck.
Harvey Bullock and Maggie Sawyer are at a dinner, chatting it up and discussing how their city has really gone to hell. Jason Bard shows up, apparently wanting to make amends and wants to stop the infection in the city. The two reject him and leave him.
As Batman and Julia discuss their dwindling Bat supplies, he notices an odd and crude looking Bat-signal in the sky. It’s from Selina, who wants to talk to him. Even though they are on different sides now, she wants to show a sign of good faith that that they can still help one another. She gives him the address and location of where the villains are. She’s been spying on them with her little cat and camera.
The issue itself ends with Batwing calling Julia and asking if the Bat-computer has any useful information… on how to deal with a haunting. The scene then pans back and shows that his apartment is completely full of ghosts that are driving his roommate nuts.
Thoughts
This felt like a very eventful issue. Lots of things were going on—a lot of follow up on several previous storylines—and a lot of good character moments throughout. Everything felt rather engaging and enjoyable to read in my personal opinion, helped by a lot of good writing and some rather enjoyable dialogue. Now, I would have preferred to see more of Selina’s rise to power, like getting into contact with the crime families and how they first reacted, but what can you do? The only real thing I had a big problem with was the artwork from Andrea Mutti. It’s rather bland, with none of it really fitting the tone and the characters. The drab colors and occasional miscolor didn’t help either, like Selina’s skin tone that made her look more like Julia.
Best Moment
I don’t care if you are disabled, you lay on the ground think about what you did young man!
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