Review: Batman & Robin Eternal #7

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the latest issue of Batman & Robin Eternal.

Here’s to hoping everyone had a great New DC Day yesterday by picking up some excellent new issues. I was most excited for Batman & Robin Eternal, Batman Arkham Knight: Genesis, and the premiere issue of Batman: Europa this week. Let me know in the comments what was on your pull list. I now continue with my latest review of the weekly Batman & Robin Eternal, this week covering issue #7, “A Night Out”, scripted by Genevieve Valentine.

“A Night Out” doesn’t quite live up to last week’s epic issue, but it is probably the third-best issue of the series so far (after last week’s and issue #1). “A Night Out” actually begins in a flashback to Batman and Robin chasing after one of Scarecrow’s men. Scarecrow actually gave his men fear gas so they wouldn’t spill any secrets if caught, which shows us that Scarecrow might be as wary of Mother as everyone else, since that’s not usually a tactic he uses on his own guys.

We got our first look at a mini-Batcave that Batman set up in Prague, where Dick Grayson, Bluebird, and Cassandra Cain are following their leads on Mother. This Batcave is pretty sweet — its walls are lined in skeletons. There’s some great interaction between our three heroes here. Dick has Bluebird and Cassandra go to the ballet to protect Orphan’s next target, the ballerina Sarangarel Jalair. Dick has a suit ready for Bluebird, but Bluebird tells Cassandra that she’s going to steal a dress for her. Of course, in the funniest line of the issue, Dick says “I didn’t hear that. Write down the name of the store. I’ll send a check.” This is so in-character for him.

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Meanwhile, Red Hood and Red Robin are on Gamorra, and there’s some pretty awesome interaction between the two of them as well. Jason is nagging Tim to tell him why he punched Dick (when Dick went to Tim’s parents’ house). Also, it was funny to see Jason take Tim to a bar, which Tim was not too comfortable with. In a second flashback, Bruce seems to be trying to gather intel on Mother from another billionaire friend of his. It was honestly disturbing to see how nonchalantly Bruce’s friends treat this human trafficking.

In Prague, Cassandra and Harper are at the ballet. It looks as though the choreographer purchased Sarangarel from Mother. Cassandra, who obviously can’t communicate verbally, is very invested in the ballet, which gave us more insight into her character. While they’re at the ballet, Dick is simultaneously tracking Orphan, but when he follows his signal to backstage at the ballet, he realizes it’s a trap. He tries to alert Harper and Cassandra, but before he can do so, the ballerinas (including Sarangarel) launch off the stage towards them. And the issue ends with Dick coming face-to-face with Mother herself!

This issue was quite the thriller! It didn’t have a single fight in it (it did leave us with a cliffhanger presumably leading to one, though), yet it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. The suspense of the Bat-family trying to save another target from Orphan built up throughout the story, and there was great character interaction spanning three different time periods/locations. The artwork was phenomenal, and both Prague and the ballet itself conveyed quite the eerie feeling. I could’ve gone for more insight in the flashbacks into Dick feeling he wasn’t good enough to be Robin and Bruce feeling he was guilty of being like Mother, but that’s really my only little complaint.

Next: Review: Batman & Robin Eternal #6

“A Night Out” definitely warrants five batarangs out of five. I am so pumped for next week’s issue to see Cassandra and Harper have to fend off seven ballerinas while Dick confronts Mother. Let me know in the comments what you thought of this issue, and be sure to keep it locked to Caped Crusades for next week’s review and for all your Batman news!

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