Each week, MTV News is breaking down the big moments in DC Comics’ “Batman Eternal,” the weekly series that has sent Batman and his crew to the four corners of the Earth to stop the madness that’s about to engulf Gotham City.
This week, not only did we chat over the phone with writer Tim Seeley, but we also have your first look at “Batman Eternal #31-#34,” so scroll on down for way more!
MTV News: There’s a couple of different plots that are in the works right now, but one of the more interesting team ups we got was Jason Bard, Batman and Killer Croc. What’s it been like to write that trio?
Tim Seeley: Mostly I wanted to continue the story I kind of got to start in the Villains Month issue, which had Croc be a slightly more sympathetic guy, not just a monster. But he’s also, you know, prone to eating people and doing terrible things if they make him angry. It’s also kind of a story about us not really knowing what Jason Bard’s moral qualifications are just yet. I thought it would be kind of cool to put those with questionable morals, with a guy like Batman who has unquestionable morals and you can kind of see what shook out.
MTV: Down in Croc’s cavern, Batman refers to the entities he’s captured as extra-dimensional aliens? What’s going on there and how did he get to this information?
DC Comics
Seeley: He’s been talking to Batwing and Jim Corrigan over this course of haunting of Arkham storyline. Because Batman is mostly, a very scientific, practical guy, I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily the DC Universe definition of what ghosts are, but that’s Batman’s definition. That he’s tried to keep the superstition out of it and basically being like, they still have to have power source, there’s still rules to these things. That’s him just kind of trying to keep a guy like Croc from going too far into religion, which Batman is not necessarily, you know, behind.
MTV: And in terms of chronology, Corrigan and Batwing are still trapped underneath Arkham while this is going on?
Seeley: Well, it’s sort of set up so they are still there, but they’ve made reports and it’s kind of unclear as to whether what they were hearing was what actually was going on, with the demons being able to change their voices. But Batman, he’s got a last report he doesn’t know where they are right now.
MTV: We get that fun shot towards the end of Croc and Batman jumping down together having a team up. I think you touched on this a little, but is this just sort of a matter of necessity for Batman that he’s teaming up with Croc? Or does he actually kind of like him?
Seeley: [Laughs] I don’t know if they would hang out like, be bros, but I think Batman understands the difference between what Croc wants and what a lot of his other rogues want. Also he doesn’t know this area the way Croc does, Croc has been living in this area for the past few months. And so he’s sort of choosing the “devil you know over the devil you don’t.” There’s also reason why Croc’s always just a little bit ahead of him: he’d rather have him in front of him instead of behind him.
MTV: Figuring out the geography a little bit, we encounter the Ten-Eyed Man here. Is he splintered off from the main group? From Deacon Blackfire and the rest, or is it all kind of happening in the same area?
Seeley: He’s kind of splintered off. They found him in the previous arc just, in a room having these weird visions, and now you’re seeing what those visions let him to do. He can see that there’s a future doom coming to Gotham, which is tying into the first issue of “Batman Eternal,” which showed us this apocalyptic scenario for Gotham City.
MTV: And for those readers who aren’t familiar, who is the Ten-Eyed Man? Other than a guy with ten eyes?
Seeley: The original character was a guy who in the 70′s I believe, who got weird powers that he could see through his fingers, so he decided to put on some spandex and the goggles and be a villain. In this version, he is a guy who has been given powers of pre-cognition. So he’s able to feel and see the future with his fingers, and it drives him a little bit crazy.
MTV: Let’s jump to another area of Gotham, Commissioner Gordon, or former Commissioner Gordon is over in Blackgate and a prison riot has broken out. He jumps right into action doing the whole “Die Hard,” one man war on all the prisoner’s thing, and he seems to have no qualms about it. Has he decided he’s a good guy from now on? Is he feeling conflicting at all at this point?
DC Comics
Seeley: Gordon is the guy we saw in “Zero Year,” the one guy left in Gotham to help Batman with the military guys to stop them from bombing Gotham. So I think he’s that kind of guy. He just goes into action, he just knows things have to be done, I don’t think he thinks about it. I don’t feel like he has any moral qualms or questions. He’s doubting what he saw, but I don’t think he ever doubts what he knows is right.
MTV: Speaking of what he can or can’t see, it seems like Red Hood and Batwoman figure out what’s going on with the Mad Hatter tech right at the beginning of this issue. Are they on the right track, or is there more going on here?
DC Comics
Seeley: There’s more to it, but yeah that’s basically the set up for what caused Gordon to see something that wasn’t there. By the time the next issue rolls around, it wraps up that first arc of why did Gordon see what he saw, and why did he cause the railway disaster? That plot has wrapped, but it doesn’t just end there, it leads right into something else. There’s a lot of moving pieces to the big plot that we set up for the villains of this book. We’ll see how Dr. Falsario, is connected to the real big bads of the story.
MTV: Let’s talk about Dr. Falsario for a moment, we saw him a little bit last issue but here we really get to do a lot more, what’s his M.O. what’s the idea behind the character?
Seeley: He is a producer of knock-off technology for super villains, and basically steals the stuff that Lex Luthor makes, and Mad Hatter makes, and he does his own cheap version and mass produces it for sale. He also runs factories for knock-off toys in Brazil so that’s why we have Mr. Vampire Hero, the Batman-like action figure that he produces. You’ll see in this issue he has a Lex Luthor gauntlet, and some other stuff he’s gotten from stealing super villain technology.
MTV: Do you think there’s any chance DC will release a Mr. Vampire Hero action figure sometime in the near future?
Seeley: [Laughs] It would be my little dream to have that, that would be amazing.
DC Comics
“Batman Eternal #19″ is in stores now. Check out our previous post-games here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
…And as a special bonus, we’re exclusively revealing the cover to “Batman Eternal #31,” as well as the solicitation text for #31-#34, below!
DC Comics
BATMAN ETERNAL #31
Written by SCOTT SNYDER, JAMES TYNION IV, RAY FAWKES, KYLE HIGGINS and TIM SEELEY
Art by FERNANDO PASARIN and MATT RYAN
Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale NOVEMBER 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
The team-up you never saw coming – Alfred Pennyworth and…Bane?!
BATMAN ETERNAL #32
Written by SCOTT SNYDER, JAMES TYNION IV, RAY FAWKES, KYLE HIGGINS and TIM SEELEY
Art by JASON FABOK
Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale NOVEMBER 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
The Spoiler is on the case to find the truth behind the nightmare at Arkham!
BATMAN ETERNAL #33
Written by SCOTT SNYDER, JAMES TYNION IV, RAY FAWKES, KYLE HIGGINS and TIM SEELEY
Art by JASON FABOK
Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale NOVEMBER 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Batman’s arsenal of weapons is turned against Gotham City!
BATMAN ETERNAL #34
Written by SCOTT SNYDER, JAMES TYNION IV, RAY FAWKES, KYLE HIGGINS and TIM SEELEY
Art by JASON FABOK
Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale NOVEMBER 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Is this the end of Wayne Enterprises?
Alex Zalben
Writer/Editor at MTV News. You can follow him on Twitter, but not in real life because that would be weird.
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