Batman #39 Review and *SPOILERS*

Everlasting

Written By: Tom King

Art By: Joelle Jones, Jordie Bellaire, Clayton Cowles

Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: January 17, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Let's jump back into the Super Friends arc, where previously we explored Bruce and Clark's friendship and the budding friendship of their spouses, but now it's Diana's turn, but instead of double dates, it looks like Batman and Wonder Woman are going to be spending a lot of time together in a war without end....... and without the people closest to them.  Now, before I proceed, it's been brought to my attention that this issue is very similar to Action Comics #761 from 2000, but instead of Superman and Wonder Woman battling hordes of monsters, it's Batman in the Man of Steel's position and while I'd like to review this issue on its own merits, it's going to be hard now that I read that Action Comics issue....... which as of right now, was done way better.  Hopefully, I can keep my mind on this issue as we jump into it, but man it's going to be hard for how similar they are.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Commissioner Gordon flipping out because someone other than him has turned on the Bat Signal, but when he goes to investigate, he finds that Wonder Woman is the one who lit the signal........... and what are you going to say to Wonder Woman?  Anyway, Batman quickly arrives and Diana informs him that they have an obligation to fulfill, which involves a warrior the two of them met years prior, who's at battle with the sins of man manifested in another dimension and the reason that they owe this "Gentle Man" is because they offered to take his place in his endless battle if he should ever need a respite.  Well, he's finally taken them up on their offer and our heroes are off to fight this endless war, where time moves in a way that thousands of years take place within a single year of our own time.

While Batman and Wonder Woman fight horde after horde of monsters, Selina is making sure that the Gentle Man has everything that he needs on his time off...... like Bat Burger, but what he really seems to be after is his wife, who we never get to see here, but he promises to call.  

In the end, Catwoman figures out the time difference of these two worlds and worries about the amount of time that Bruce has spent there with Diana, which by the end of this issue it looks like she should worry because the years have piled up for our two heroes who only have one another and it seems that their time while not fighting may have become romantic.  

That's it for this issue of Batman and for as similar to Action Comics #761 as it was, there was definitely some stuff that was all its own.... like the Catwoman and Gentle Man bits and it's those bits that were the least interesting in this issue because we didn't do anything to really make them important, besides for Selina finding out how much time Bruce has actually been away.  So obviously, I liked the Batman/Wonder Woman stuff more, but even with that Wonder Woman's dialog felt so clunky and stiff it was cringe worthy at times and it's apparent that Tom King doesn't really know the character very well.  That being said though, I loved the art in this issue and thought that the depictions of Wonder Woman really shined here, I just wish that there was more to this story for this issue because it was a really fast read that didn't really seem to do anything until the final pages.

Bits and Pieces:

While the idea for the story was fun, it was something that was done previously and in my mind better.  Even with that though, we got a decent cliffhanger that seems like it will bring a new dynamic to the Bat/Cat engagement and what it means to be the person who would marry the Batman.  The art in this issue is amazing, but there's barely anything in this story and it moves at a breakneck pace, not to mention that Wonder Woman's dialog felt extremely off.

6/10