Batman Eternal #31 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Before I complain, let me just say that this issue is exactly the type of issue that we need to be seeing more frequently.  Batman finally does something.  OK, it maybe stretches our suspension of disbelief that he could take down Clayface, Mr. Freeze, and Zsasz in essentially one fluid movement.  (It's a little too "Batman: Arkham Asylum."  My fingers practically twitched out the button sequence.)  It definitely diminishes the next time he spends a three-issue arc trying to defeat one of them.  (I'm not even mentioning that he takes out Joker's Daughter with a kick, despite the threat that we were supposed to believe that she posed in the cliffhanger ending of last issue.)  But, all that said, it's still him doing something, and I applaud that.

But (and you knew that we had to have a "but"), Fawkes has to play fast and loose with several situations to get us where we are at the end of the issue.  Beyond Batman's amazing ability to take down four adversaries in this issue, Alfred is also the recipient of divine intervention.  Last we checked, Alfred's mind had been destroyed by the toxin that Hush injected into him.  To make matters worse, he's starts this issue dying from being crushed under the weight of a few tons of concrete.  Thankfully, Bane magically appears to lift the concrete off him and he's suddenly fine.  He's no longer dying and he's miraculously shaken off the toxin.  It's a little...much.  (We're also supposed to believe that Bane somehow recognized Alfred as Special Forces and decided that he'd be useful to him.  But, again, I liked this issue, so I'm trying to be charitable.)

Don't get me wrong.  I thought the ending was great.  Alfred was bad-ass in taking down Bane, and I loved him announcing that he was back on line, much to the joy of Bruce and Julia.  It's some actual emotion in a series that has lacked anything remotely close to it.  But, part of the problem with this series is that we're supposedly to believe that no one could free Jim Gordon from prison or find the source of the nano-virus plaguing Gotham, but Alfred could just shake off a supposedly mind-destroying toxin attack and Bruce can take out four villains without breaking a sweat when he really sets his mind to it.  It's a problem.

*** (three of five stars)