'Batman Eternal #46' Post-Game: Ra's al Ghul Takes On Batman For Gotham's Soul
Each week, MTV News is breaking down the big moments in DC Comics' "Batman Eternal," the weekly series that is redefining Gotham City as we know it.
This week, we talked to writer Tim Seeley, as Ra's al Ghul was revealed as the Big Bad behind everything! Or, was he???
MTV News: There’s a lot of backstory that had to go into this issue... Naturally, a fair amount of balancing has happened throughout the series, but what was necessary to get people caught up to Ra’s al Ghul’s story, the future Batmen, etc in this issue?
Tim Seeley: All you need to know is that Gotham has gone to poop, and that Batman thinks Ra's Al Ghul is behind it (cuz, usually, he is!)
MTV: Where is Batman, emotionally, at this point? Particularly by the end of the issue he seems at the end of his rope.
Seeley: Yeah, I mean this is a guy who is used to being able to follow the clues to a logical conclusion, and he's having trouble connecting some of these events. It bothers him. He doesn't like having something spiral out of his control.
MTV: Also, there’s a lot of skull-faced guys in this issue. What’s it like writing a lot of skull faced guys?
Seeley: It's a culmination of all my childhood action figure dreams. Skull guys were always the best bad guys.
MTV: You tease a ton of fun futures for Batman here… Were there any that were off limits?
Seeley: No Dark Knight Returns Batmans! And that made me sad. But, hey, Kingdom Come Batman!
MTV: What’s Hush’s motivation at this point? Does he have a card left to play, or is he just taunting Julia?
Seeley: Hush wants to replace Bruce in every possible way, but he needs to break him down to do that. I think he particularly dislikes Julia because she wasn't part of the plan...she's new.
MTV: We find out that Ra’s is not behind everything here – but we know the “code” decoded as “demon” last issue. Is this a clue we should still look at, or was Batman decoding it wrong?
Seeley: Well, Riddler is smart guy, but maybe he doesn't know EVERYTHING. And, unfortunately for Batman, he knows more than one "demon."
MTV: What about the Lion? He seems as worried about the city at the end as Batman is.
Seeley: Sure. The Lion is a businessman at heart. And it gets a lot harder to make sure you're kid takes ion the family business if the store gets blowed up.
MTV: And how bad are things about to get?
Seeley: I think the last few issues of ETERNAL are as BIG as Batman gets. I kinda envy people getting to read the surprise twists coming up!
