Talk about saving the best for (almost) last.  This penultimate issue of Batman: Eternal makes everything make sense and then tears it all apart.  The story and art were excellent and I can't wait for next week's finale.  This is my favorite issue of Eternal in a long time. Read Full Review

Martinez and Fernandez do a nice job with the art, with figures that look naturally posed, and some nicely expressive (and distinct) faces. June Chung's colors are very nice, as always. This issue builds on last issue's revelation very well, and its ending will make the one week wait for the finale seem very long indeed. Read Full Review

Batman Eternal as mentioned above has gone through the good arcs and the bad ones, but thankfully this series seems to be finishing on a high note as the creators have seemed to save the best for last. With just one issue to go in a weekly series that never missed a deadline, I'd say that for the most part this "weekly event" was a success. The last page cliffhanger in this issue is even bigger than the reveal in issue number fifty, and it has me grateful that I won't have to wait long to see how it all wraps up. Read Full Review

Engaging dialogue, beautiful art, and cogent characters. The trifecta of a great comic. It's everything I wanted it to be and more. Read Full Review

Either way, the issue was great and it really feels like things are all wrapping up nicely for this big finish, though there are some minor points that might not sit well for everyone. The writing, the characterization, and the artwork are all reading and looking good here. It gives me hope for a big and exciting ending next issue. Read Full Review

As I read and re-readBatman Eternal, especially the latest installment,Batman Eternal #51,I find my admiration for the late Agatha Christie, already high, has grown enormously. Not that Dame Agatha would have ever considered writing a comic book about an American billionaire vigilante dressed like a bat, or that she would have had the slightest idea how to go about it if, for some strange reason, she took a notion to do so. She did know a great deal about crafting a mystery, however, and the authors ofEternalcould have used some of her acumen. Read Full Review

Weekly comics are usually a gamble because not every writer can keep the story interesting or on track, and not every artist can keep up with the demands of the schedule. Batman Eternal is a discourse in how to do it correctly. This is one more piece of the greater puzzle, but easily one of the best in the series' entire run, and with one issue left, Batman Eternal looks like it still has a few tricks left up its sleeve. Read Full Review

Batman has had everything takenfrom him, but when has that ever stopped him before? Read Full Review

To reiterate: the twist at the end of this issue is a phenomenal one that pays off longtime readers of recent Batman stories, but even people who jumped on with ETERNAL can appreciate it on a visceral, basic level which is one of the hallmarks of a truly great twist. Another great hallmark is that its a wonderful payoff that makes total narrative sense, especially in the long-term. The occasional speed bump cannot derail a story this powerful and this effective, and this issue continues the consistency of the overall title. Read Full Review

Last week's issue revealed the ultimate mastermind behind this yearlong plot against Gotham's heroes, and it wasn't the villain you'd might expect. With that in mind, you can forgive the villain for devoting so much time to monologuing and explaining how their master plan came to fruition. It all plays to one of the early themes of Scott Snyder's Batman run - that Batman doesn't know his city quite as well as he'd like to believe. Read Full Review

"Batman Eternal" has been a big success creatively, and this issue carries that feeling forward into the finale around the corner. When a new Batman weekly title appears later this year, I suspect the readership will return if even a portion of the same creators are on board. This has paid off well, and it's a feat to be proud of. With one final cliffhanger to be unraveled next week, it's been a fun ride. Read Full Review

And this brings us around to Lincoln March…although I was still holding out that Earth 3 Owlman may be the big bad, I was glad to see Lincoln step out of the shadows. With a quick slit of his throat, March reveals that he was only going along with Cluemaster and that ultimately this was all about the final showdown between March and Bruce. And that is something that I am looking forward to next week. Read Full Review

The pacing is probably what makes this issue work so well. The comic never slows down, and when it jumps to other scenes, they keep everything moving. Everybody is focused on this one problem, and that's a huge help. Read Full Review

Seems like 20 pages of the writers trying to justify all the filler as well as last week's hamfisted plot twist, followed by one more "twist" that everyone saw coming months ago.