NEAR-MYTHS: BATMAN ETERNAL (2014-15)

I'd read some decent reviews of this 2014-15 series, though I've the impression that most of the "big changes" instituted by ETERNAL proved nugatory.

The involved plot, orchestrated mostly by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, doesn't bear a lot of close examination. It's a big, noisy Bat-soap opera, with the city of Gotham once more under siege by both ordinary criminals and super-crooks. Yet ETERNAL qualifies as a "near-myth" by virtue of its attempt to rework two previous celebrated multi-issue storylines, respectively 1996's LONG HALLOWEEN and 2003's HUSH. From HALLOWEEN, Snyder and Tynion took the idea of a foundational conflict between the mobsters and the costumed freaks, while from HUSH the writers emulated the mystery of a Master Manipulator who somehow marshals most of Batman's major foes against him. I don't think Snyder and Tynion managed to weave a tight master-trope as HALLOWEEN did, and the "hidden mastermind" schtick in ETERNALis put off for so long with red herrings that I for one lost interest in the Big Reveal.

Some myth-kernels of interest:

Contrary to some theories that Catwoman's estranged father might be venerable mob-boss Carmine Falcone, ETERNAL reveals that her true "bad dad" is a different mobster, introduced here for the first time, name of Rex Calabrese. Despite an acrimonious relationship, Calabrese eventually talks Selina into becoming a new Gotham crime-boss-- which I imagine did not last long.

The Barbara Gordon Batgirl is more or less in mourning for Dick Grayson, since I believe this is the period when he was supposed to be in a temporary state of death. Yet she apparently has some sort of tentative interaction with "second Robin" Jason Todd, reborn in the form of Red Hood, which is sort of like dating the first Robin's symbolic sibling. It's a nice touch when, thanks to the Mad Hatter's connivance, Batgirl fights Hood under the impression he's the Joker, who's a bugaboo for both characters.

Spoilers works out her daddy issues the same way Catwoman does.

And the eighties version of Alfred's daughter, Julia Pennyworth, is reborn in a new form. apparently a POC of some sort, though her racial makeup was not expounded in ETERNAL. She becomes part of the Bat-team but I don't know if she eventually got a costume or what.

And Batman pretty much remains Batman. So it's a good lively read, but nothing transformative.