Batman Eternal, for all intents and purposes, is like a big-budget Batman TV show. It seems designed to attract readers who are familiar with some of the characters through the films or the Animated Series but don’t really read comics. Or for people who do already read, but haven’t picked up Bat-books regularly. Little background knowledge is needed to jump on board and little time is wasted setting up the premise of the series.

The action hits the ground running and the audience is given a prototypical Batman tale with the feel of a Hollywood film. By being a weekly release, it appears to be intended to hold on to a readership that isn’t used to or may not be willing to follow the normal monthly schedule of typical comics. Often these things are to the detriment of good or classic comic storytelling, but Batman Eternal does a fair job of not dumbing-down the Batman-ness for the sake of “accessibility”. If you do already read Bat comics, you won’t necessarily feel like it’s not for you just because it doesn’t follow Big Company story arcs. In fact, it may be a welcome break from big crossovers or saturated cross-pollination. All the characters and actions are still in step with the oft-maligned New 52 universe, so Bat-philes and novices alike should be able to follow along without feeling alienated.

It’s a grand experiment by DC, trying to straddle Batman fans across the board by convincing them to actually read comics. I’m aware that this was the initial point of the New 52 reboot in 2011, but this feels like the first time the company has actually succeeded. It’s still early on and there’s plenty of time to screw that up, but for now Batman Eternal remains a good pick up for anyone interested in delving into the Bat Universe.