Batman: Knightfall, Part One: Broken Bat 
asked by fusionz on November 24, 2006 9:51 AM
Broken Bat is the first of two volumes collecting Knightfall, the much-talked about Batman storyline--much talked about because it was the story in which Batman gets defeated. The huge, muscle-bound villain Bane has but one goal in mind, to break Batman. The end of this volume is somewhat shocking compared to standard, mainstream comic book continuity.
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Necessary item in any Batman fan. Very good story, something we are getting actually in recent comics. Give it a try.
reviewed by vladi on November 29, 2006 1:42 AM
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The "Knightfall" saga came out when I thought I had left comic books behind. Part One collects 7 issues of Batman and 5 issues of Detective Comics from 1993. (Replicas of the original comics would have been nice.) It's a good thing Amazon's price is so good, because I can't imagine anyone can stop at the end of Part One. Well, maybe if you really like Evil.
The big theme here is seeing our hero pushed to the point of exhaustion and ultimately, ineffectiveness. A villain many may not know, Bane, busts everybody out of Arkham Asylum at once. He then spends most of the book watching Batman wear down physically and mentally. A new level of villainy--how delicious! For his part, Batman suffers by refusing to accept (much) help from Robin or who-is-he-and-why-is-he-here Azrael. (A page or two setting up the soap opera to this point would have been welcome and worth ANOTHER STAR.) Eventually, the reluctance to involve Tim Drake is seen as a response to Jason Todd's then-recent "death." (Explaining those quotation marks requires plunging into the DC Universe's current plotline quagmire...don't get me started.) I guess for purposes of this book, signalling the JLA is not an option. I would have called Green Lantern myself, but hey, I have my own city to protect.
I hope Bane's origin and his specific reason for targeting Batman are explained in Books Two and Three. An explanation of why Batman starts out all weak and pouty would have been helpful too.
The back cover is a bit misleading since the pictured Nightwing (Dick Grayson to the casual fan who hasn't kept in touch at all), Catwoman, and Two-Face are either totally absent or only seen in glimpses.
Finally, has Commissioner Gordon ever been more useless than he is here? He does nothing interesting except fuss with his glasses a la Clark Kent. Also, not enough Alfred. His sarcasm is welcome as always, but a bit prissier than usual here. One cute touch was one villain's use of a Chief O'Hara puppet; this is the only acknowledgment of the character outside the T.V. show that I can recall.
On to Part Two...must call in sick tomorrow...
The big theme here is seeing our hero pushed to the point of exhaustion and ultimately, ineffectiveness. A villain many may not know, Bane, busts everybody out of Arkham Asylum at once. He then spends most of the book watching Batman wear down physically and mentally. A new level of villainy--how delicious! For his part, Batman suffers by refusing to accept (much) help from Robin or who-is-he-and-why-is-he-here Azrael. (A page or two setting up the soap opera to this point would have been welcome and worth ANOTHER STAR.) Eventually, the reluctance to involve Tim Drake is seen as a response to Jason Todd's then-recent "death." (Explaining those quotation marks requires plunging into the DC Universe's current plotline quagmire...don't get me started.) I guess for purposes of this book, signalling the JLA is not an option. I would have called Green Lantern myself, but hey, I have my own city to protect.
I hope Bane's origin and his specific reason for targeting Batman are explained in Books Two and Three. An explanation of why Batman starts out all weak and pouty would have been helpful too.
The back cover is a bit misleading since the pictured Nightwing (Dick Grayson to the casual fan who hasn't kept in touch at all), Catwoman, and Two-Face are either totally absent or only seen in glimpses.
Finally, has Commissioner Gordon ever been more useless than he is here? He does nothing interesting except fuss with his glasses a la Clark Kent. Also, not enough Alfred. His sarcasm is welcome as always, but a bit prissier than usual here. One cute touch was one villain's use of a Chief O'Hara puppet; this is the only acknowledgment of the character outside the T.V. show that I can recall.
On to Part Two...must call in sick tomorrow...
reviewed by mountaindew on November 29, 2006 11:59 AM
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This volume is a collection of comics in book form, pictures, dialog boxes and all, telling the story of Bruce Wayne's fall from grace as Batman. A new super villain named Bane breaks out of Arkham Asylum and cripples Batman. Traumatized by the circumstance, Batman's new protege, Jean Paul Valley known as Azrael, controversially dawns the role of Gotham City's Batman. The new Batman costume is rather freakish and demonic, featuring metal body armor, gauntlets and a string of bullets, giving the Batman character a more modern, 90s twist aside from the hype and camp of previous Batmans from television and movies. The new costume dawned by Azrael still holds up today- political correctness that backfired. Azrael taking up the role of Batman as a hero with villainous tendencies in a demonic costume is not politically correct, but serve to shock people and draw in some new fans. These graphic novels by DC comics are pretty cool, giving otherwise wholesome, familiar characters some much needed edginess, with a noticable hint at drawing in Generation X and Geration Y.
reviewed by vern on November 29, 2006 5:14 PM
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The premise of this arc is phenominal: Bane blows up Arkham and releases all the major and minor villans to create chaos in Gotham. Batman has vertigo or something and is mentally whipped. Batman loses it on Joker for killing Jason Todd.
The main complaint here has to be the writing. It's brutal. I found myself just skimming the pages halfway through.
The main complaint here has to be the writing. It's brutal. I found myself just skimming the pages halfway through.
reviewed by pauls on November 29, 2006 7:25 PM