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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Batman - Knightfall, Part Three: KnightsEnd

Batman - Knightfall, Part Three: KnightsEnd

1 rating: 3.0

Third and final chapter of the Knightfall story arc.

Knightfall" is the title given to a major Batman story arc published by DC Comics that dominated Batman-related serial comic books in the spring and summer of 1993. "Knightfall" is also an umbrella title for the trilogy of storylines that … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Book, Comics & Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Batman

Genre: Superheroes, Comics & Graphic Novels

Publisher: DC Comics

1 review about Batman - Knightfall, Part Three: KnightsEnd

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It's Batman vs. Batman with Gotham City as the prize!

Dec 1, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

Gotham City is facing a potential peril, when a costumed criminal named Bane steals a cache of weapons. He journeys to Arkham Asylum and stages a break out, that sets loose Gotham's most notorious criminals; Joker, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and others. Batman springs to action with intentions on capturing all of these criminals, who have plunged Gotham City into a state of madness. But what is Bane's true motive?

Previous Volumes:

Batman - Knightfall Volume One: Broken Bat

Batman - Knightfall Volume Two: Who Rules The Night

Batman - Knightfall Volume Three: KnightsEnd

Gotham City is in turmoil, and it isn't only because of the city's violent crime element. Instead, the city is being sent into ruins by Batman himself. Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, made an error in judgment when he passed the mantle to former Azrael, Jean Paul Valley, who stepped in after Bruce's back was broken by the criminal mastermind Bane. Following Bane's defeat, Jean Paul has kicked Robin out of the Batcave and due to hallucinations is taking crime-fighting to levels Bruce would never attempt to. Now Bruce must attempt to reclaim the mantle from the one he trusted. -summary

The Knightfall Saga which was written by Chuck Dixon, Dennis O'Neil, Alan Grant and others, was originally released in 1993 and concluded in 1995. It was meant to piggyback the Death of Superman, by giving the Dark Knight his major moment of peril. Plus attempt a momentum shift since Marvel was heavily dominating the comic industry, and even Image comics was having their way with the growing popularity of Spawn.

While DC decided to just go and kill Superman proving he can actually be killed. Batman was put through intense stress proving that underneath the costume he's still a man who has limits. Bane pushed him to those limits and succeeded in doing the impossible, which was breaking Batman physically and mentally. His confidence in being the bat was completely shattered. This final story arc follows Bruce trying to reclaim his confidence, and this action leads him to enlist the tutelage of the world's deadliest assassin Lady Shiva. This chapter contains issues Batman 509-510, Batman: Shadow of the Bat 29-30, Detective Comics 676-677, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 62-63, and Catwoman 12.

KnightsEnd is a story with its fair share of highs, however, the lows seem to stick out a bit more. It does present Bruce in a new yet familiar light. The story feels kind of like Batman Year One and even Shaman at moments, with Bruce trying to find his identity which feels like you read it before. You can feel O' Neil's presence in the narrative at times as he does pay homage to his earlier works in subtle ways. However, the complete lack of confidence due to fear as opposed to uncertainty is that new element. There are interesting moments where Bruce actually fears his opponents in battle, and even second guesses himself when it comes down to swinging through the city, something he had been doing for years as if he was born to do it. Lady Shiva is used well for the most part, but she feels too much like a plot device and lacks depth. This also goes for other characters like Robin and Nightwing. The new Batman makes a pretty good antagonist; due to his hallucinations he is very violent, and the reader will find themselves anxious to see the inevitable battle. Overall, the characters fulfill their roles providing the action if nothing more.

Now speaking of action, there's a lot to be found here. The book is completely action packed from almost beginning to end. There are some cool moments that take place between Nightwing and Robin, and it just has a nice feel seeing two Robins in battle. Catwoman even makes an appearance in a nicely written fight as well. The battle between the two Batman's has some good moments too.

Since this is a crossover, you can't expect the same high quality artwork. Fortunately, the artwork stands out in a good way a majority of the time. The action panels can be very entertaining, and can have you thinking that some of those moves are possible if you were in that situation. I must also commend the storytelling through the dialog. Certain situations were very well described verbally. On one occasion, I could almost feel the dampness in the deep hole leading to the Batcave, along with hearing the sounds of the bats scattering and dripping water. It felt as if I was crawling with Batman through the hole as it got tighter.

Now event though KnightsEnd has some good moments. I have to admit this story isn't half as good as I remember. While I was reading, the story began to remind me of Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage. When I read the aforementioned story in original form issue by issue, it felt heavy in suspense and you really needed to know what was going to happen. In graphic novel form, it had moments of feeling very redundant, which is definitely the case here. This story began to drag very early, and I started to grow tired of Bruce second guessing himself and Jean Paul fighting visions. I was also able to see the weakness in the story, and I feel Catwoman was heavily forced into it.

I also have to mention that this story will come off heavily lacking to a casual Batman fan. KnightsEnd is billed as the third part of the story when it's actually the fourth. This really isn't nitpicking either, because anyone will see the gap in the story where Bruce is all of a sudden walking, when the second book left him confined to a wheelchair. For some reason, DC felt the need to omit Knightsquest, which should be the real third chapter as it explains how Bruce was able to walk again as well as the disappearance of Alfred. The very fact there's absolutely no mention of this at all drags down the story a great deal. Someone who has no idea of that event will keep wondering how come Bruce is even walking.

KnightsEnd does end on a strong note, but in no way at all does it compare to the first two volumes. The storytelling is not as tight, and when looking at how the story drags and certain things feel so forced. I have to wonder was O'Neil really paying homage or just straight rehashing. In any case, Knightfall is among the most important arcs in the Batman mythos and I still consider it essential reading. Hopefully one of these days DC does re-issue Knightsquest to complete this story.

Pros:
-Provides closure, some good action and artwork

Cons:
-Drags quite often, will mainly benefit knowledgeable fans

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FM_ALEX December 03, 2011

Excellent review man, "it just has a nice feel seeing two Robins in battle", indeed.

Madpenguin December 03, 2011

Yeah man it's jsut so cool to watch. Have you read Battle of the Cowl? What did you think of it?

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Count_Orlok_22 December 02, 2011

Very nicely done. Denny's work here is pretty damn epic and the way in which the conflict between Batman and Bane is detailed is done brilliantly. I, too, would love to see DC re-print KnightsQuest. I'm not sure if they've done so yet, but it seems to me that this whole arc is worthy of being gathered into an Absolute edition containing all three volumes, KnightsQuest, and perhaps even the novel by O'Neil. Sorry I've been absent a bit, but I had to get rid of Internet at home for financial reasons and have only been able to log on sporadically from the library where I work.

Madpenguin December 03, 2011

Definitely, and I was glad to see that they were able to take someone other than Joker and create such an epic story. Knightfall is pretty high on my list for favorite Batman stories. And KnightsQuest hasn't been reprinted in graphic novel format yet and I can't see why.

And no big deal man, me and Woo will keep traffic coming into your spot so you don't have to worry about that.

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Scotman December 01, 2011

Well-written and detailed, great review. I remember picking these up in the 90s; Denny O'Neil really knew how to knock them out. Thanks for listing all the issues on this arc since I never read all of them. I am curious on this community -- I did not know that the founder changed his policy and accepted main stream comics reviews, but that's fine. Thanks. Three thumbs.

Madpenguin December 01, 2011

Thanks for the compliments and I felt it necessary to mention the missing story arc.

But whatever issues you have with Orlok handling his community you take that up with him. And for the record, the entire time I was swamping shit in your community he never once complained about it, and in all honesty, I should have been giving him everything from the very beginning, because we always been friends since day one and never had a falling out. Ever.

Scotman December 01, 2011

Fair enough. Thanks much.

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