batman
i bought this for my nephew and he absolutely loved it.the books were brand new
Some of the individual stories are weak, and the art is fairly crude
I have a love-hate response to this first volume of the Knightfall saga. The overall story is superb. You can't help but feel sorry for Bruce Wayne as he becomes weaker with every villain he puts away. And Bane is the exact sort of villain that a Batman book needs: smart AND muscle-bound.
My first complaint is that so many of the individual stories are utterly forgettable. Apart from his run-ins with Zsazz, Scarecrow, Joker, and (of course) Bane, I honestly can't remember the specific details from the rest. Of 272 total pages, I'd say this story could have been better told in about 100.
My other complaint is that the artwork generally appears crude and rushed. I know they were cranking out issues across numerous Batman books, but the lack of detail is often appalling. If you compare this with the other mega-arc of the day, The Death of Superman / Funeral For A Friend, you'll see what I mean.
Still, I can't totally hate on Knightfall Part 1. There are flashes of story-telling brilliance here. And there are a few spots of artistic flair too. You have to slog through a good amount of "blah" to enjoy them, but you WILL ultimately enjoy them. At least I did.
Classics Comic Book
This was one of the classics. Got the book in mint condition so i was happy.
The Bat is Broken
Knightfall is one of the most ambitious Batman stories ever attempted. This book collects the first and arguably the best part of this story - the breaking of the Batman by Bane (the symbolism of the name is pretty obvious). The story begins with Bane engineering the breakout of all the insane criminals that are housed in Arkham Asylum. All of Batman's nemeses - The Joker, Scarecrow, Killer Croc and others - are let loose on the streets of Gotham all at once. This is Bane's clever and twisted strategy to break the Batman.
The plot moves forward in somewhat predictable fashion as Batman takes down each of the escapees in turn. He is mentally disintegrating with each encounter and losing his will to fight. Bane and his henchmen are watching his relentlessly, waiting for the right moment to strike and take him down. The story culminates in a final encounter with between Batman and Bane with the Batman almost at breaking point mentally and physically. He does not offer much resistance and Bane literally and figuratively breaks him. The book ends with the final panel depicting Bane breaking the Batman's spine. The slow mental disintegration of Batman is the focal point of the storyline and keeps you riveted throughout. While the several sub-plots with the Arkham escapees are of uneven quality some of them are excellent. The one involving the Joker is, predictably, among the best of the lot.
This ranks as one of the best Batman stories ever written and anyone who is intrigued by the character of Batman must pick this one up.
By Far the Best Part of the Series
Like most triologies, the biggest character twists and best action sequences occur in Part II of Knightsend. The transition of John Paul Valley into the mantle of the Bat goes through a logical and compelling progression. Batman #500, the final volume in this book, was on of the first Batman comics I read when I was a child. I still have it, and it is still one of the best single-issue "Batman" comics I've ever read.
As a bonus, if you don't hate Joel Shumacher's "Batman & Robin" enough already, when you see how much he perverted the character of Bane, one of the Bat's most formidible opponents, you'll you'll be foaming at the mouth.
