Batman: Knightfall Part One: Broken Bat

I bought this novel this weekend, even though I've read it a few times prior and it's a wonderful Batman story of the early 90's. It features one of Batmans most iconic villains Bane. Bane is definitely one of my favorite villains, but ONLY in comic book form. I honestly don't care too much about the action figures of him, the video games featuring him, and I definitely thought they messed him up in the Batman & Robin film which was terrible to begin with. What I really like about Bane, especially in the books is that he's eclectic. He may be big, muscular, and unintelligent looking, but he's not an idiot like how a lot of beefy villains are portrayed. He's highly intelligent, skilled, he speaks well, and he uses proper vocabulary like a clean cut civilized gentleman, but he's still evil and dangerous. That's why he's one of my favorite villains and that's why I like and own only the comics of him. As far as the story goes, Bane releases villains who were locked away from society and they go after Batman, then Bane comes in and fights Batman and then breaks his back. That may be a quick summery of the story, but I really wanted to get at the fact that in the end when Bane snaps Batmans back, that was a classic moment of a villain over powering a hero. Even though there are three parts to this book, this first part almost can stand alone on it's own in my opinion because after Bane breaks Batmans back, he has to take time off for a long while to rehabilitate. After that point, part 2 and 3 went down hill because I really don't like Bamans temporary replacement in my opinion. Even though Batman returns in the third book, it's still not that great in my opinion. This review may not be much, but it's mainly to state that I like Bane only in the comic form, why he's one of my favorite DC villains, how this book alone is a classic because of the story, and Bane forcing Batman to temporarily retire. I also got the novel Batman: Bane which was released in the late 90's which is a good Batman vs. Bane story for both old and new fans. All I hope for now is that they stick to the original Bane like the one in this book in the new Batman: The Dark Knight Rises film coming in 2012.

As the title states, this book should really be a 3.5. The premise is a good one: a new villain, Bane, decides to make it his mission to not just defeat the Batman but to "break" him physically and psychologically. What makes the story interesting is that Bane's plan is to unleash all of Batman's foes from Arkham Asylum and have them run amok in Gotham while Batman pushes himself beyond the limit to round them up as quick as possible. Of course, when Batman reaches his breaking point, that's when Bane plans to strike.The writing is pretty good overall but the art is all over the place. Norm Breyfogle's art is really pretty bad and even Jim Aparo's work, who I like for the most part, seems rushed at times. Graham Nolan, however, does an amazing job and I wish he drew the whole thing!Back to the writing, I felt that some of the incidents that occur while Batman is rounding up all of these villains are more interesting than others. Granted Batman can't afford to play around as he has a long list of escapees, but the Mad Hatter and Poison Ivy's encounters were not all that good. Batman's encounters with Zsasz and Firefly, on the other hand, were excellent.The other knock on this book concerns Bane. Bane is a really big, muscle-bound dude that seems pretty intelligent rather than just being a brute, which is a good thing. I would be really upset if the Batman was broken merely by brute strength. That being said, I would have like to see Bane somehow really outsmart and trick Batman rather than just come up with a "gauntlet" type situation to bring him down. I also feel that they could have done a better job making Bane actually scary. This is partly the fault of the artists. Simple things such as Bane coming out of the shadows behind people, and more depictions of Bane's physical brutality could have helped. Bane killed Film Freak by breaking every bone in his body and all you saw was a little blood on his face. Granted, this has to be toned down a bit for younger readers since this was supposed to be a huge story arc attempting to get more readers to jump on board, however; there are several techniques that artists have used over the years (use of silhouettes showing ribs protruding, showing only part of a brutalized body that leaves it to the readers imagination what the rest of the victim looks like) that could really have taken Bane to a whole new level.

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.

Batman's best story, but I'm still waiting, after six weeks, for my purchase.Update: It arrived, a month late, but it arrived.So let's give this one the five star rating it deserves.

I must admit i have really enjoyed this book. It is very deep and all the way through it you really feel for Batman and his work load. The art work is very good but not amazing the fight with Bane is Epic. A must buy book for any super hero fan of any age.

This by far is the best batman story out there, I've order the "Batman Knightfall Part 02 Who Rules The Night" story aswell.If you are into batman this is one you need to get.

A 1

Excellent