Review of Two Batman Comics Read in November 2020

A weekend leisure reading review…because sometimes Pastors also need a break from heavy theological reading!  Finally a Batman review for some of you fans!  I haven’t read any comics for months but got to read this for this long holiday weekend, this has bee a busy season of ministry.

 

Tom King.  Batman, Volume 12: City of Bane Part 1. Burbank, CA: DC Comics, April 14th 2020. 144 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Looking for a Batman story to read as a fun read? This is worthwhile. Having been disappointed with some of the recent Batman volumes from the last two years which felt like fillers and the story is presented in a disjointed fashion in this particular volume it seems DC Comics picked up their game and gives us a good story. Here the writer Tom King did a good job with focusing on a plot and the artistic team also delivered. This volume collects Batman issues number 75-79.

The story picks up from volume 10 and 11, after Batman has been hurt in a place far away from his beloved city of Gotham.  The story here opens up with a Gotham city that readers will realize is “reversed:” The Riddler and the Joker is part of Gotham PD and there’s an alternative world Batman that isn’t Bruce Wayne but instead behind the mask is Thomas Wayne, the father of Bruce Wayne.  This alternative world Batman is a darker Batman who unlike Bruce uses firearms and has no issues of killing.  From these opening pages we see something is really wrong in Gotham and it becomes clear as readers progress that Gotham has now become under the control of Batman’s villain Bane, hence the title for this volume: City of Bane.

In the city of Bane no superheroes are allowed.  Supervillains patrol the city and readers later find out the way Bane control the villains is through a villain under his control name Psycho-Pirate who changes the minds of these villains to obey Bane. Harnessing the powers of characters like Gotham Girl these villains patrol the street in a draconian matter in their disproportional use of force for minor infractions but we also see what these villains will do to superheroes who try to enter into Gotham City to help or find out what’s going on: they are met with violence and forced out.  Yet one of Batman’s sidekick will take the risk to enter Gotham to try to fight Bane and his villains (don’t want to give too much of the story away).  While this is going Batman needs to physically recover after being physically and mentally broken and in the second half of the volume we see Catwoman rescue Bruce and there’s an exploration of their relationship as they are hiding out in a nice location to train and prepare for the eventual invasion of Gotham by Catwoman and Batman.

I really like the volume for many things such as the exploration of why Bane would want to control Gotham when he could have exercise his control over other areas and even bigger real estate.  Also I thought it was interesting to see some villains who still haven’t been mind-controlled by Bane’s use of Psycho-Pirate who want their freedom and you see their fears and awareness of their weaknesses; fascinating.  Still I the part of the story that was bit more strange was the latter half of Baman’s relationship with Catwoman.  I think it is worth exploring but it also felt a bit unrealistic they are under-cover in a beach resort area and training in the middle of the day.  Also I think there might be more sappy love story than maybe most Batman fans might be looking for.  Overall still a well done story that’s better than some of the recent Batman issues and volumes.  I give this a four out of five.

 

Batman, Volume 13: City of Bane Part 2

Tom King.  Batman, Volume 13: City of Bane Part 2. Burbank, CA: DC Comics, July 14, 2020. 184 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Did you read Batman’s City of Bane Part 1?  This picks up the adventure with Batman’s anticipated return to Gotham to fight Bane and his collection of supervillains who have taken over the city.  I enjoyed part 1 and was looking forward to this volume to finish this story arc!  For the record this volume collects Batman issues number 80-85 and Batman Annual 4.

I love the opening which felt like a movie: but I need to back up and review what happened in the last volume in order for this to make sense: The city of Gotham has been taken over by Bane who have used mind-control to use supervillains as part of Gotham PD to patrol the city in an oppressive matter.  In the opening scene to this book two Gotham PD “officers” approached a man to tell him that he’s broken curfew and they asked doesn’t he know extreme pain is going to happen to this anonymous figure for the violation; this man turns out to be Batman in disguise and Batman in revealing his identity overcome these two “officers” who turned out to be the villains Pyg and Two-Face.  The first half of the book there’s a lot of revelation that Batman had a secret plan all along to protect Gotham and also have his allies ready for the moment they will take back Gotham again.  But as things progress things don’t necessarily work out all the way Batman think it would.  Don’t want to give the whole story away but it turns out the most cunning villain in this story that Batman and his team has to face isn’t Bane but someone else.  Also there’s a dramatic event that happen to someone close to Batman and there’a wonderful several page scene where the person that is deceased is recalling his perspective of Batman.  Thought that was an interesting angle in the story telling and serves as a foil of the man that Batman has to finally fight in the end of the City of Bane story arc.  After the “City of Bane” in this book there is as issue of Batman Annual four that tells the story of Batman’s daily battles through the journal of Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred Pennyworth reflecting on Batman and narrating what he was doing on a particular day and the fights he had to face.  A fun short snippet into Batman’s every day battle!