I actually enjoyed this one, loved Daniels art. However, if Bane lives at Wayne Manor, the Ventriliquist is his butler, everyone works for Bane, so does everyone know Bruce Wayne is Batman?
I actually enjoyed this one, loved Daniels art. However, if Bane lives at Wayne Manor, the Ventriliquist is his butler, everyone works for Bane, so does everyone know Bruce Wayne is Batman?
Pulls: Batman, Detective Comics, SiKtC, Catwoman, Nightwing, Titans, Godzilla, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Brave and the Bold, No/One, Kill your Darlings, and Deviant.
My runs: Batman #230-, and Detective #420-
Well, it was certainly a very pretty pompous ball of nothing.
I read it and felt nothing. I really can't wait for King to move from the main title, and considering how his Bat/Cat is so important for him, I won't bother reading his mini either. If he can't make me feel anything but boredom with such an issue, he won't work for me on Batman anymore, at all.
I'm really liking how despite the "villain takes over city" trope feeling pretty played out, especially for Batman, this actually feels kind of fresh. I like that it's not just chaotic, post-apocalyptic "every man for himself", but instead some semblance of order. Riddler and Joker as the buddy detectives, Hugo as Commissioner, Ventriloquist as Thomas' Alfred is great. Even the Year Of The Villain tie-in worked in this instance, explaining how Bane could get away with it "legally" speaking. And really interested to see how the Batman and Catwoman stuff will end up resolved, this is a case where I am hoping for some semblance of a slow build to them re-connecting rather than immediately back together.
Yeah, Thomas is there with Ventriloquist as his Alfred, while the real Alfred is there as Thomas' hostage so to speak. I do like he's not under Psycho Pirate mind control like alot of us assumed, and instead just being smart and not fighting, while still throwing some backtalk at Thomas.
Bane appears to be in some underground facility not exactly sure where, wouldn't be surprised if its below Arkham.
Last edited by Inversed; 07-17-2019 at 10:15 AM.
I mean on one hand we've got yet another screwball version of Gotham, akin to something like Gothtopia. The Dark Knight Rises comparisons are apt, and that element is fairly fun. And the fact that Hugo Strange and Psycho Pirate are involved indicates some level of god-tier mind-control that at least gives the story some sort of internal logic. I'll say that the only element of this issue that gave me actual joy was the absurdity of Joker and Riddler cruising around like police detectives, actually seeming to enjoy the absurdity of playing those roles. And realistically based on how devious they are as criminals, they actually should make startlingly good detectives - they are Gotham's master Moriarty-type clue leaving Pop crime lords.
Alfred hostage, Gotham Girl on point and backing from Luthor are good enough McGuffins for me to believe Superman doesn't just fly in and fix everything in five minutes. But that does contrast to the early bits of the run, where the JLA comes in and stops Gotham (Boy), and then come in to do clean-up after the Monster Men. And Superman has been all over this run. Even the re-use of Doctor Double X brings that point to the forefront.
Oh and King 86's Double X. Which is fine, he's definitely a z-list character who got used more in this run just to die in a clever Two-Face murder than he's been used in 50 years. And Two-Face working with Grundy at least almost directly calls back to Dark Victory and Long Halloween, which is a nice touch that I don't hate.
Part of me wishes the art was rendered almost in a New Gotham/TAS style. Or even a Batman '66 style.
I'm hit or miss on Tony's art. He does still have that thing Grant described, that like Jim Lee-through-a-Jim Aparo filter. It feels right but there's also some wonkiness. For a second I thought FlashpointBats might be Bruce wearing the Thomas costume to trick everyone. And I'm really curious to see what Magpie might be up to. I love Magpie and want her to have cooler stories.
Retro315 no more. Anonymity is so 2005.
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Pulls: Batman, Detective Comics, SiKtC, Catwoman, Nightwing, Titans, Godzilla, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Brave and the Bold, No/One, Kill your Darlings, and Deviant.
My runs: Batman #230-, and Detective #420-
Maybe it's me, but I'm tired of the villians taking over an entire city. Isn't Gotham the size of New York City? How the hell is Bane taking over Gotham? Since Bane has taken over Gotham, shouldn't the US government be aware of this? Why does it always seem like Gotham is in it's own little world, and there are no other heroes in the universe to help out Gotham. I need to start reading other comic books.
I had 2 thoughts about this
the first one is that I am interested in this arc a lot for similar reasons that i liked the Superheavy arc, its not about how Batman will comeback and fix "this is Gotham for the moment, enjoy the ride"
and I might just enjoy the ride
the second thing is that King said that this was going to be the start of something that was going to change Batman forever, I didnt get what it is because City of Bane definitely doesnt feel like that.
the thing about this kind of storyline just like with Superheavy or something like Superior Spider-man for another reference is that we are always going to be back to the status quo
something like 90% of the comic was about what the villians are doing, I see nothing there that would be permanent, even the change to two-face feels reversable or even ignorable.
so the other 10% was Bruce and Catwoman which will most likely going to cement their relationship, maybe going forward with the wedding
but...
I kind of was expecting that, I just feel like I was also expecting for something more and this isnt it.
Im not necesarily disappointed I just feel like I wanted something different but i dont know what
so how did Bruce escape his death battle with his Dad felt like that should be included. And why did Selina search for Bruce hopefully her reason is a good one.
"He's pure power and doesn't even know it. He's the best of us."-Matt Murdock
"I need a reason to take the mask off."-Peter Parker
"My heart half-breaks at how easy it is to lie to him. It breaks all the way when he believes me without question." Felicia Hardy
Is this going to be like Knightfall except instead of a spinal injury he has a mental and emotional one and instead of going at it alone to regain his strength/power he has Selina by his side and now instead of just facing off against Bane he will face his alternate reality Father alongside him? Is that what we are seeing?
see
this is my problem
I completely agree with you, this definitely could be the course of action
but thats so vanilla, I wanted something more unpredicable
well one of the great things of knightfall is that it did had a mental and emotional baggage on batman, he was fatigue before facing Bane and then he face a deep depresion before going on the Quest to recover his legs
Last edited by Arnoldoaad; 07-17-2019 at 06:24 PM.
I know one of the things King has said when talking about Batman stories and his own run, is that while he loves Knightfall, he was disappointed in the ending, which was more or less Batman wins by punching Bane harder than before, so his plan for the climax of this story is to have Batman outsmart Bane and not simply beat him in another fist-a-cuffs. Which I am really curious to see, especially how "uberly omnipresent" Bane has been through the entire run, I wanna see what the conclusion Batman and Catwoman come to in order to defeat him.
Also, one other thing I noticed in this issue I'm not sure if anybody else did, when Lex is talking with Bane, he has alot more pauses and ellipses than he did before, which makes me think something is up. Is he starting to get exhausted? Is this a venom thing?
I think the key to your issue may be in your first sentence above. It's the start of an 11 issue story. If you're not seeing generational change in the first of those 11 issues, that's probably why.
I read and hear a lot of complaints that King "hasn't explained anything yet" or "hasn't resolved anything yet." I think (I hope) the key there too is the word "yet." He has 10 more issues of Batman to go and 12 of Batman/Catwoman. I don't need him to explain or resolve anything until the end of the story.
Mileage will vary among reasonable people. Of course.