Originally Posted by
gregpersons
I agree with these Good and Bad, although I'm much higher on the Good and less bothered by the Bad, I think. The main "bad" for this arc is also true for the whole run — King takes a lot of liberties to construct a plot, and it never seems to add up to make complete sense, practically. In the end, the smaller moments make it all worthwhile.
So I love I Am Suicide. This was the story that got me back into reading Batman and DC regularly again.
—Batman leading a heist caper is a slam dunk for me. I want so much more of this, there's not enough Mission Impossible style stories for Batman. Another good example would be the Hong Kong scene in "The Dark Knight" film; beyond that I can't think of too many other similar stories that go this route.... only other one I can think of is the beginning of the "Legacy" storyline where Bruce, Dick, Tim, and Selina are infiltrating Ra's al Ghul/Bane's desert hideaway. Even "No Man's Land" entirely skips over how the heroes were able to get in and out of the city, multiple times (it's not only "Dark Knight Rises" that cheats this). So even though the plan is ridiculous, I still love the overall shape of a "sneaky espionage snatch-and-grab" mission for Batman.
—The acknowledgment of suicide!! A lot of fans hated this, it seems, but I adore it. It's such an emotionally intelligent read on the origin, such a small incisive addition that is so revealing and reverberant through everything. Batman's always had a lot of stories about his capability for self destruction, and his willingness to sacrifice his life for his mission/his vow, but it's never been acknowledged emotionally in a way this human before. The issue of his letter (12, iirc) is one of the highlight issues for whole run.
I love the over-the-top absurdity of him Arkham-video-game style just brawling through a hundred armed guys, and how it juxtaposes with the very human letter to Catwoman.
I love that it's a letter, and not an internal monologue. I love that Batman is talking emotionally instead of logistically walking us through the plan, or how the bones are breaking... The letter lets us into Bruce's head in a way where I felt Bruce was truly relatable, which is almost never the case. Usually it's that Bruce is interesting, he's like a case study, and is sometimes in relatable dynamics, but I don't think I'd ever connected to Bruce emotionally like that since maybe Mask Of The Phantasm.
—"I Am Suicide" also reveals that this is a romantic epic, which I find to be just as exciting and fresh as the humanistic take on Bruce's vow. Even just looking at this arc out of the context of the larger run, I think this is instantly one of the Top 3 best Batman / Catwoman stories ever told. We're introduced to "Bat / Cat" banter for the first time, which works well for me so that's a big plus in my book. There's some killer dialogue moments of tenderness between them -- "What am I supposed to do?"
—Naked Bane is simultaneously bizarre and also works so well for the character. Another example of an original take that I just find to be so refreshing, in part because it's at least doing something different and has something to say.
—This arc, moreso than I Am Gotham, flagged to me that King has something new to say about the character. And while the rest of the arc expands his thoughts, all of them are present and accounted for in I Am Suicide.
—The art! It's the first pairing of Janin with King, and they're a great combo.