Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs Bane

[Penguin Truth]

The follow-up to Peter Tomasi's Arkham War hit the stands today, with Batman taking on Bane in a final bout to decide the true protector of Gotham!

And... yeah, it was Batman. Batman was just... wow. Brutal. Honestly I thought it would be bloody, given the kinds of blows they were landing on each other, and the way Batman books have been in the past few years, but it was fairly bloodless, and yet no less harsh. Batman breaks a cherub statue on Bane's head at the end of it.

I got a few No Man's Land vibes from it, and not a little Knightfall mixed in. It's like Tomasi was celebrating Chuck Dixon's 90s work throughout the entire Arkham War series with this as a capper. It's too bad after Batman took back Gotham everything goes straight to hell (but remember, Batman IS hell) in Eternal.

I enjoyed it. Not Tomasi's best work in the New 52, but well worth reading.

[ispacehead]

I forgot about this issue.

I usually check the boards here before heading to the shop so I remember what's out, but since they were down I didn't get the chance.

I really didn't care for Arkham War though, so I don't expect I'll enjoy this much.

I'll give it a flip next week.

[napolid]

It was the best issue in the series which dosn't say much, still very average.

[FHIZ]

I thought this was a complete waste of time, to be honest. Yeah, Batman comes back and beats Bane. There was no substance to it.

[Claude]

I thought this was a complete waste of time, to be honest. Yeah, Batman comes back and beats Bane. There was no substance to it.

Tomasi's contempt for the Talons was amusing, though. A bunch of them start off worried that they can't fight the US army, get taken-out by Batman offscreen, then William Cobb casually loses an arm as Batman hurls his frozen body at Bane.

And however well Bane was characterised, he just gets beaten up by Batman.... because Batman is better at fighting than him. Which is pretty lame.

[Bane]

I'm cool with Batman beating Bane, that's just the way these things work but, I have to agree with FHIZ that this was a waste of time. Which is a real shame given how much I enjoyed the rest of the mini.

I really wish people would stop drawing Bane inhumanly large. It was nice seeing Nolan draw him in a more normal size again in that 0 issue.

[Trevel8182]

God! The ending of Arkham War was so amazing! I can't wait to read this.

[Dzetoun]

I thought this was a complete waste of time, to be honest. Yeah, Batman comes back and beats Bane. There was no substance to it.

Yeah, pretty much. Of course, I thought the whole series was a waste of time, to be honest. As we see in Eternal, it had about zero effect or impact on anything. Did anyone else notice how the time scale of Forever Evil seems to be infinitely elastic? In FE itself, things seem to play out over a matter of days, but Bruce talks about hiding in his safe room for weeks. It was amusing that Batman made the Damian noise over the fallen Bane.

[blunt_eastwood]

This was like reading a comic adaptation of The Dark Knight Rises.

[Big Geek]

I thought this was enjoyable enough. Certainly not as good as Tomasi's Batman and Robin series but ever since Robin died I felt that series went from being as good as the "Batman" main series to being a notch below it. It's not something that I feel ke you have to read but overall it was decent.

[neonrideraryeh]

I ordered this yesterday so hopefully it arrives soon. Does it cover the consequences of what happened to Scarecrow at the end of Arkham War?

[Dante]

cash in issue, interesting how Bats just jobbed out Bane

[Bane]

I ordered this yesterday so hopefully it arrives soon. Does it cover the consequences of what happened to Scarecrow at the end of Arkham War?

He does pop up but I wouldn't expect too much.

[Grayson]

This wasn't much of an issue. Batman manages to take down Bane, and some Talons fairly quickly.

[AlexanderLuthor]

This whole mini was a real disappointment to me. What great material to work with - Batman gone, Bane vs. Arkham - it could have and should have been really good. I normally like Tomasi a lot, but this just felt like ringing the cash register. I do like that we got more of TDKR Bane and not the 9 foot tall, 500 pounds of muscle Bane. What I really didn't like was the downgrading of the Talons - what once felt like a major threat was disposed of in 2 pages with Mr. Freeze's ice gun. Not the best way to treat one of the best new threats Bats has had in awhile