Batman Knightfall Review (Canon Read Through #39)

[Deffinition]

My Indepth review of Batman Knightfall.

A story in which Bane breaks Batmans back and we see the end of Bruce Wayne for a LONG period in the comics.

Does the book still hold up? Check out my review below to find out!

Batman Knightfall Review

Cheers

[thefiresky]

This book is 24 years old.

[AzraelOnline]

Yea, I don't see why doing a review of a story arc from the mid-90's is relevant. It's especially difficult to read reviews or after thoughts so many years later by the writers here at CBR who do nothing but pick at the art and arc, putting their 'opinion' that characters were hated at the time when they weren't and feeling that newer stories are superior. There really is no writer who can stand up to what Dennis O'Neil did in his time.
Also, just because Bane is used in one of he popular Nolan films (which is an abortion) doesn't mean it should be referenced here, same with John Blake who has absolutely nothing to do with this arc, just a character Nolan made up. As for the identity, like with the Joker that's something that means less to Bane because it's about beating him, the hunt. Not exposing.
Knightfall was the first big cross title story arc that DC did of this nature, and it was one he said they didn't want to do again...but then they did No Man's Land which was really more of a mess. In regards to your comment of not recommending sitting down and reading such a large arc at once - neither did readers when this was happening, it was pretty much released one part a week, which made it easier to digest. O'Neil and company scripted this all out meticulously and made sure that there weren't any errors.

[Deffinition]

Yea, I don't see why doing a review of a story arc from the mid-90's is relevant. It's especially difficult to read reviews or after thoughts so many years later by the writers here at CBR who do nothing but pick at the art and arc, putting their 'opinion' that characters were hated at the time when they weren't and feeling that newer stories are superior. There really is no writer who can stand up to what Dennis O'Neil did in his time.
Also, just because Bane is used in one of he popular Nolan films (which is an abortion) doesn't mean it should be referenced here, same with John Blake who has absolutely nothing to do with this arc, just a character Nolan made up. As for the identity, like with the Joker that's something that means less to Bane because it's about beating him, the hunt. Not exposing.
Knightfall was the first big cross title story arc that DC did of this nature, and it was one he said they didn't want to do again...but then they did No Man's Land which was really more of a mess. In regards to your comment of not recommending sitting down and reading such a large arc at once - neither did readers when this was happening, it was pretty much released one part a week, which made it easier to digest. O'Neil and company scripted this all out meticulously and made sure that there weren't any errors.

1. Because I'm doing a read through of Batman Graphic Novels
2. Bane should be mentioned here because this is the source material in which the movie was based on, I mentioned John Blake due to the similarity of how they discovered Bruce Wayne Was Batman
3. I cant travel back in time and read such a large arc week by week, it is collected now so I would not recommend reading it in one go

[darkseidpwns]

This book is 24 years old.

So are most of the best Batman stories tbh, a true classic will be getting reviewed every now and then, no foul.

[Adset]

i love these types of reviews. back before these forums reset there were a bunch of these on the classic comics forum.

please continue!

[SicariiDC]

Knightfall is what got me started in the ****. I started reading it again but got distracted

[Kingcrimsonprog]

Yea, I don't see why doing a review of a story arc from the mid-90's is relevant. It's especially difficult to read reviews or after thoughts so many years later by the writers here at CBR who do nothing but pick at the art and arc, putting their 'opinion' that characters were hated at the time when they weren't and feeling that newer stories are superior. There really is no writer who can stand up to what Dennis O'Neil did in his time.
Also, just because Bane is used in one of he popular Nolan films (which is an abortion) doesn't mean it should be referenced here, same with John Blake who has absolutely nothing to do with this arc, just a character Nolan made up. As for the identity, like with the Joker that's something that means less to Bane because it's about beating him, the hunt. Not exposing.
Knightfall was the first big cross title story arc that DC did of this nature, and it was one he said they didn't want to do again...but then they did No Man's Land which was really more of a mess. In regards to your comment of not recommending sitting down and reading such a large arc at once - neither did readers when this was happening, it was pretty much released one part a week, which made it easier to digest. O'Neil and company scripted this all out meticulously and made sure that there weren't any errors.

I don't know about you, but I enjoyed the review.

[Darkseid Is]

I like Knightfall. It was one of the first series of books I read when I got into comics back in the early to mid 2000s. I could never find the trade (if one even existed back then) so I would go and hunt for the individual issues at comic stores and cons. So much fun.

I always thought Bane was really interesting but I thought his motivations were kind of weak. Why was it so important to him to defeat Batman? Because he had a dream about fighting a bat? Vengence of Bane II is fun if you ever get around to reading that one.

[JBatmanFan05]

Unlike the Spidey 90s Clone saga, the Knightfall saga and Death of Superman saga are fun reads. They're long, but not mindnumbingly long.

My custom binds (which the new and coming Omnibi will mostly end up matching) of Knightfall are just such a full fun super serial comic reading experience. Different writers and artists, all telling one long story. And it was headline material, the main stuff in Batman's world and life. Not like today with mostly inconsequential meh Eternals with lesser talents.

Knightfall was like if Tom King and Scott Snyder and Tim Seeley and artists like Janin and Finch and Romita and Jock and etc did a years long numbered Batman event. And when I think of how fun such serial events were in retrospect, especially compared to what we read nowadays, I wish we might see a couple more long serial main events like that.

But Knightfall was Wrestlemania fun, Die Hard fun. Lots of action, lots of characters, good characterization. Azrael vs Bane was an extraordinary battle, one of the best ones in comics just for how long it was and the dramatic hype for it. All of the Batman rogues were in top form. Dixon and Moench and Denny and Alan Grant were a dream team in retrospect, such talented veteran comic talent.

[millernumber1]

Unlike the Spidey 90s Clone saga, the Knightfall saga and Death of Superman saga are fun reads. They're long, but not mindnumbingly long.

My custom binds (which the new and coming Omnibi will mostly end up matching) of Knightfall are just such a full fun super serial comic reading experience. Different writers and artists, all telling one long story. And it was headline material, the main stuff in Batman's world and life. Not like today with mostly inconsequential meh Eternals with lesser talents.

Knightfall was like if Tom King and Scott Snyder and Tim Seeley and artists like Janin and Finch and Romita and Jock and etc did a years long numbered Batman event. And when I think of how fun such serial events were in retrospect, especially compared to what we read nowadays, I wish we might see a couple more long serial main events like that.

But Knightfall was Wrestlemania fun, Die Hard fun. Lots of action, lots of characters, good characterization. Azrael vs Bane was an extraordinary battle, one of the best ones in comics just for how long it was and the dramatic hype for it. All of the Batman rogues were in top form. Dixon and Moench and Denny and Alan Grant were a dream team in retrospect, such talented veteran comic talent.

I am really curious to know if the current crop of writers are willing to work together to the extent that a Knightfall or No Man's Land requires. There were hints of that kind of thing with the Superheavy/JimBats setup, but clearly Snyder wasn't talking to anybody at all during that time period. And DC's emphasis on flash in the pan events these days - crossovers that are all done in a month or so - seems to be their answer to Marvel's events stretching for months and months every year, leading to serious event fatigue. I do think that there are definitely things that could be done - Batman Eternal was probably the closest the Bat-office has come to such an event - a year-long weekly involving six writers, 30+ artists (not to mention art teams), all in one story, with nearly every Bat character involved. But it was in its own little corner of continuity, unlike Knightfall and NML, which ate the entire Bat-line.

I personally really loved Eternal, for all its very clear weaknesses, and am bummed that Batman and Robin Eternal wasn't as strong (though I still liked it a lot more than most seemed to have). But outside of those kinds of special projects, I don't know how DC could pull off such an event nowadays.

[LifeIsILL]

Bane was great in this story.

Him and Doomsday became immensely popular overnight around the exact same time. When was the last time something like that has ever happened?

[JBatmanFan05]

I am really curious to know if the current crop of writers are willing to work together to the extent that a Knightfall or No Man's Land requires. There were hints of that kind of thing with the Superheavy/JimBats setup, but clearly Snyder wasn't talking to anybody at all during that time period. And DC's emphasis on flash in the pan events these days - crossovers that are all done in a month or so - seems to be their answer to Marvel's events stretching for months and months every year, leading to serious event fatigue. I do think that there are definitely things that could be done - Batman Eternal was probably the closest the Bat-office has come to such an event - a year-long weekly involving six writers, 30+ artists (not to mention art teams), all in one story, with nearly every Bat character involved. But it was in its own little corner of continuity, unlike Knightfall and NML, which ate the entire Bat-line.

I personally really loved Eternal, for all its very clear weaknesses, and am bummed that Batman and Robin Eternal wasn't as strong (though I still liked it a lot more than most seemed to have). But outside of those kinds of special projects, I don't know how DC could pull off such an event nowadays.

You raise a lot of very fair points. I do think maybe writers have different lines they are less willing to cross nowadays. More artistic protectiveness or something (I could probably find a more derogatory way to describe it). And so I do wonder if the top writers would be willing to work together in a Knightfall/NML way. I think DC should try one again though. And the writers should embrace the challenge. This is the Rebirth era, a more classic retro age for DC. Trying such a truly collaborative story event again would be by now practically fresh and new (and frankly shocking), and a classic nostalgic call back to the 90s.

I'm not asking for these to become regular or widespread for DC, that may be a bad move. But will Batman comics really just be a series of writer runs forevermore and that's it (aside from Eternal like corners)? That'd be a shame IMHO. Same old, same old forevermore is what that is.

A modern Knightfall doesn't have to eat the entire Bat-line to meet my thirst for such an event, I'm open to compromise. If (very very hypothetically) Batman (Tom King) & Tec (Scott Snyder) and one or two other books (or maybe even not) did a years long main event story, that'd be close enough for me I think.

[darkseidpwns]

Knightfall and NML weren't events, they were simply a new status quo much like the Post RIP-New 52 .

[JBatmanFan05]

Knightfall and NML weren't events, they were simply a new status quo much like the Post RIP-New 52 .

Eh, maybe a semantical point. I disagree. DC treated them more like events, with checklists and numbering and all, all built around some shocking development to Batman's world (which IMHO New 52 did not do, wasn't built around Batman breaking his back or dying or killing Joker, New 52 was built on events outside of Batman's orbit (that you didn't even know happened until Rebirth), it was a reboot more than anything).