Sword of Azrael, Knightfall

Batman: Sword of Azrael 1-4

Here we go, the start of the main Batman titles.  (I count this since it’s the lead-in to Knightfall.)  It’s all about the Joe Quesada art, coming up with one of my favorite costume designs ever.  

They're like Wolverine's claws, but on fire!

He kills dogs!  And Batman didn't have a problem with this?

Wolverine can't shoot his claws like that.

The story by Denny O’Neil is nice, and the art elevates the rating a couple of notches.  

 

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Batman 491-500

Detective Comics 659-666

Knightfall!  Such a big deal when this first came out.  At nineteen parts, it blew the twelve-issue X-Cutioner’s Song out of the water in terms of anything I’d seen before as a young collector in terms of scope.  

Storywise, there really isn’t much to it; Bane busts everyone out of Arkham, recapturing them wears Batman down to the bone, Bane breaks his back, Azrael takes the mantle and defeats Bane.  Not something that appears to require nineteen issues, but the slow burn leading up to part 11 (the breaking) is necessary to show just how much Bruce has gone through.  His mental and physical deterioration is a long, brutal process.    

Norm Breyfogle's one of the underrated greats.  RIP.

Love the eyes on Zsasz.

LOVE the capes.

I don't know how Kelley Jones gets away with this, but it rules.

The fight itself between Batman and Bane is cruel and one-sided.  It’s painful to watch, something that’s impressively recreated in Dark Knight Rises.  

Fight scene by Jim Aparo.

(I can’t in good conscience call Jim Aparo’s art anything better than decent, but there’s no denying that his look is absolutely classic Batman.)  

Great crowd reactions by Graham Nolan.

Love that this is how they wrapped up twelve issues of Ventriloquist buildup.

The story afterwards is less interesting; John Paul Valley has never been that interesting of a character, and his rapid descent into unthinking violence is both predictable and meh.  Though the Quesada version of the Azbats armor is pretty sweet.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Showcase 93 7-8

A Knightfall interlude about how Batman captured Two-Face post-Arkham breakout.  It’s sacrilegious to say, but Klaus Jansen doesn’t do much for me as an inker, much less as a penciler.  And the Doug Moench story is completely boilerplate.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck