Batman 61-63, 66-74
Bane’s plans are finally revealed through an issue-long monologue by Flashpoint Thomas Wayne, who made his way over to this universe when I wasn’t looking. I’m not a fan of Thomas in this universe, or at least when written by Tom King. He’s got that Hunter Zolomon Professor Zoom “I’m trying to kill you in order to help you” vibe, and it doesn’t work for me.
Also, Bane’s plan is utter bullshit. I’m supposed to believe that everything from issue one to now is this elaborately constructed strategy to build Bruce up and tear him down, where Bane knows him so well that he knew Bruce would jump through 15 precisely placed hoops leading to this point. No. It’s even worse than Joker’s plan from Dark Knight, which required an insane number of things to happen just right in order for it to be successful. Trying to tie all of this together is a rare epic fail from King. This run would have been much better if he had left well enough alone and let each arc stand on its own.
Also bullshit is the revelation that Bruce didn’t really love Selina. It’s a real low blow from King, especially after he spent this long trying to sell me on the idea.
That said, Batman’s nightmares are really well done. King nails that surreal feeling, and switching artists from issue to issue accentuates that feeling.
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| A clever little distillation. |
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| Bruce dreaming that he's the Question interrogating Bruce's view of Selina. |
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| King loves his rooftop double page spreads. |
And let’s talk about the phenomenal Amanda Conner bachelorette party issue. This is a smashingly fun issue. It’s so different from anything else King’s written, it’s cool to see that he can nail pure comedy. (Let’s not forget there’s no way this would be nearly as good without Conner.)
Here’s one of my original reviews for some lovely Mikel Janin art.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Nice (Pretty good for 66, 69. Pure joy for 68)
Batman: Secret Files 2
Another pointless anthology issue. I don’t know why these were included in the trades.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Didn’t suck
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