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Batman: Knightfall #5
Batman: Knightquest: The Crusade Vol. 2
Following the events of Batman: Knightquest: The Crusade Vol. 1, Bruce Wayne is still M.I.A. because of debilitating injuries sustained during a recent clash with Bane. Now it's up to Jean-Paul Valley (a.k.a. Azrael) to carry the mantle of Batman in Gotham City. Unfortunately, Valley is wrestling with his own demons and is struggling to meet the high standards set by his predecessor.
Now The Joker has resurfaced with a crazy new scheme to destroy the Dark Knight. But what happens when the Clown Prince of Crime realizes that something is amiss with his longtime archnemesis?
The nine-volume saga of Batman: Knightfall continues in this fifth volume of the series. Batman: Knightquest: The Crusade Vol. 2 collects Detective Comics #671-675, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #24-28, Batman #505-508 and Showcase '94 #7. Bonus material is also included.
Now The Joker has resurfaced with a crazy new scheme to destroy the Dark Knight. But what happens when the Clown Prince of Crime realizes that something is amiss with his longtime archnemesis?
The nine-volume saga of Batman: Knightfall continues in this fifth volume of the series. Batman: Knightquest: The Crusade Vol. 2 collects Detective Comics #671-675, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #24-28, Batman #505-508 and Showcase '94 #7. Bonus material is also included.
377 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2018
12 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Dixon
3,429 books1,032 followersCharles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, perhaps best-known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 7, 2022
So this is the second part of the Knightquest storyline and I have to say I actually started to enjoy the knight fall saga again with this.
It started off with a joker story which was good and through the rest of the book it felt like Azrael actually got a character arc over the course of the book.
Overall a solid set of stories and am excited to see how they wrap this saga up!
It started off with a joker story which was good and through the rest of the book it felt like Azrael actually got a character arc over the course of the book.
Overall a solid set of stories and am excited to see how they wrap this saga up!
January 1, 2020
I guess I'd have to say this volume is worse than the previous one, because usually what this series has going for it (if nothing else) is that it's sort of interesting to see how all the pieces fit together as nu-Batman runs around Gotham righting wrongs and losing his mind.
In this volume, the scope narrows and is mostly centered around catching a new villain named Abbatoir that (sort of) becomes Jean-Paul's archnemesis. However, it's also pretty clear that the different creative teams on the various Bat-titles aren't working closely together at this point. Quite literally, Batman vacillates between chasing Abbatoir and solving other crimes based on which Bat-series he appears in, with only some clumsy voiceover to act as transition ("Abbatoir is still out there...but WHAT ABOUT GUNHAWK!?!?")
This is also the part of the series that runs afoul of crossovers (as every longform superhero story eventually does). The crossover this time around is BLOODLINES, a godawful alien-invasion thing that I'd forgotten even existed. Although it's only referenced minimally here, a quick Wikipedia search opened old wounds by reminding me that the invading aliens have somehow mutated and powered various characters as a part of DC's mid-90s attempt to add new heroes to their catalogue. So, on top of watching the over-armored, over-pocketed 90s Batman run around Gotham, we also see him team up with various weird mutant heroes with names like Joe Public and Ballistic.
I mean, it's all pretty garbage, but like, I'm also ashamed to have been remotely surprised. There's one good Penguin story that I would never have known about if I hadn't found it here, though, so, yknow. That's something.
In this volume, the scope narrows and is mostly centered around catching a new villain named Abbatoir that (sort of) becomes Jean-Paul's archnemesis. However, it's also pretty clear that the different creative teams on the various Bat-titles aren't working closely together at this point. Quite literally, Batman vacillates between chasing Abbatoir and solving other crimes based on which Bat-series he appears in, with only some clumsy voiceover to act as transition ("Abbatoir is still out there...but WHAT ABOUT GUNHAWK!?!?")
This is also the part of the series that runs afoul of crossovers (as every longform superhero story eventually does). The crossover this time around is BLOODLINES, a godawful alien-invasion thing that I'd forgotten even existed. Although it's only referenced minimally here, a quick Wikipedia search opened old wounds by reminding me that the invading aliens have somehow mutated and powered various characters as a part of DC's mid-90s attempt to add new heroes to their catalogue. So, on top of watching the over-armored, over-pocketed 90s Batman run around Gotham, we also see him team up with various weird mutant heroes with names like Joe Public and Ballistic.
I mean, it's all pretty garbage, but like, I'm also ashamed to have been remotely surprised. There's one good Penguin story that I would never have known about if I hadn't found it here, though, so, yknow. That's something.
June 26, 2024
This one was better
April 8, 2022
BAD. TERRIBLE. BORING. UPSETTING. Please get this man OUT I am so so so very tired. I can't believe Batman has guns now.
Gordon and the Penguin's moment was the only good thing about all of this. LIKE YES. FINALLY. Gordon lost it and I'm here for it every single day of the week. Penguin's lost it. Everyone is dependant on the Batman and we all know it and we'll all yell at each other for it. Gordon was about to kill a man! As he should! Penguin is upset Bruce is gone!! He's just like me! I have withdrawal symptoms!
Also blah, blah, something about this story replicating Bruce's downfall as Batman but JP is so much worse than him because he lasted so much less time, without leading a double life; he doesn't have any friends and he keeps failing himself which is what Bruce was going through in Knightfall. I do not care. Jean Paul is boring and way too fucking angsty for no good reason, get away from me.
Gordon and the Penguin's moment was the only good thing about all of this. LIKE YES. FINALLY. Gordon lost it and I'm here for it every single day of the week. Penguin's lost it. Everyone is dependant on the Batman and we all know it and we'll all yell at each other for it. Gordon was about to kill a man! As he should! Penguin is upset Bruce is gone!! He's just like me! I have withdrawal symptoms!
Also blah, blah, something about this story replicating Bruce's downfall as Batman but JP is so much worse than him because he lasted so much less time, without leading a double life; he doesn't have any friends and he keeps failing himself which is what Bruce was going through in Knightfall. I do not care. Jean Paul is boring and way too fucking angsty for no good reason, get away from me.
June 5, 2021
It would've been two stars like most of the other books in this overly drawn out saga, but holy crap, the 3 Stooges-meets-punk-rockers villains were beyond awful. Also, that gigantic plot hole re: Abbatoir and his last victim where Robin knows the address but completely forgets to check it out...
August 19, 2024
Batman: Knightquest: The Crusade Vol. 2
The Joker has a plan to destroy Batman once and for all but, even in his madness, it doesn't take the Clown Prince of Crime long to realise that the man in the suit is not really his archenemy.
The art and storyline here is fantastic, but a note of warning: The text from this volume is also found in 'Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest'.
The Joker has a plan to destroy Batman once and for all but, even in his madness, it doesn't take the Clown Prince of Crime long to realise that the man in the suit is not really his archenemy.
The art and storyline here is fantastic, but a note of warning: The text from this volume is also found in 'Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest'.
April 1, 2020
3 stars because of the Joker
February 11, 2022
I don’t know, man. It just goes on too long. Jean Paul going off the deep end is interesting but Abattoir is dumb. Strong art gives this most of these two stars.
August 11, 2022
Jean Paul Valley, the new Batman, continues his ruthless crusade to rid Gotham of crime. However, as his methods veer farther and farther away from those of his predecessor, the differences between them begin to get noticed by allies and enemies alike. Meanwhile his mind is assailed by visions of his father as the murderous Azrael and of St. Dumas, who struggle for control of his very soul.
This book sees Jean Paul truly struggling to find his true identity and worrying that he may become lost in the terrifying monster that his crusade has made him. It's one of the things that makes this edgier Batman compelling; the fact that's he self-aware enough to realise that he's losing his mind, as well as having him come to terms with the fact that Bruce Wayne may have been a better Batman.
It would've been easy to make Jean Paul's fall into villainy be an easy descent into violence, but the writers are canny enough to have him desperately struggling against that descent, recognising it for the dark path it is.
This book also corrects an element that was one of my biggest criticisms about Volume 1; the fact that the new Batman doesn't get to face off against any big-name villains.
This book features appearances by the Joker, the Penguin, Lady Clayface and Clayface Three (actually referred to in-universe as Clayface Three, by the way), who are all put on the back foot by the changes in the Caped Crusader. I particularly liked the fact that Joker and Penguin basically throw temper tantrums that they're not matching wits with the Batman they've always know.
The last third of the book takes a grim turn when the pursuit of the sadistic serial killer Abattoir leads Jean Paul to cross a line which Batman should never cross and puts things in place for the inevitable showdown with the one true Batman.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
This book sees Jean Paul truly struggling to find his true identity and worrying that he may become lost in the terrifying monster that his crusade has made him. It's one of the things that makes this edgier Batman compelling; the fact that's he self-aware enough to realise that he's losing his mind, as well as having him come to terms with the fact that Bruce Wayne may have been a better Batman.
It would've been easy to make Jean Paul's fall into villainy be an easy descent into violence, but the writers are canny enough to have him desperately struggling against that descent, recognising it for the dark path it is.
This book also corrects an element that was one of my biggest criticisms about Volume 1; the fact that the new Batman doesn't get to face off against any big-name villains.
This book features appearances by the Joker, the Penguin, Lady Clayface and Clayface Three (actually referred to in-universe as Clayface Three, by the way), who are all put on the back foot by the changes in the Caped Crusader. I particularly liked the fact that Joker and Penguin basically throw temper tantrums that they're not matching wits with the Batman they've always know.
The last third of the book takes a grim turn when the pursuit of the sadistic serial killer Abattoir leads Jean Paul to cross a line which Batman should never cross and puts things in place for the inevitable showdown with the one true Batman.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
April 20, 2022
Batman's replacement Jean-Paul Valley deteriorates further in this volume, which sees him unraveling between the dual stresses of filling Batman's cape and grappling with the childhood "programming" that turned him into a violent would-be assassin. Accordingly, there are a lot of scenes with our superhero falling into long trances, shouting at visions, and getting horny for strange women who don't seem that into him.
Unfortunately, he's also punching muggers and trying to track down super villains like Abbatoir, an Arkham nut who's convinced he has to eat the members of his family. So things aren't going great for Jean-Paul, and they don't seem to be getting better when he starts adding guns to his armor suit.
It's all very grim and 90s, with serial killers, a "kewl" anti-hero with tusks and rockets, and some gun-happy mercenary villains. There are some lighter moments in a "Joker goes Hollywood" arc, but even those seem silly. The storytelling isn't bad exactly, but it doesn't transcend its era.
Unfortunately, he's also punching muggers and trying to track down super villains like Abbatoir, an Arkham nut who's convinced he has to eat the members of his family. So things aren't going great for Jean-Paul, and they don't seem to be getting better when he starts adding guns to his armor suit.
It's all very grim and 90s, with serial killers, a "kewl" anti-hero with tusks and rockets, and some gun-happy mercenary villains. There are some lighter moments in a "Joker goes Hollywood" arc, but even those seem silly. The storytelling isn't bad exactly, but it doesn't transcend its era.
January 1, 2022
The weakest entry in the entire Knightfall story so far. The book treads on absolutely no new ground at all: Jean Paul / Azrael is out of control as Batman, and the story really backed off his internal conflict that at least made Vol 1 have some interesting moments. Batman's allies still know something is different, but aren't doing anything about it. The story isn't even particularly interesting: its a lot of cliched superhero stuff. Chuck Dixon's Detective Comics issues are readable and have solid plots, even if they stray into cliché from time to time. Alan Grant's Shadow of the Bat is actually pretty interesting, and the high point of this collection. This is the weakest Doug Moench has been in Knightfall, continuing to rely on exposition boxes to explain exactly what we're seeing, and overall sloppy writing. It's possible to skim or outright skip many of his issues in this collection and not miss a single thing.
May 17, 2020
There's a couple of interesting story arcs in here - the Joker and Clayface. The Joker's arc is full of his trademark dark humour. Clayface was a surprise and worth reading. Other than that, it’s OK stuff but the replacement Batman, Azrael, is a boring character. His “system” just keeps getting more and more tiresome as does his “crusade”. The main villain, "Abattoir" is a dull and violent psycho, consequently boring as well. The Batman/Azrael and Abattoir just keep taking turns inflicting violence. I was flipping through pages without reading at some points just to get through this book. If it wasn’t for the Joker’s arc, this would have been down to 1 star instead of 2.
March 11, 2021
I found this volume a slight improvement on the previous volume, due to having the Joker for the opening arc, a pretty decent Clayface story and a 1 off isue by Peter David and P. Craig Russell on the Penguin.
There are some really average stories here also though. The Abattoir story drags much longer than anticipated but the ending is important. This arc does also feature a truly horrendous 90s character - Ballistic, who looks like someone watched Predator too much and wanted to turn the character's look into a hero.
Overall they're ok stories but there's nothing here I'd say is essential.
There are some really average stories here also though. The Abattoir story drags much longer than anticipated but the ending is important. This arc does also feature a truly horrendous 90s character - Ballistic, who looks like someone watched Predator too much and wanted to turn the character's look into a hero.
Overall they're ok stories but there's nothing here I'd say is essential.
December 13, 2018
More adventures of Jean-Paul Valley as Batman. It wasn't terrible, but there wasn't really much in it to recommend it either. The Joker story was boring. I didn't care for the long drawn out story of the villain Abattoir. The only confrontation I sort of liked was the one with Clayface 3. This is one for die hard Batman fans only who want to be completists.
December 30, 2022
3 out of 5, I liked it.
A lot of episodes look like they could be cut out as they don't bring that much value to the story (the sniper part, for example). The most outstanding villain is Abbatoir that I was not familiar with before. He has a vibe of an old X-Files monster of the week. The rest, including Pinguin looks ok, but not outstanding.
A lot of episodes look like they could be cut out as they don't bring that much value to the story (the sniper part, for example). The most outstanding villain is Abbatoir that I was not familiar with before. He has a vibe of an old X-Files monster of the week. The rest, including Pinguin looks ok, but not outstanding.
November 9, 2025
This one is probably a little bit better than the previous one. Had an awesome 3 part Joker story at the beginning. Had a cool ClayFace story.
The final 3 issues are the best of this volume. It’s epic and engaging. I felt so bad for Gordon. I wish we got more of Robin but you don’t see him much in this volume
The final 3 issues are the best of this volume. It’s epic and engaging. I felt so bad for Gordon. I wish we got more of Robin but you don’t see him much in this volume
September 23, 2020
The new Batman begins to unravel as his assassin programming grinds against his mission of justice. Jean Paul Valley further alienates Bruce Wayne's allies while facing off against foes both new and familiar. The cracks are beginning to show in his new armour.
January 7, 2021
I started out wanting to like John Paul Valley as the Batman. He's a lot more brutal in his treatment of criminals, and he straight up tells Gordon that he will do things his own way because he is outside of the law. However, Valley is also quite a boring character. In this super long story, I really haven't gotten invested in him at all.
February 21, 2021
Average to good set of stories here. Very 90s "grim and edgy." Some good stories like "Death of Batman" but the Abattoir storyline felt like it could have been finished in less than half the page count.
September 25, 2021
Same as the last one I was pretty bored and didn’t really like it that much, I will say I am enjoying the art being a different style, and also the new Batman suit, but other than that I’ve honestly just wanted to skim through it.
November 7, 2023
Random villains. More of the same. He’s making his suit better. It’s weird. If fits the 90s aesthetic of too much for the sake of being too much. Only interesting bits we’re the Penguin and Commissioner Gordon stories.
July 3, 2025
The redeeming value in my opinion were Penguin's section with Gordon, although they really tried to ruin it with the whole Penguin needs Batman, which is the Joker argument, and the end of Abbatoir's storyline and its impact on Jean.
July 6, 2020
This was even worse than volume 1, even the Joker couldn’t redeem this!
July 22, 2020
The joker arc is actually pretty good, I'm not sure about his new hairstyle though.
August 3, 2020
This volume was disappointing. It felt like a volume of fillers, lots and lots of issues as fillers until Bruce Wayne comes back to take what's his.
March 29, 2022
Kazaam
Follow on Knightfall doesn't soar so high but still good. Batman with a psychotic twist. Action packed, fast paced story and villains aplenty to tackle. Super artwork.
Follow on Knightfall doesn't soar so high but still good. Batman with a psychotic twist. Action packed, fast paced story and villains aplenty to tackle. Super artwork.
May 8, 2024
4.5/10 this storyline is REALLY overstaying it’s welcome
July 29, 2024
We’ve got JPV really going off the deep end here, which is fine. It just feels like a lot of the Knightsquest arc is pretty bloated with filler and drags on.
November 19, 2024
It's pretty entertaining overall. At times, it was a bit random and confusing. But it's cool to see what batman could look like if he had a different code
November 21, 2024
Each issue was alright, but the entire story was mid, hence 3 stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews