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Batman (2016)
Batman, Vol. 13: City of Bane, Part 2
The epic finale of Tom King's Batman run! The bad guys thought they had it made with Bane in control, but with Batman back in Gotham City they'll be reminded what justice feels like...and how it hurts when it hits you in the face. With Catwoman at his side, the Caped Crusader is looking to take down Bane's army and reclaim his city. But is the Dark Knight Detective ready to take on the foe who broke him worse than any other that came before? And what else stands in Batman's way, to put an obstacle between him and his enemy? Batman and his allies have a choice: let Bane stay in power and guarantee the city's survival, or risk everything to break free! Collects Batman #80-85 and Annual #4.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
August 20, 2021
I kind of loved it and kind of hated it.
I know a lot of you dislike the Bat/Cat thing but I'm a hopeless romantic, so I was digging it.
However, I found most of the story anticlimactic. To me, the vast majority of this read like the proverbial queef after an awkward sexual encounter with someone you're hoping you never have to see again.
Warning: may be spoilers below.
City of Bane!
The buildup for this showdown was intense. I mean, poor Dick got shot in the head to kick this fucker off, right?
So for me, the whole Bane thing went on far too long and was made into too big a deal to end in what boiled down to a silly slap-fight. The only thing enjoyable about it was the interactions between Selina & Bruce. I mean, it made sense to team up and beat the shit out of him. You're not fighting for a title belt, so you don't need to do it the right way. Taze him in the balls or something.
I don't know why that isn't more of a thing, to be honest.
It was just...well, they took him down rather quickly for someone purported to be such a badass villain. It kind of felt like one of those Welp! Time to wrap this shit up! sort of endings that get farted out too fast because of a deadline or something.
Then again, maybe my expectations were too high?
And Batdad? Nothing, absolutely nothing, made any sense when it came to the Thomas Wayne storyline. I'm not sure if King was hoping his clever storytelling would be enough to convince readers that Thomas had his own reasons to do what he did, but I genuinely disliked everything about the addition of his character into this entire run.
ALFRED!
{insert me ugly crying here}
I'm not sure if I'll ever really understand why King did what he did to Alfred. Just to be the writer to do it would be my guess. It makes very little sense in the long term unless he's planning on going the Tony Stark route and using an AI butler from here on out.
Was it a good death, Alfred?
No. No, it was not. It was a jump scare that came out of nowhere, with no buildup, and very little page time. And I suppose part of me is just so. damn. tired. of writers killing off characters for the shock value. In my mind, I see Alfred clocking out at the end of the day at DC and Jason Todd nodding at him and saying, Guess we'll see you back in the office every now and then for voice-overs and specials. Enjoy your time off, man. I heard the new writer was bringing you back with mutant powers next time!
See you around, Alfred.
Oop. Wrong Alfred.
Anyway. In this one, Bruce finds out he's dead, and there's a long-winded recorded message from Alfred telling Bruce how proud he was of him, etc., etc.. And yet, no explanation how it was playing? Did Thomas find this and then choose to share this loving message of Alfred's pride and hope in Bruce's Batman...with the very person he is trying to convince NOT to be Batman? That makes no sense.
Nothing about the scene where Batman woke up at a dinner table with a very well-preserved (but very dead) Alfred at the other end made much sense. I just assumed it was an attempt to yank on the reader's heartstrings while simultaneously getting to watch a guy in bat ears punch a wall.
So, what was Thomas' endgame? Did this supposed master strategist really do all of this just to beat the Batman out of his son from an alternate multiverse?
Was that your plan, Tom?! Hit him until he stops being Batman?
I suppose it was.
And that fight, like the one with Bane, was pretty lame after all that buildup.
This may also just be because I'm not terribly clever, but I had a very hard time following what exactly was happening in the overall story. I read and re-read things multiple times trying to figure out what Batman's master plan had been and how it supposedly worked, but it seemed to me like a lot his plan was made by whistling through his asshole. Things were being told backward, sideways, forward - and I felt like some of that was to make up for the fact that there was a lot of nonsense happening.
Oh, and just in case you were worried? Apparently, Tom King can't make it through more than one or two issues without cramming poetry into the panels. You know, for those of you who dig reading that shit in your comics. <--I know I do!
Really.
But wait! There's more! Because if you're not yet tired of hearing Alfred narrate a comic from beyond the grave, then you can read James Tynion's Annual #4. It was a little dull and didn't make me want to read more of his stuff, but it certainly wasn't awful.
I did really love the hopeful note that the conclusion ended on. And I honestly love Batman and Catwoman as partners. It's a lot of fun as a concept and I hope it sticks. There really were a lot of good ideas and fun stories peppered in with the things about this run that I didn't like. Mostly, I'd say it was an overall win for me simply because of the romance. <--your personal mileage is really going to vary with that one.
Anyway. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...
Tom King's Batman.
I know a lot of you dislike the Bat/Cat thing but I'm a hopeless romantic, so I was digging it.
However, I found most of the story anticlimactic. To me, the vast majority of this read like the proverbial queef after an awkward sexual encounter with someone you're hoping you never have to see again.
Warning: may be spoilers below.
City of Bane!
The buildup for this showdown was intense. I mean, poor Dick got shot in the head to kick this fucker off, right?
So for me, the whole Bane thing went on far too long and was made into too big a deal to end in what boiled down to a silly slap-fight. The only thing enjoyable about it was the interactions between Selina & Bruce. I mean, it made sense to team up and beat the shit out of him. You're not fighting for a title belt, so you don't need to do it the right way. Taze him in the balls or something.
I don't know why that isn't more of a thing, to be honest.
It was just...well, they took him down rather quickly for someone purported to be such a badass villain. It kind of felt like one of those Welp! Time to wrap this shit up! sort of endings that get farted out too fast because of a deadline or something.
Then again, maybe my expectations were too high?
And Batdad? Nothing, absolutely nothing, made any sense when it came to the Thomas Wayne storyline. I'm not sure if King was hoping his clever storytelling would be enough to convince readers that Thomas had his own reasons to do what he did, but I genuinely disliked everything about the addition of his character into this entire run.
ALFRED!
{insert me ugly crying here}
I'm not sure if I'll ever really understand why King did what he did to Alfred. Just to be the writer to do it would be my guess. It makes very little sense in the long term unless he's planning on going the Tony Stark route and using an AI butler from here on out.
Was it a good death, Alfred?
No. No, it was not. It was a jump scare that came out of nowhere, with no buildup, and very little page time. And I suppose part of me is just so. damn. tired. of writers killing off characters for the shock value. In my mind, I see Alfred clocking out at the end of the day at DC and Jason Todd nodding at him and saying, Guess we'll see you back in the office every now and then for voice-overs and specials. Enjoy your time off, man. I heard the new writer was bringing you back with mutant powers next time!
See you around, Alfred.
Oop. Wrong Alfred.
Anyway. In this one, Bruce finds out he's dead, and there's a long-winded recorded message from Alfred telling Bruce how proud he was of him, etc., etc.. And yet, no explanation how it was playing? Did Thomas find this and then choose to share this loving message of Alfred's pride and hope in Bruce's Batman...with the very person he is trying to convince NOT to be Batman? That makes no sense.
Nothing about the scene where Batman woke up at a dinner table with a very well-preserved (but very dead) Alfred at the other end made much sense. I just assumed it was an attempt to yank on the reader's heartstrings while simultaneously getting to watch a guy in bat ears punch a wall.
So, what was Thomas' endgame? Did this supposed master strategist really do all of this just to beat the Batman out of his son from an alternate multiverse?
Was that your plan, Tom?! Hit him until he stops being Batman?
I suppose it was.
And that fight, like the one with Bane, was pretty lame after all that buildup.
This may also just be because I'm not terribly clever, but I had a very hard time following what exactly was happening in the overall story. I read and re-read things multiple times trying to figure out what Batman's master plan had been and how it supposedly worked, but it seemed to me like a lot his plan was made by whistling through his asshole. Things were being told backward, sideways, forward - and I felt like some of that was to make up for the fact that there was a lot of nonsense happening.
Oh, and just in case you were worried? Apparently, Tom King can't make it through more than one or two issues without cramming poetry into the panels. You know, for those of you who dig reading that shit in your comics. <--I know I do!
Really.
But wait! There's more! Because if you're not yet tired of hearing Alfred narrate a comic from beyond the grave, then you can read James Tynion's Annual #4. It was a little dull and didn't make me want to read more of his stuff, but it certainly wasn't awful.
I did really love the hopeful note that the conclusion ended on. And I honestly love Batman and Catwoman as partners. It's a lot of fun as a concept and I hope it sticks. There really were a lot of good ideas and fun stories peppered in with the things about this run that I didn't like. Mostly, I'd say it was an overall win for me simply because of the romance. <--your personal mileage is really going to vary with that one.
Anyway. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...
Tom King's Batman.
August 1, 2020
Whew! A fitting end to an epic run. Some of these moments I just loved. Batman and Catwoman's fight with Bane was fun as hell. The issue where Bruce finds out about Alfred was tragic and gut-wrenching. I loved the issue where Thomas Wayne's history is told in reverse. It was quite clever. The art was typically great, with long term artists Mikel Janin and Jorge Fornes getting a bit of assistance from John Romita Jr. who stepped in for the first two issues.
Now that it's over, I'm looking forward to reading Tom King's run again from beginning to end.
Now that it's over, I'm looking forward to reading Tom King's run again from beginning to end.
July 24, 2020
I’ll say this for Tom King: he’s one ambitious mofo.
While not every arc of his epic Batman run is executed to the level of that ambition, it’s an often thrilling, consistently entertaining, and sometimes profound collection of stories. And, it looks spectacular—almost every artist who put pencil to page throughout this run is perfect for Batman, drawing the kind of gorgeous, lushly detailed “pitchers” (as, no joke, our wedding photographer called them—upstate New York, am I right?) that the stories demand.
If Bane grew tiresome as an ubervillain (I mean, c’mon, he’s a dude on steroids, not Darkseid), if the idea of an alternate universe Thomas Wayne running around as a borderline evil and brutal Batman (talk about devaluing one of comics’ classic origin stories), if the Bat/Cat romantic dance dragged on a bit too long at times (shit or get off the pot, kids)…none of those things take away too terribly much from the fact that this was a sustained run of really good storytelling.
Kudos, Mr. King—job well done. And to the excellent artists—keep drawing those pretty pitchers.
While not every arc of his epic Batman run is executed to the level of that ambition, it’s an often thrilling, consistently entertaining, and sometimes profound collection of stories. And, it looks spectacular—almost every artist who put pencil to page throughout this run is perfect for Batman, drawing the kind of gorgeous, lushly detailed “pitchers” (as, no joke, our wedding photographer called them—upstate New York, am I right?) that the stories demand.
If Bane grew tiresome as an ubervillain (I mean, c’mon, he’s a dude on steroids, not Darkseid), if the idea of an alternate universe Thomas Wayne running around as a borderline evil and brutal Batman (talk about devaluing one of comics’ classic origin stories), if the Bat/Cat romantic dance dragged on a bit too long at times (shit or get off the pot, kids)…none of those things take away too terribly much from the fact that this was a sustained run of really good storytelling.
Kudos, Mr. King—job well done. And to the excellent artists—keep drawing those pretty pitchers.
August 8, 2020
Bane and Flashpoint Batman head up the villains who have taken over Gotham. But the Bat and the Cat have returned to overthrow the City of Bane in one final battle - though at a terrible personal cost to Bruce…
So here it is: the last book in Tom King’s celebrated Batman run. And it’s… fine. There’s nothing here that’ll surprise you. Bat and Cat beat Bane and Flashpoint Batman - we knew that was going to happen because that was the only thing that could’ve happened.
There’s a lot of monologuing going on too that’s a bit tedious. Batman goes on at length to explain what was happening in the previous book - why he was an amnesiac monk on the mountain, why he and Selina were in the tropics, Gotham Girl’s sudden evil turn, and so on. It fills in all the gaps, so it’s satisfactory in that regard, but it’s not exciting to read even as we see Bat and Cat cleaning house with one villain after another.
Then there’s Alfred’s monologue. As much as I know what happens to Alfie won’t stick, I do think King’s treatment is about as brilliant a way for that character to bow out as any (yes, even with the extensive Longfellow quoting!). The voice is so well-captured - dignified, eloquent and heartfelt - that it’s impossible not to be moved or keenly feel Bruce’s reaction in that moment.
There’s more filling-in with Flashpoint Batman’s background and motivations and the predictably standard punch-up to close things out. I liked that Bat and Cat worked together for this last encounter but it’s still an unremarkable finale. I’m glad Bruce and Selina got their happy ending though.
I do like John Romita Jr’s art generally but it wasn’t a good fit for this book. Compared to the likes of Mikel Janin, Clay Mann and Tony S. Daniel, who all drew different parts of this arc, it’s too cartoony and sits unevenly here. Janin’s art is spectacular as always and I really enjoyed Jorge Fornes’ work (think David Mazzucchelli’s style if he was still drawing Batman) as well.
The volume concludes rather anticlimactically with Batman Annual #4 which is just a collection of blah short stories. Batman fights a dragon, a UFC fighter, and so on - we get it, Batman does a lot of impressive shit on the reg.
Still, Batman, Volume 13: City of Bane, Part 2 is a perfectly decent, if underwhelming, final book to what was a superb and truly great Batman run. Well done Tom King and his team - this was easily one of the best times in the character’s history and I look forward to re-reading these books in the years ahead. I’ve not really got much hope for King’s successor, James Tynion IV, particularly having read his recent work on Detective Comics (pee-yew!), but I felt that way about King before I read his first Batman book back in 2016 and I was pleasantly surprised - fingers crossed lightning strikes twice, eh?
So here it is: the last book in Tom King’s celebrated Batman run. And it’s… fine. There’s nothing here that’ll surprise you. Bat and Cat beat Bane and Flashpoint Batman - we knew that was going to happen because that was the only thing that could’ve happened.
There’s a lot of monologuing going on too that’s a bit tedious. Batman goes on at length to explain what was happening in the previous book - why he was an amnesiac monk on the mountain, why he and Selina were in the tropics, Gotham Girl’s sudden evil turn, and so on. It fills in all the gaps, so it’s satisfactory in that regard, but it’s not exciting to read even as we see Bat and Cat cleaning house with one villain after another.
Then there’s Alfred’s monologue. As much as I know what happens to Alfie won’t stick, I do think King’s treatment is about as brilliant a way for that character to bow out as any (yes, even with the extensive Longfellow quoting!). The voice is so well-captured - dignified, eloquent and heartfelt - that it’s impossible not to be moved or keenly feel Bruce’s reaction in that moment.
There’s more filling-in with Flashpoint Batman’s background and motivations and the predictably standard punch-up to close things out. I liked that Bat and Cat worked together for this last encounter but it’s still an unremarkable finale. I’m glad Bruce and Selina got their happy ending though.
I do like John Romita Jr’s art generally but it wasn’t a good fit for this book. Compared to the likes of Mikel Janin, Clay Mann and Tony S. Daniel, who all drew different parts of this arc, it’s too cartoony and sits unevenly here. Janin’s art is spectacular as always and I really enjoyed Jorge Fornes’ work (think David Mazzucchelli’s style if he was still drawing Batman) as well.
The volume concludes rather anticlimactically with Batman Annual #4 which is just a collection of blah short stories. Batman fights a dragon, a UFC fighter, and so on - we get it, Batman does a lot of impressive shit on the reg.
Still, Batman, Volume 13: City of Bane, Part 2 is a perfectly decent, if underwhelming, final book to what was a superb and truly great Batman run. Well done Tom King and his team - this was easily one of the best times in the character’s history and I look forward to re-reading these books in the years ahead. I’ve not really got much hope for King’s successor, James Tynion IV, particularly having read his recent work on Detective Comics (pee-yew!), but I felt that way about King before I read his first Batman book back in 2016 and I was pleasantly surprised - fingers crossed lightning strikes twice, eh?
August 11, 2020
Brooding Bat gets his battle with Bane, as expected. And Bat gets Cat!! Nothing all that surprising in this final volume (exceptions noted, below), but it’s still a crowd-pleaser, and you have to acknowledge, nitpicking aside, that this is one of the greatest Batman runs in the history of Batman. Tom King is an amazing writer and knowing this, DC gives him some of the best Batman world artists, with folks like Mikel Janin taking the lead.
Notable moments (but spoilers!!):
*The Bane-Bat showdown is predictable, fine, but after the 12 volumes of build-up, well, okay, it's what you expect, a battle, fine. I like it that Bat takes off his mask, in the fight with Bane. (Hopefully not a pandemic political statement!) :) Overall, I think Bane is kinda boring, not awe-inspiring as a villain. No personality, all testosterone. Eh, give me Joker anytime for a psycho-villain.
*A mis-step I think is the alternate reality Thomas Wayne alignment with Bane. I never found this thread quite credible or particularly compelling. Confusing, sort of. A move to redesign the origin story, that Thomas was the original Bat, and joins forces with Bane??! Nah. Too weird.
*The death of Alfred is very affecting. The letter he writes to Bruce about Bruce’s essentially “happy” nature is the kind of insight only a loving parent might make, since we mainly know Bruce as miserable.
“I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon In the round-tower of my heart. And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in dust away!”-Longfellow, from “The Children's Hour,” quoted by Alfred to Bruce Wayne.
*The other person who truly knows Bruce is of course Selina Kyle. I know the will they/won’t they parade goes on too long, but I like it that they choose life, choose family, choose happiness, together. Yes, as we have been saying all along, They Can Have Both! I love this pairing and love that they join forces in battle, as equals.
All comics opera, all the time, played on magnificent comics sets, but the best part of the series is the King depiction of the human and anguished and broken Bruce healed by love and a renewed commitment to justice.
Notable moments (but spoilers!!):
*The Bane-Bat showdown is predictable, fine, but after the 12 volumes of build-up, well, okay, it's what you expect, a battle, fine. I like it that Bat takes off his mask, in the fight with Bane. (Hopefully not a pandemic political statement!) :) Overall, I think Bane is kinda boring, not awe-inspiring as a villain. No personality, all testosterone. Eh, give me Joker anytime for a psycho-villain.
*A mis-step I think is the alternate reality Thomas Wayne alignment with Bane. I never found this thread quite credible or particularly compelling. Confusing, sort of. A move to redesign the origin story, that Thomas was the original Bat, and joins forces with Bane??! Nah. Too weird.
*The death of Alfred is very affecting. The letter he writes to Bruce about Bruce’s essentially “happy” nature is the kind of insight only a loving parent might make, since we mainly know Bruce as miserable.
“I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon In the round-tower of my heart. And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in dust away!”-Longfellow, from “The Children's Hour,” quoted by Alfred to Bruce Wayne.
*The other person who truly knows Bruce is of course Selina Kyle. I know the will they/won’t they parade goes on too long, but I like it that they choose life, choose family, choose happiness, together. Yes, as we have been saying all along, They Can Have Both! I love this pairing and love that they join forces in battle, as equals.
All comics opera, all the time, played on magnificent comics sets, but the best part of the series is the King depiction of the human and anguished and broken Bruce healed by love and a renewed commitment to justice.
December 21, 2019
And so comes the end to King's Batman.
This run seems to be either "love" or "hate" but I personally think it has a lot of ups (and a few big downs). While not every arc worked for me, I enjoyed the majority of them. I think King writes a broken man trying to find peace with who he is. And by the end he gets that, even if it feels a little forced.
Batman is going against bane here for the final time and he's not about to let himself down. You get a huge showdown between the two but with a special guest star who whoops some goddamn ass all on her own. You also get Thomas wayne being a asshole killer Batman. With the loss of a major person in Bruce's life, will he still come out a hero? Will he hang up the cowl? Will this be the final moments of our hero?
I really liked some of this. There's a moment Bruce reflects on a loss that is done really well. I also loved the fight between Batman and Bane and the art stays fucking FRESH. So all that is great. Thomas wayne though is a let down for me, his motives sometimes too over the top and silly. I also thought the very ending was just decent, and didn't finish off with a bang. I assume it is because King was pushed off the title a bit early (Not cool DC...not cool.)
Overall, the entire run had some fantastic arcs but the last few arcs were a bit shaky so the end itself isn't great but still good. This volume is a 3 out of 5 for me overall.
This run seems to be either "love" or "hate" but I personally think it has a lot of ups (and a few big downs). While not every arc worked for me, I enjoyed the majority of them. I think King writes a broken man trying to find peace with who he is. And by the end he gets that, even if it feels a little forced.
Batman is going against bane here for the final time and he's not about to let himself down. You get a huge showdown between the two but with a special guest star who whoops some goddamn ass all on her own. You also get Thomas wayne being a asshole killer Batman. With the loss of a major person in Bruce's life, will he still come out a hero? Will he hang up the cowl? Will this be the final moments of our hero?
I really liked some of this. There's a moment Bruce reflects on a loss that is done really well. I also loved the fight between Batman and Bane and the art stays fucking FRESH. So all that is great. Thomas wayne though is a let down for me, his motives sometimes too over the top and silly. I also thought the very ending was just decent, and didn't finish off with a bang. I assume it is because King was pushed off the title a bit early (Not cool DC...not cool.)
Overall, the entire run had some fantastic arcs but the last few arcs were a bit shaky so the end itself isn't great but still good. This volume is a 3 out of 5 for me overall.
December 18, 2019
And so ends the best Batman run of the decade.
January 5, 2022
Wow...that was something.
So Batman returns to Gotham for the fight and he takes on Bane and well its one note and the big fight never happens and the build up of 80 issues for a fight with boring climax because the main villain is Thomas and then we see his origin and how he came to this timeline and his twisted logic of doing what he did and well the final fight between father and son and him realizing who Bruce is and then the wrapping up of stories which is done in such an unlinear fashion and makes it tough to follow and frustrating but digressing it, good ending with Selina and Gotham girl and the reconciliation of the vow and love and such an amazing annual story showing how Batman has to encounter some strange new thing every day and its such a great story and makes you love Bruce all over again!
Overall its a decent volume with few big misses like the fight with Bane and Thomas but other than that it ends well with Bruce and Selina and even has Kite-man and does well showing how the life of Batman is full of perils and challenges and there is an emotional moment with Alfred that will make you cry but will also show you despite the pain, Batman continues to be because of the vow and in the end he finds love too! Its a sweet ending and not many people will like it but its okay. Also great art throughout the series and the lineworks and colors are great and makes it a pleasant read!
So Batman returns to Gotham for the fight and he takes on Bane and well its one note and the big fight never happens and the build up of 80 issues for a fight with boring climax because the main villain is Thomas and then we see his origin and how he came to this timeline and his twisted logic of doing what he did and well the final fight between father and son and him realizing who Bruce is and then the wrapping up of stories which is done in such an unlinear fashion and makes it tough to follow and frustrating but digressing it, good ending with Selina and Gotham girl and the reconciliation of the vow and love and such an amazing annual story showing how Batman has to encounter some strange new thing every day and its such a great story and makes you love Bruce all over again!
Overall its a decent volume with few big misses like the fight with Bane and Thomas but other than that it ends well with Bruce and Selina and even has Kite-man and does well showing how the life of Batman is full of perils and challenges and there is an emotional moment with Alfred that will make you cry but will also show you despite the pain, Batman continues to be because of the vow and in the end he finds love too! Its a sweet ending and not many people will like it but its okay. Also great art throughout the series and the lineworks and colors are great and makes it a pleasant read!
August 24, 2020
اینم پایان ران ۸۵ شماره ای تام کینگ برای بتمن
این ۱۱ شماره آخر تقریبا تمام ویژگی های نوشتاری تام کینگ رو یجا جمع کرده بودن، از بهترین بخش ها تا بدترینهاشون
شهر بین ایده خیلی جذابی داشت در حد یه ایونت بزرگ که تقریبا اصلا در حد لیاقتش بش پرداخت نشده بود ولی از طرف دیگه پایان بندی رابطه کت و بت به بهترین شکل رقم خورد و در حد لیاقتشون بود، من بخش داستانی توماس وین رو دوست داشتم ولی خب آخرش خیلی داشت دیوونگی میروند
تک شماره آلفرد هم بنظرم اون وسط عالی بود قلبمو شکوند
در نهایت میتونم بگم که کینگ نوشتارش یه سری بدی ها داشت ولی شاید یکی از هوشمندانه ترین داستان گویی ها و سبک های داستانی داشت که تو هر کمیکی دیدم و بنظرم لیاقت بتمن ریبرث این بی مهری نبود که طرفدارای new 52 بهش کردن و این ران خیلی بهتر از هرچیزی بود که طی این سال ها خوندم
این ۱۱ شماره آخر تقریبا تمام ویژگی های نوشتاری تام کینگ رو یجا جمع کرده بودن، از بهترین بخش ها تا بدترینهاشون
شهر بین ایده خیلی جذابی داشت در حد یه ایونت بزرگ که تقریبا اصلا در حد لیاقتش بش پرداخت نشده بود ولی از طرف دیگه پایان بندی رابطه کت و بت به بهترین شکل رقم خورد و در حد لیاقتشون بود، من بخش داستانی توماس وین رو دوست داشتم ولی خب آخرش خیلی داشت دیوونگی میروند
تک شماره آلفرد هم بنظرم اون وسط عالی بود قلبمو شکوند
در نهایت میتونم بگم که کینگ نوشتارش یه سری بدی ها داشت ولی شاید یکی از هوشمندانه ترین داستان گویی ها و سبک های داستانی داشت که تو هر کمیکی دیدم و بنظرم لیاقت بتمن ریبرث این بی مهری نبود که طرفدارای new 52 بهش کردن و این ران خیلی بهتر از هرچیزی بود که طی این سال ها خوندم
July 17, 2020
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
This is the final story-arc by writer Tom King for the canonical Batman comic book run before passing on the torch to writer James Tynion IV. When I picked up the first issues of this series, I was truly disappointed by his writing style, his ideas, and the direction he wanted to go. It didn't help that he introduced two strange characters (Gotham and Gotham Girl) and had a huge fascination with Bane that translated into overly-stretched out story-arcs featuring him and his manipulative plotting to destroy Batman. While writer Tom King succeeded in delivering some interesting ideas throughout his comic book run, his best work remained in self-contained stand-alone stories outside of his Batman comic book series. Those stories gave me hope and led me to stick around. Now it is time to see if he can pull off a miracle with his last Batman story and allow his departure to be glorious and respectable. Collecting issues #80-85 of DC's Rebirth Batman comic book series, as well as Batman: Annual #4, Eisner-Award winning writer Tom King delivers the final story arc to his run called City of Bane Part 2.
What is Batman: City of Bane Part 2 about? With Gotham now reined in by Flashpoint Batman and Gotham Girl, the whole city left under the control of the criminal underground, it is now time for Batman and Catwoman to return to their city for their final confrontation with Bane and his army. While some allies still stand their ground throughout this war, the ultimate battle lies in Batman's acceptance of his purpose, his motivation, and his life. However, his return is not without a plan. He remains prepared but will not be ready for a couple of surprises patiently waiting for him, including the death of a loved one. The real question now is if he'll let Bane break him once again or punch his way to saving himself and his city from the prison they are trapped in.
The story kicks off with the arrival of Batman and Catwoman to Gotham. Their entrance isn't accompanied by a bang but instead limited itself to be tamed with little hint of any real emotions stimulated. The fact that this part was drawn by John Romita Jr. didn't help either as his blocky style was dull and disenchanting. Several plot twists are then delivered with the help of Tom King's greatest artistic collaborators (Mitch Gerads, Mikel Janín, and Jorge Fornes) who all succeed in presenting stellar artwork that could merit no form of criticism but only praise and admiration. But art alone couldn't save the choppy story-telling by writer Tom King. As he builds up the climactic confrontation between Batman and Bane, he uninspiringly reveals the Caped Crusader's strategies to take back his city while also giving us the much-needed exposition regarding Flashpoint Batman's journey to becoming Batman's nemesis through a reverse-chronological narrative. This sudden shift in the main antagonist was also uncalled for and quietly destroyed Bane's relevance in the grand scheme of things.
As much as I wished this final act would deliver everything his last story-arcs were missing, this choppy ending barely scratched the itch and varied enormously in terms of quality. Some of the best moments were spare and were mostly found in Bruce Wayne's speedy mourning as he dealt with the devastating loss he suddenly discovers. The rest of the narrative focused around Batman, Catwoman, Bane, and Flashpoint Batman failed to inspire and invite the reader to connect and appreciate the resolution. If it weren't for some incredibly visionary artistic direction, a lot of this would have simply slipped through my consciousness and entered the realm of the forgotten. At least, the Annual issue, despite having nothing to do with the story itself, allowed for a quick and solid chronicle by Alfred Pennyworth of the ludicrous yet heroic stunts that he witnessed Batman accomplish on a daily basis, from killing dragons to scoring a touchdown. The epilogue chapter hinting readers of writer James Tynion IV's upcoming story was also a wonderful tease for a fan burnt out on writer Tom King's abstract and flawed ideas with Batman.
Batman: City of Bane Part 2 is an unsatisfying finale to writer Tom King's Batman comic book run.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
August 26, 2020
The end is here – I mean, technically Tom King’s run on the main Batman title concluded last December – but the final volume has arrived. After being broken by Bane, who has taken over Gotham along with the rest of the rogues gallery, Batman is trained under by Catwoman whilst the two re-acquaint their romance. Together, the Bat and the Cat return to reclaim their city.
The first two issues are essentially infiltration as the two lovers in black take down the various villains to reach Bane at Arkham Asylum, whilst the Flashpoint Batman, Thomas Wayne, is confronted by the rest of the Bat-Family. My first big criticism towards this volume is the art by John Romita Jr., whose work I’m not fond of, especially during his time at DC. He may benefit better when drawing more street-based heroes, of which you can say Batman is, but Romita’s art can be inconsistent with his blocky-looking characters and action sequences that lack motion.
Fortunately, when frequent Bat-artist Mikel Janin steps in, things perk up as we get to the rematch between Batman and Bane, as both take off their masks and prepare to brawl, bare-chested. That said, along with Selina, Bruce plays a bit dirty as the two go with an issue that is almost entirely devoted to this one fight with Janin’s visuals and Jordie Bellaire’s colouring dominating every page. However, in a similar note to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Bane gets disregarded as the climax involves someone else. This is somewhat cheap, considering that King has presented the best take on Bane from the very beginning of his run.
Going into SPOILER territory, issue #83 is all about Batman coming to terms with the death of his trusted butler, Alfred, who was killed at the hand of Bane. Considering that King never originally planned for Alfred dying as it was actually a decision from DC, King at least is able to write one of the most heartfelt single issues in Batman’s comics history. Entirely taking place in the dinner room where a broken Batman is trapped with the corpse of the closest thing he had to a father-figure, Janin is not drawing action, but vulnerability as you can see the tears coming out his cowl. To pull the heartstrings even more, King writes Alfred’s narration that is powerful and touching, and reminds you why Pennyworth was a significant element in the Bat-mythos for decades.
The final confrontation is not with Bane, but with Batman himself, specifically Bruce’s father from an alternate timeline. Throughout his role in King’s run, Thomas Wayne has determined to break his son so that Bruce will no longer don the cape and cowl. As father and son fight each other, the penultimate issue goes backwards in time to explore Thomas’s violent life as the gun-toting, murdering Batman. Whatever your thoughts are towards the Flashpoint event in 2011, King finds a depth towards this version of Batman here that makes the character far more interesting to read. As the issue goes back in recapping certain moments throughout King’s run as well as the Flashpoint era, artist Jorge Fornés can draw any period of Batman’s history as every page looks stunning.
The final issue that is #85 is a strong conclusion that may lack tension in terms of the fight between the two Batmen, as the issue cuts back-and-forth with the aftermath, which wonderfully resolves a number of plot-points throughout the run, such as saving Gotham Girl and the possibility of Bruce and Selina getting married. We didn’t get the proposed 100 issues that King had planned, but what we ended up with, the writer gave us a Batman run for the ages. Obviously, King is not done with the Bat as along with artist Clay Mann, their upcoming 12-issue series Batman/Catwoman will continue the romance that is at the heart of this run.
Concluding this volume is Batman Annual #4, which continues the fresh approach towards these annuals, which are often throwaway issues that don’t say anything. Written from the perspective of Alfred’s journal as he catalogues his own perspective on Batman’s various adventures, which varies from a murder mystery, slaying a dragon, to an MMA fight for charity. Although this adds significance to what happened to Alfred in the final few issues, you can read this annual as a standalone celebration that embraces the many varying adventures that Batman goes through every day, with Alfred stating why he is a hero. Going back to Jorge Fornés, who draws the majority of the annual – with Mike Norton draws eight pages with a similar aesthetic – as much as his visual sensibilities are reminiscent of the style of David Mazzuchelli, Fornés can adapt to any kind of story, no matter how street-based or cosmic the story can be.
Whatever judgement, power or glory he faces, it doesn’t matter. He’s Batman.
The first two issues are essentially infiltration as the two lovers in black take down the various villains to reach Bane at Arkham Asylum, whilst the Flashpoint Batman, Thomas Wayne, is confronted by the rest of the Bat-Family. My first big criticism towards this volume is the art by John Romita Jr., whose work I’m not fond of, especially during his time at DC. He may benefit better when drawing more street-based heroes, of which you can say Batman is, but Romita’s art can be inconsistent with his blocky-looking characters and action sequences that lack motion.
Fortunately, when frequent Bat-artist Mikel Janin steps in, things perk up as we get to the rematch between Batman and Bane, as both take off their masks and prepare to brawl, bare-chested. That said, along with Selina, Bruce plays a bit dirty as the two go with an issue that is almost entirely devoted to this one fight with Janin’s visuals and Jordie Bellaire’s colouring dominating every page. However, in a similar note to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Bane gets disregarded as the climax involves someone else. This is somewhat cheap, considering that King has presented the best take on Bane from the very beginning of his run.
Going into SPOILER territory, issue #83 is all about Batman coming to terms with the death of his trusted butler, Alfred, who was killed at the hand of Bane. Considering that King never originally planned for Alfred dying as it was actually a decision from DC, King at least is able to write one of the most heartfelt single issues in Batman’s comics history. Entirely taking place in the dinner room where a broken Batman is trapped with the corpse of the closest thing he had to a father-figure, Janin is not drawing action, but vulnerability as you can see the tears coming out his cowl. To pull the heartstrings even more, King writes Alfred’s narration that is powerful and touching, and reminds you why Pennyworth was a significant element in the Bat-mythos for decades.
The final confrontation is not with Bane, but with Batman himself, specifically Bruce’s father from an alternate timeline. Throughout his role in King’s run, Thomas Wayne has determined to break his son so that Bruce will no longer don the cape and cowl. As father and son fight each other, the penultimate issue goes backwards in time to explore Thomas’s violent life as the gun-toting, murdering Batman. Whatever your thoughts are towards the Flashpoint event in 2011, King finds a depth towards this version of Batman here that makes the character far more interesting to read. As the issue goes back in recapping certain moments throughout King’s run as well as the Flashpoint era, artist Jorge Fornés can draw any period of Batman’s history as every page looks stunning.
The final issue that is #85 is a strong conclusion that may lack tension in terms of the fight between the two Batmen, as the issue cuts back-and-forth with the aftermath, which wonderfully resolves a number of plot-points throughout the run, such as saving Gotham Girl and the possibility of Bruce and Selina getting married. We didn’t get the proposed 100 issues that King had planned, but what we ended up with, the writer gave us a Batman run for the ages. Obviously, King is not done with the Bat as along with artist Clay Mann, their upcoming 12-issue series Batman/Catwoman will continue the romance that is at the heart of this run.
Concluding this volume is Batman Annual #4, which continues the fresh approach towards these annuals, which are often throwaway issues that don’t say anything. Written from the perspective of Alfred’s journal as he catalogues his own perspective on Batman’s various adventures, which varies from a murder mystery, slaying a dragon, to an MMA fight for charity. Although this adds significance to what happened to Alfred in the final few issues, you can read this annual as a standalone celebration that embraces the many varying adventures that Batman goes through every day, with Alfred stating why he is a hero. Going back to Jorge Fornés, who draws the majority of the annual – with Mike Norton draws eight pages with a similar aesthetic – as much as his visual sensibilities are reminiscent of the style of David Mazzuchelli, Fornés can adapt to any kind of story, no matter how street-based or cosmic the story can be.
Whatever judgement, power or glory he faces, it doesn’t matter. He’s Batman.
December 24, 2020
Well I've finally finished King's Batman run.
What I liked. The art style was always spectacular and greatly portrayed the world of the Dark Knight. I liked that King established a strong relationship for Selina and Bruce and that he pushed the Bat further into being a healthier person. I liked the issue with Batman awaking to Alfred. It was very appropriate; minus the drolling poetry.
But what I hated. WHAT WAS BANE'S PLAN?!? He breaks the Bat and... Takes over the city and replaces the police with emotionally controlled villains? Like, it makes since that the world didn't care how Gotham was controlled as long as it was controlled. But how is having a police force that murders it's citizens a better option. Like the villains were still evil it's just now they had no one telling them to stop? I just didn't understand that. And then Part 2 comes along and Bane is replaced with Thomas. So we got an anti climactic conclusion to Bane that to me did not wrap anything up. And I hate that King did that bad writer crap of having the hero do all this shitty and stupid stuff as the villain starts their plan, only to have them go oh it was all part of my plan to figure out your plan. BOO I SAY! And honestly if Tom King killed Alfred he should have killed Bane too. None of this "he's in a coma at Arkham" crap!
Now I understand Thomas's motivation to kill the Bat so that Bruce can be free, but it was still a stupid plan! Like it just didn't fit fully with Bane's plan and so they cancelled each other out almost.
King's Batman isn't terrible but it isn't pretty in how it gets to the end.
What I liked. The art style was always spectacular and greatly portrayed the world of the Dark Knight. I liked that King established a strong relationship for Selina and Bruce and that he pushed the Bat further into being a healthier person. I liked the issue with Batman awaking to Alfred. It was very appropriate; minus the drolling poetry.
But what I hated. WHAT WAS BANE'S PLAN?!? He breaks the Bat and... Takes over the city and replaces the police with emotionally controlled villains? Like, it makes since that the world didn't care how Gotham was controlled as long as it was controlled. But how is having a police force that murders it's citizens a better option. Like the villains were still evil it's just now they had no one telling them to stop? I just didn't understand that. And then Part 2 comes along and Bane is replaced with Thomas. So we got an anti climactic conclusion to Bane that to me did not wrap anything up. And I hate that King did that bad writer crap of having the hero do all this shitty and stupid stuff as the villain starts their plan, only to have them go oh it was all part of my plan to figure out your plan. BOO I SAY! And honestly if Tom King killed Alfred he should have killed Bane too. None of this "he's in a coma at Arkham" crap!
Now I understand Thomas's motivation to kill the Bat so that Bruce can be free, but it was still a stupid plan! Like it just didn't fit fully with Bane's plan and so they cancelled each other out almost.
King's Batman isn't terrible but it isn't pretty in how it gets to the end.
August 12, 2020
Author Tom King does as much as he can to salvage his prematurely shortened epic, and he hits a lot of the right notes with callbacks and challenging storytelling sequences, but as many Batman stories do, it comes down to our hero running a gauntlet of his rogues gallery until he comes to the ultimate showdown. That this involves the alternate reality Flashpoint Batman is unfortunate for me since I hate the character and the importance of Flashpoint to the DC Universe in recent years.
I also wasn't a fan of the John Romita Jr. art that kicked off the volume, but the rest of the book looked fine.
I also wasn't a fan of the John Romita Jr. art that kicked off the volume, but the rest of the book looked fine.
February 16, 2021
Bait and switch job when the main villain of a book titled City of BANE isn't, you know, Bane.
July 31, 2020
I have made it no secret that I have not cared for Tom King’s Batman, but this was just terrible. I am glad that he is moving on. I like his other work but he got himself into a trajectory that he could not recover from. I wanted to like it but just couldn’t.
December 14, 2019
Remarkable. A fascinating and poignant conclusion to King's Batman run. Emotional and satisfying.
February 15, 2020
Tom King went a little too Tom King here and gave us an introspective but anti-climactic ending to his uneven Batman run.
December 9, 2025
I was disappointed with the ending, especially with this good story that have been told throughout the previous volumes. The conclusion with bane was very loose.
July 27, 2020
Thank you, Tom King. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. After more than 80 issues spanning 13 volumes, you ended on a note that has finally helped me make an important decision: this Batman fan and collector is going to save almost $200 by not collecting the run in trades!
There’s no doubt this run has incredible moments. It would be a lie to say otherwise. And it routinely featured some of the best art comics has to offer. I also sincerely appreciate the entire run staying away from the cosmic, multiversal doom-and-gloom threats that plague the industry currently. It stayed somewhat grounded. It was about emotion, relationships, psychological warfare. Truly, the triumph of the super-human spirit.
But for all the good it did, it did more wrong. The stilted writing, gimmicks of coming back to the same phrase over and over and over and over just to do it. I never want to see “bat and cat” or “hell yeah” on a comic page again in my life.
Tom’s writing is so self-satisfied and self-important, it steps all over what could be interesting or powerful. And often, it’s lazy.
How many issues of this run were barely more than: “Here’s an entire random 250-year-old poem that loosely might maybe perhaps kinda reflect some of what I am thinking here but failing to convey with my own words, so I’ll just post it here in its entirety as the text for this issue, throw in ‘bat and cat’ 10-15 times, and make someone pop in and act totally out of character. Hey, Joelle Jones or Lee Weeks, you can carry this with the art, right? Cool, issue done!”
I don’t want to dive into spoilers, as there are people who will read it and enjoy it for years to come, but some of the decisions Tom made are so bad, DC is ALREADY fixing them and/or ignoring them. His run JUST ended. I’ve never seen anything like it. Hell, the Scott Snyder run went into full meltdown mode near the end, and they’ve built an entire comics ecosystem around the Metal malarkey. Meanwhile, Tom gets a miniseries they are actively promoting as “outside of continuity,” essentially meaning “please don’t send us hate mail, we already said it doesn’t count.”
I’ll wrap up my word vomit with this. Here’s the run in a nutshell:
Smart, yet stupid. Deep, yet empty. Beautifully written, yet stilted. Just like Tom, I’ll let a famous writer do the rest of the heavy lifting for me. Go get him, Bill:
“This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
There’s no doubt this run has incredible moments. It would be a lie to say otherwise. And it routinely featured some of the best art comics has to offer. I also sincerely appreciate the entire run staying away from the cosmic, multiversal doom-and-gloom threats that plague the industry currently. It stayed somewhat grounded. It was about emotion, relationships, psychological warfare. Truly, the triumph of the super-human spirit.
But for all the good it did, it did more wrong. The stilted writing, gimmicks of coming back to the same phrase over and over and over and over just to do it. I never want to see “bat and cat” or “hell yeah” on a comic page again in my life.
Tom’s writing is so self-satisfied and self-important, it steps all over what could be interesting or powerful. And often, it’s lazy.
How many issues of this run were barely more than: “Here’s an entire random 250-year-old poem that loosely might maybe perhaps kinda reflect some of what I am thinking here but failing to convey with my own words, so I’ll just post it here in its entirety as the text for this issue, throw in ‘bat and cat’ 10-15 times, and make someone pop in and act totally out of character. Hey, Joelle Jones or Lee Weeks, you can carry this with the art, right? Cool, issue done!”
I don’t want to dive into spoilers, as there are people who will read it and enjoy it for years to come, but some of the decisions Tom made are so bad, DC is ALREADY fixing them and/or ignoring them. His run JUST ended. I’ve never seen anything like it. Hell, the Scott Snyder run went into full meltdown mode near the end, and they’ve built an entire comics ecosystem around the Metal malarkey. Meanwhile, Tom gets a miniseries they are actively promoting as “outside of continuity,” essentially meaning “please don’t send us hate mail, we already said it doesn’t count.”
I’ll wrap up my word vomit with this. Here’s the run in a nutshell:
Smart, yet stupid. Deep, yet empty. Beautifully written, yet stilted. Just like Tom, I’ll let a famous writer do the rest of the heavy lifting for me. Go get him, Bill:
“This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
January 3, 2020
King reviews most of his run for you in an exchange near the end of this:
[Bruce Wayne plays the part of a comic fan who has read about King's run perhaps around the wedding times or a little after.]
"Just driving by listening to the game on the radio. Had to see that on the big screen. See how it all ended."
[A man in the bar plays as a reviewer of King's work, perhaps even the editor, but one who knows what is coming.]
"Eh, you should have stayed in your car. I'm telling you, with this guy in the lead, it's just pain and misery all the way down."
[Stoically, Bruce implies you have to have bad Batman comics so you'll know good ones when you see them.]
"Well, here's to the knights. Here's to the pain. Here's to the misery. Where would we be without it?"
[Bruce Wayne plays the part of a comic fan who has read about King's run perhaps around the wedding times or a little after.]
"Just driving by listening to the game on the radio. Had to see that on the big screen. See how it all ended."
[A man in the bar plays as a reviewer of King's work, perhaps even the editor, but one who knows what is coming.]
"Eh, you should have stayed in your car. I'm telling you, with this guy in the lead, it's just pain and misery all the way down."
[Stoically, Bruce implies you have to have bad Batman comics so you'll know good ones when you see them.]
"Well, here's to the knights. Here's to the pain. Here's to the misery. Where would we be without it?"
November 26, 2025
FINALLY I'M FUCKING FREEEEEEEEEEE
Voy a hacer una reseña de todo el run: En mi opinión arranca muy bien, hasta el volumen 5 aprox. es genial, se lee super rápido, tiene lindo dibujo, trama interesante, buenos arcos. Si bien son cómics que se enfocan en la psicología de Bruce y los personajes, la escritura es como hipnotizante y es muy atrapante.
Luego en los volúmenes 6, 7, 8 y 9 hay un mix. Hay arcos muy buenos como en los anteriores libros y otros no tanto, o que tienen varias fallas, pero en general no son malos cómics, depende del mood de cada uno. La trama sigue teniendo un hilo, anticipa un gran final y la química entre Batman y Catwoman sigue siendo lo mejor del run.
Ahora... en el resto de los volúmenes todo se arruina. La escritura psicológica y filosófica que antes era atrapante e interesante ahora se vuelve densa y repetitiva. Se sienten cómo cómics que no cuentan nada pero intentan dar un mensaje significativo usando frases complicadas, citas a la biblia y esas boludeces. Spoiler: no hace que la trama sea más profunda. Nada más logra que se vuelva pesada y encima nada avanza.
Entonces, mi veredicto final es algo conflictivo. Disfruté mucho los primeros cómics, por más de que no sean perfectos, la relación de Bruce y Selina es lo mejor del run, tiene buenos arcos y lindos momentos de la batfamily. Pero al final solo quería que termine, da la sensación de que TK ya no sabía qué más hacer. Destaco que la muerte de Alfred fue emotiva, pero me hubiera gustado que sea en un momento más épico.
En definitiva, TK empieza bien y luego se vuelve insoportable. Hay muchas cosas y buenas y otras horribles (la caracterización de Talia, Diana y, por momentos, de Bruce), pero en general yo diría que fue entretenida en un 75%
Voy a hacer una reseña de todo el run: En mi opinión arranca muy bien, hasta el volumen 5 aprox. es genial, se lee super rápido, tiene lindo dibujo, trama interesante, buenos arcos. Si bien son cómics que se enfocan en la psicología de Bruce y los personajes, la escritura es como hipnotizante y es muy atrapante.
Luego en los volúmenes 6, 7, 8 y 9 hay un mix. Hay arcos muy buenos como en los anteriores libros y otros no tanto, o que tienen varias fallas, pero en general no son malos cómics, depende del mood de cada uno. La trama sigue teniendo un hilo, anticipa un gran final y la química entre Batman y Catwoman sigue siendo lo mejor del run.
Ahora... en el resto de los volúmenes todo se arruina. La escritura psicológica y filosófica que antes era atrapante e interesante ahora se vuelve densa y repetitiva. Se sienten cómo cómics que no cuentan nada pero intentan dar un mensaje significativo usando frases complicadas, citas a la biblia y esas boludeces. Spoiler: no hace que la trama sea más profunda. Nada más logra que se vuelva pesada y encima nada avanza.
Entonces, mi veredicto final es algo conflictivo. Disfruté mucho los primeros cómics, por más de que no sean perfectos, la relación de Bruce y Selina es lo mejor del run, tiene buenos arcos y lindos momentos de la batfamily. Pero al final solo quería que termine, da la sensación de que TK ya no sabía qué más hacer. Destaco que la muerte de Alfred fue emotiva, pero me hubiera gustado que sea en un momento más épico.
En definitiva, TK empieza bien y luego se vuelve insoportable. Hay muchas cosas y buenas y otras horribles (la caracterización de Talia, Diana y, por momentos, de Bruce), pero en general yo diría que fue entretenida en un 75%
May 15, 2021
I've been pretty critical of Tom King's run on Batman as a whole but you know what? This was a good ending. Sure Bane is in it but the end result being more about Bruce Wayne, Thomas Wayne, and Bruce's ties to his family is a hell of a lot more interesting than Bane himself. Bane is just the big monster who does whatever he does and has his schemes but the way it's set up is that Batman's greatest challenge is and will always be his vow. His promise to his parents that he would avenger them, that grief and brooding that can hold him back. And here he is, with Alfred lost and Thomas as a supervillain, having to decide what legacy he inherits. I feel like, if this was the big idea from the beginning, the run would have been so much better. If the end goals didn't change but Tom King could have ran with this from the start instead of being just about Bane, it would have been so much better a run. Either way, it's a good ending for a series obsessed with the possibility of a good ending/death.
Also this should include Batman Annual #4 which is the best Batman thing Tom King has written and maybe the best Batman story of the past decade.
Also this should include Batman Annual #4 which is the best Batman thing Tom King has written and maybe the best Batman story of the past decade.
March 11, 2021
I have never felt so confused as to whether or not I like a comic... I don't understand what happened here, it is a very good comic but on the other hand it is full of nonsense garbage, this City of Bane stuff lasted a long time already and I'm happy it's finally over ...
The bad
Let's start with what I didn't like. sometimes I feel like they want to put a lot of data in a couple of issues and that's just what makes the story feel saturated. maybe this was meant to be a crossover event to be able to explain the story in a more natural way ...
The whole situation with Mr. Thomas Wayne seems silly to me. Ok, the old man doesn't want his child to suffer but doesn't he realize that it's too late to change it? I never found the sense of his motivation to make Bruce give up Batman, it seems very far-fetched and pointless, maybe it should have lasted a couple of numbers like that but not half of Tom King's fckn run!!!
.The good
Alfred's farewell letter part is to cry on! A dialogue that serves to cut your veins while listening to some emo songs in the background, that one number makes the whole damn book worth it.
We know that Bruce and Selina are never going to get married, but at least in this volume Tom King gives a breath and tranquility to all of us who became fans of this couple, in the end everything ends in an acceptable way and it is a great farewell from one of the best Batman runs of all time ...
Goodbye Tom, thanks for everything ...
The bad
Let's start with what I didn't like. sometimes I feel like they want to put a lot of data in a couple of issues and that's just what makes the story feel saturated. maybe this was meant to be a crossover event to be able to explain the story in a more natural way ...
The whole situation with Mr. Thomas Wayne seems silly to me. Ok, the old man doesn't want his child to suffer but doesn't he realize that it's too late to change it? I never found the sense of his motivation to make Bruce give up Batman, it seems very far-fetched and pointless, maybe it should have lasted a couple of numbers like that but not half of Tom King's fckn run!!!
.The good
Alfred's farewell letter part is to cry on! A dialogue that serves to cut your veins while listening to some emo songs in the background, that one number makes the whole damn book worth it.
We know that Bruce and Selina are never going to get married, but at least in this volume Tom King gives a breath and tranquility to all of us who became fans of this couple, in the end everything ends in an acceptable way and it is a great farewell from one of the best Batman runs of all time ...
Goodbye Tom, thanks for everything ...
November 20, 2020
It's the grand finale of Tom King's Batman run! This is the big deal! This is what it's all been leading up to! Anddd it's mostly recap. A Batman voiceover explains how he returned to Gotham and an issue of flashbacks outlines how Thomas Wayne got to this point. Two issues of chunky, bad John Romita Jr. art distracted me from whatever plot happened there.
Ultimately, Batman battles Bane, though with almost no lead-up. One minute we're arriving in Gotham, the next minute Bats and Bane are stripping down for a bare-knuckle fight. So many issues of build-up and the actual confrontation is just a few pages? Whoosh! (That's the sound of the wind going out of my sails)
Then we get the battle between Batman and Thomas Wayne, which is similarly quick, though the fallout over is emotional. The best parts of this volume are the Catwoman/Batman moments, which has been the case for the whole series. Tom King's big plan here has been to get Batman to a place where he no longer needs to only be Batman. On that note, King succeeds, so kudos to him to successfully playing the long game.
I suppose this review makes City of Bane Part 2 sound lackluster. It wasn't entirely. It was a fine conclusion to a very long-running series with many ups and downs in quality. There just weren't any true fireworks - events unfolded as expected.
The Annual issue was fantastic, as usual. It's broken down into multiple "a day in the life of Batman" segments that grow progressively shorter until we see single panels that tell the whole tale. It's a storytelling masterpiece that shows why Batman is still beloved, still such a fascinating character after all these years. King neatly demonstrates that there are many, many places yet for Batman stories to go. I'm excited for what's to come.
Ultimately, Batman battles Bane, though with almost no lead-up. One minute we're arriving in Gotham, the next minute Bats and Bane are stripping down for a bare-knuckle fight. So many issues of build-up and the actual confrontation is just a few pages? Whoosh! (That's the sound of the wind going out of my sails)
Then we get the battle between Batman and Thomas Wayne, which is similarly quick, though the fallout over is emotional. The best parts of this volume are the Catwoman/Batman moments, which has been the case for the whole series. Tom King's big plan here has been to get Batman to a place where he no longer needs to only be Batman. On that note, King succeeds, so kudos to him to successfully playing the long game.
I suppose this review makes City of Bane Part 2 sound lackluster. It wasn't entirely. It was a fine conclusion to a very long-running series with many ups and downs in quality. There just weren't any true fireworks - events unfolded as expected.
The Annual issue was fantastic, as usual. It's broken down into multiple "a day in the life of Batman" segments that grow progressively shorter until we see single panels that tell the whole tale. It's a storytelling masterpiece that shows why Batman is still beloved, still such a fascinating character after all these years. King neatly demonstrates that there are many, many places yet for Batman stories to go. I'm excited for what's to come.
July 16, 2020
Tom King finishes out his run on Batman with a completely satisfying finale. Every thread big or small that I cared about from the previous 70something issues shows up again or gets resolved here without ever feeling rushed or overpacked. Even smaller elements emblematic to this run like Kite Man and Gotham Girl get nice wrap-ups, and the shocking loss from the last book is handled with care that I found especially moving (even more so for a superhero comic). I‘m particularly glad to see the Bane conflict resolved far more cleverly and promptly than the much earlier face off in vol 3, and love seeing so much time given to Flashpoint Batman, too.
And beyond all that, the art is so good in every issue. The first two issues offer a new distinctive look for this run by John Romita Jr, and then the remaining issues are drawn by an all-star assortment of standouts from King’s run in Janin, Finch, and Fornes. I love seeing all of them back one last time with fantastic final issues.
The final fourth of this book is Annual issue 4, and it’s a lot of fun too, moving at an increasingly accelerated pace through several successive days of problems for Gotham that demand the full range of Batman’s mental and martial abilities. One day was a dud for me (a weird MMA fight that felt like maybe a UFC tie-in?) but the rest were weird and wild fun, often reminding me of the recent Batman Universe issues.
And beyond all that, the art is so good in every issue. The first two issues offer a new distinctive look for this run by John Romita Jr, and then the remaining issues are drawn by an all-star assortment of standouts from King’s run in Janin, Finch, and Fornes. I love seeing all of them back one last time with fantastic final issues.
The final fourth of this book is Annual issue 4, and it’s a lot of fun too, moving at an increasingly accelerated pace through several successive days of problems for Gotham that demand the full range of Batman’s mental and martial abilities. One day was a dud for me (a weird MMA fight that felt like maybe a UFC tie-in?) but the rest were weird and wild fun, often reminding me of the recent Batman Universe issues.
June 24, 2020
Tom King's run ends (for now?) I did not like King's Batman run. You can read my other reviews for the many reasons why. It had some interesting ideas that had potential, Riddler/Joker war, Bane taking over the city, Bruce Wayne doing jury duty on a Mr. Freeze case, Batman having a wedding, new superpowered heroes in Gotham...Nearly every one of his ideas did not live up to what they promised. They are full of out of character moments and unclear storytelling.
It's called City of Bane but you never get a sense of what that means for Gotham. King's writing is so abstract and fractured and vague that you never feel like you are experiencing the story. The dialogue is irritating in how it wants to seem rhythmic or poetic but it just feels hard to get through. The characters don't feel real the way he writes them. Everybody speaks in half finished sentences and is incredibly repetitive, almost like they are stuttering. It seems unique at first but after a handful of issues you get sick of it.
As for the ending ending, it seemed to just kind of end with a whimper and I thought at least King would nail the last few pages. I just started Detective Comics Rebirth, which came out alongside King's Batman run, and while it's not groundbreaking, the characters speak like they are people and the storytelling is propulsive and fun and clear. I'd recommend that over King's run already.
It's called City of Bane but you never get a sense of what that means for Gotham. King's writing is so abstract and fractured and vague that you never feel like you are experiencing the story. The dialogue is irritating in how it wants to seem rhythmic or poetic but it just feels hard to get through. The characters don't feel real the way he writes them. Everybody speaks in half finished sentences and is incredibly repetitive, almost like they are stuttering. It seems unique at first but after a handful of issues you get sick of it.
As for the ending ending, it seemed to just kind of end with a whimper and I thought at least King would nail the last few pages. I just started Detective Comics Rebirth, which came out alongside King's Batman run, and while it's not groundbreaking, the characters speak like they are people and the storytelling is propulsive and fun and clear. I'd recommend that over King's run already.
July 19, 2020
This is the volume that does the heavy lifting of closing out King's plots on Batman, so it doesn't have the emotional resonance of the previous volume, but it's still a fine ending. In particular, the storyline of Bane and Thomas Kane comes to a good end, and we get some closure on the abrupt and shocking death from the last volume.
With that said, the plotting feels sloppy. It seems like King never knew if Bane or Thomas was the true villain of this piece, and he tries to have his cake and eat it too here. (For the record, Thomas is much more the villain of this volume, but King had done so much work to set up Bane prior.) The whole question of why Bruce thought Alfred was safe is also rather sloppily resolved.
Overall, a good ending to an uneven but very good run. I hope that DC collects it in a better form than their Deluxe volumes which omit half a storyline (that'd be the Flash half of The Button).
With that said, the plotting feels sloppy. It seems like King never knew if Bane or Thomas was the true villain of this piece, and he tries to have his cake and eat it too here. (For the record, Thomas is much more the villain of this volume, but King had done so much work to set up Bane prior.) The whole question of why Bruce thought Alfred was safe is also rather sloppily resolved.
Overall, a good ending to an uneven but very good run. I hope that DC collects it in a better form than their Deluxe volumes which omit half a storyline (that'd be the Flash half of The Button).
December 17, 2020
Kind of a swing and a miss. Equivalent to that poor football guy dropping the football at the end (see the story's last page). After all the build-up, the death of Alfred, everything that came before...This? This is all we get? Pretty pitiful conclusion to what had been a fairly effective story to this point, building ol' Bane up into a truly scary, nearly omniscient foe. And then the story throws in the old Flashpoint Batman, to what effect? He can't even understand that our Bruce Wayne is not His Bruce Wayne, a plot point upon which another rather anticlimactic fight scene turns. I guess if anything, we got the Bruce-Selina romance and a renewed sense on Bruce's part that he's not alone and that things go better when he can delegate some of his efforts to his supporting cast: Robin, Bat Girl, The Signal, etc. Nice artwork throughout, but I really am a bit sad that King couldn't stick the landing on this one...
January 17, 2020
King’s Batman arrived to its end and it’s been an epic journey, I could even say that he’s run is better than Snyder’s.
I kinda expected a more epic finale to this arc, like maybe a big fight or som’, but the way it ends it’s actually really good, Batman breaking Bane, Marrying Cat, his “father” dying, but from now things will be a little different since Alfred is dead, this leaves a tough work for the next writer which we all hope is as good as Snyder and King.
I kinda expected a more epic finale to this arc, like maybe a big fight or som’, but the way it ends it’s actually really good, Batman breaking Bane, Marrying Cat, his “father” dying, but from now things will be a little different since Alfred is dead, this leaves a tough work for the next writer which we all hope is as good as Snyder and King.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2021
A mostly just fine ending to King's time on the main title. Had to power through the first couple issues and the art of JRJ (bleh) but after that the art was uniformly good. There was a good fight between impossibly jacked Bruce and Bane. Alot of it felt like a letdown from what I think was a great overall run. Still enough redeeming to keep it from being a total failure.
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