Batman: The Knight - Compendium Edition #1

Batman: The Knight #1-3

by Chip Zdarsky, Carmine Di Giandomenico (Penciller), Ivan Plascencia (Colorist)

Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico’s unique take on an orphaned Bruce Wayne’s path to becoming Gotham City’s guardian, has released to incredible critical and sales acclaim.

Batman: The Knight – Compendium Edition combines issues #1 - #3 of the series, but also includes a special bonus: a preview of part one of “Failsafe,” Zdarsky’s debut story arc in Batman #125 (on sale July 7).

Genres: Comics, Batman

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 10, 2022

About the author

Chip Zdarsky is a Canadian comic book artist and journalist. He was born Steve Murray but is known by his fan base as Chip Zdarsky, and occasionally Todd Diamond. He writes and illustrates an advice column called Extremely Bad Advice for the Canadian national newspaper National Post's The Ampersand, their pop culture section's online edition. He is also the creator of Prison Funnies and Monster Cops.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Action packed series with art style to complete it very well.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chip Zdarsky has been developing into one of my favorite comic book creators. He turned in actual fresh Daredevil material, and I guess it was only fitting for him to set his sights on Batman, too. With so much Batman material you’ll often hear that there’s too much, but DC is pretty good at emphasizing quality, even if the territory, of his formative development, seems well-trodden. Zdarsky is finding fresh ground. DC printed this collection of the first three issues (which I was very happy to buy, as I had missed the first few issues), which follow Bruce Wayne as he struggles toward Batman, not just the training but the psychology he’ll need, and the fears of what he might become, too. It feels very much like a classic in the making.

[Comics Instrucciones de uso · Rating 3 out of 5]

En principio esta historia tenía todo para ser un golazo. ¿Chip Zdarsky contando una (otra más) historia sobre los orígenes de Batman antes de ser Batman? Lo compro en seguida. Y, de hecho, funciona como avión el primer cuarto. Zdarsky quiere mostrarnos todo el trauma psicológico con el cual tuvo que lidiar el pequeño Bruce Wayne: lo vemos sufriendo ataques de ira, violentando a sus compañeros de escuela, es decir, lo que haría cualquier niño que vio morir, delante suyo, a sus padres (algo parecido quiso decirnos en su momento Tom King, cuando dejó establecido en su run en Batman, que el joven Bruce Wayne intentó quitarse la vida). El joven Wayen comprende que si no da sentido a toda su rabia acabará mal y también sus cercanos, de modo que se va de viaje para aprender todos los métodos posibles para hacer del mundo, o de Gotham, un lugar mejor. Zdarsky narra con su ritmo habitural el paso de Wayne por París, donde forma dupla con una ladrona, y más adelante las enseñazas que extrae del conocido Henri Duncan, otro ladrón. Las contradicciones de Wayne quedan a la vista y son creíbles. ¿Hasta qué punto el aprender de ladrones no lo convierte a él en un criminal? Pero el libro comienza a irse a pique poco antes de la mitad cuando hace su ingreso el tipo que más adelante será el Ghostmaker, uno de los personajes del universo Batman más lamentables creados por DC el ultimo tiempo, un personaje reiterativo, cuyas motivaciones no tienen sentido (¿cuántas veces no hemos visto al villano que quiere parecerse a Batman?). Zdarsky nos cuenta lo que ya conocíamos gracias a las apenas regulares etapas de Tynion IV y Williamson en
Batman: que él y el Ghostmaker se conocieron mientras el joven Wayne recorría el mundo ávido por saberlo todo. Aparece más adelante Ras Al Ghul, pero para entonces uno ya está desencantado del libro, el personaje, lo reitero, del Ghostmaker, es insufrible, absurdo y el comportamiento de Wayne hacia él lo hace quedar a él mismo como un ingenuo. Es imposible no pensar que DC presionó a Zdarsky para incluir al Ghostmaker, porque dudo que aquél, con su probado buen juicio y hábiles dotes de narrador, lo haya elegido por su cuenta.

[Langston Lardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been looking forward to Zdarsky’s run on Batman ever since I read his run on MoonKnight and then I found out he’s also writing a Batman origin centered around Bruce and his days before the cowl? Sign me up, and to no surprise it’s really good.
The story starts with Bruce in therapy with non other than Hugo Strange (couldn’t help but hear the Arkham City voice in my head for him and it elevated all his dialogue). The back and forth about Bruce’s sadness and anger and need to solve things with his fists and how intelligence can actually block personal growth and progress was really interesting.
Once Bruce takes off for Paris in the last 2 parts of this issue it slows down a tad for me, but it’s still solid imo. Bruce questioning his moral code, realizing to train with the best that includes the best criminals, to learn to thieve and get into he mindset of the criminals and when to flip that switch on and off was interesting. The Orphan angle of the serial killer was an interesting concept as well, seeing Bruce explode like that.
Overall a solid read and I’ll be sure to continue with this story and see how it progresses.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Origin stories are bullshit; you think you want them, but all they really do is scrape a level of complexity & mystery off of a character, and usually not to the continued benefit of that character. (Notable exception: Magneto.) THIS, however, is an awesome origin story, because if you didn't know Batman existed, was a cultural touchstone, nothing - you could still enjoy this story of a person's struggle to figure out how to make something out of tragedy. It's cool, like a lot of what Zdarsky puts into the world, and I recommend this one.

[Miles Madonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 maybe? this was so crazy but… not that great. love bruce’s hot parisian milf mentor though

[lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have no clue if it’s canon or not on prime earth but i found it really interesting to see more of Bruce backstory than just the regular training in gotham or simply his youth in gotham

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rules and the art is gorgeous. I would die for baby Bruce

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5, rounded up.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not 100% enamored of the art style, but the story really pulled me in. I love stories that show Bruce getting the training to eventually become Batman.

[Malena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal origin story showing everything Bruce Wayne went through to become the Dark Knight