Batman Knightfall Vol. 1: The Broken Bat
Writers: Doug Moench and Chuck Dixon
Artists: Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Graham Nolan, Jim Balent
The Knight is Broken, Bane is Triumphant! The Greatest Batman Story of All Time!!!
Ranking: 5 stars
This is my all time favorite Batman story! I have been a huge fan of the caped crusader ever since I fell in love with Christopher Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT movies! They gave me a new insight about Batman. That he was a man born into tragedy. His parents were killed by a mugger and all sense of happiness in his life was stolen in a single moment. The only thing that remained was a promise that he made. A promise to destroy the crime that plagued Gotham City, and murdered his parents. It was the first time I ever felt devoted to the character and I soon decided to take a look at the comic books that inspired the films. Usually I am a fan of Marvel Comics, but after reading several Batman comics, the dark knight became one of my all time favorite superheroes, along with Spider-Man and Wolverine. My favorite Batman stories included BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (2), BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN (3), BATMAN: YEAR ONE (4), and BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE (5). They were all classics, but none could surpass my number one favorite: BATMAN KNIGHTFALL!
The groundbreaking classic that portrayed the dark knight's first defeat ever, at the hands of the monstrous Bane! Born in a South American prison, Bane became a test subject for the venom drug. A dangerous steroidal compound that gives the user enormous strength. Bane was able to survive the treatment and used his newfound strength to escape the prison in search of freedom. He eventually finds his way to Gotham City, and is determined to become the new leader of the gangs that control the city. But in order to do that, he must first defeat the one man that stands in his way: the Batman!
Batman has been severely weakened from earlier battles, and once Bane figures this out, he develops a plan to weaken his foe even further. He, along with his henchmen, break out all of the inmates from Arkham Asylum, releasing all of Gotham's most dangerous criminals onto the streets. Batman knows that he cannot ignore this threat, so he sets out to stop the Arkham escapees. Bane hides in the shadows as Batman fights his most dangerous foes including the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Victor Zsasz, and Killer Croc, growing weaker with each battle. Once Batman defeats all of the Arkham inmates, he is confronted by Bane. Batman is so weak to the point that he cannot even throw a single punch at Bane. Bane easily defeats the dark knight and breaks his spine.
What really attracted me to this sensational story arc, was that Bane was much different than most muscle bound villains. Most of them are very dumb and only rely on brute strength, but Bane was the exact opposite. He is a master strategist who carefully plans his moves before he strikes. It completely goes against the old cliché that bigger villains are unintelligent. This portrayal of Bane made him one of my top 3 favorite Batman villains, along with the Joker and Ra's Al Gul. I also loved how this story showed Batman's courage to continue fighting. Even though he was weakened, he was still determined to protect Gotham, even at the cost of his own body. It ended up being his downfall however, as he gave himself no time to rest, or sleep. Just like THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN, "Batman Knightfall" is one of those few stories that shows us that even our greatest heroes are vulnerable. It gives us a sense of realism to the fantasy reality that is the comic book world.
Truly remarkable. With out a doubt, the greatest Batman comic ever created!!!
