Scan barcode
modkuraika's review against another edition
3.0
I like the way King characterizes Bane. There's definitely a wealth of appreciation for even the most obscure characters. My primary issue is the dialogue. I've heard complaints about the way he repeats phrases ad nauseam for emphasis, to the point where later collections have dialed it back. If I read "break your damn back" one more time, I was gonna walk away.
kevinowenkelly's review against another edition
4.0
With Tom King back together with Grayson partner and artist Mikel Janin, I expected fireworks, and for the most part it's true. Janin seemingly loves full page and two page spreads of a single scene in which characters are depicted multiple times doing various actions as they 'progress' through the scene, and it's a great fit for King's writing style and cadence.
This book is a bit of a litmus test for how people feel about King's style, though. Many characters have an affected or blunt manner of speaking, one often seemed by repetitions of one's own speech or inversions of another's, that can give the impression that each character has the same narrative voice behind it as everyone else. To some, this reads not only as King injecting his own voice into the character's, but as an inability by King to get a feel for what each character's unique voice is.
It takes a little getting used to, but I personally enjoy it. Those rhythms and repetitions tend to serve more of a narrative and thematic purpose than a character-based one, and tend to give the story and its ideas a kind of propulsive quality. The trick, then, is to read the characters in the content and ideas and emotions evoked by the dialogue moreso than the literal textual voice presented on the page.
Beyond those nuances, one area King's writing indisputably shines is un those quiet moments that cushion some singular, painfully human moment or line by a character. A conversation will be moving at its usual pace before a character says something revealing and emotionally or psychologically revelatory, something that retroactively imbues the ocassionally robotic cadence of King's stylistic writing proclivities with an incredible amount of human depth.
Thenatically, whereas the last book centered on dealing with recent, fresh trauma, this book looks at it's long term effects and uses it to redefine relationships, between Batman and Catwoman as two orphan children, between Batman and Bane as people too fundamentally scarred to be able to achieve true happiness (and the nihilistic actions it might lead one too), and between Batman and his own mythos and origin, where Bruce Wayne's "death" giving rise to Batman is reinterpreted in heartbreakingly literal detail as the death of Bruce's parents causes him such pain that his 10 year old self, his mother's blood still on his hands, contemplates suicide.
The relationship building with Catwoman is well done, particularly across two issues where each addresses a letter to the other that is read in the background of the action. Catwoman's, in particular, hits on a special quality that made me look at it in a new, believable light, something that Bruce's letter couldn't quite match.
But it's the connection between Bane and Batman that I found took the longest for me to digest, and ultimately it's the one I found most compelling. The most fascinating part, however, is Bane's seeming empathy toward Batman. Even after invading Bane's country and attempting to steal from him, Bane sees a kindred tortured soul caught between an unbreakable will to live and a painful lack of a reason for doing so. Whether he got the diagnosis right or not, Bane found a 'cure' for himself in the Psycho Pirate, and even offered to share that relief with Batman. Bane then explains that when he first came to Gotham, he did so looking for a 'monster', something (an excuse) to fight and struggle against that might ultimately put him out of his misery. For Bane that was Batman, but when Batman refuses the offer of the Pirate's help, Bane offers to be that monster for Batman.
It's strange. Batman has faced threats of death for decades. But I found this one affecting for the way it warped so much of that typical dynamic. Not a threat of death, but an offer. Not a desire to kill, but a willingness to pick take on that burden. Not hate, but empathy, from one broken person to another.
"Tell me I'm happy. Tell me I'm brave. Tell me I can stop at any time."
Those are the things Bane asks of the Psycho Pirate, and it's a mantra I found powerful and heartbreaking. With Bane stalking these issues fully nude, there's a feral rawness to his emotions tempered by the lucidity and clarity of his words, riddled as they are by his long-term venom withdrawal.
This can be a hard book to digest. There's a lot that may put some people off. But of it clicks for you like it did for me, it'll leave you with a lot of things gnawing at your heart and head for a good long while.
This book is a bit of a litmus test for how people feel about King's style, though. Many characters have an affected or blunt manner of speaking, one often seemed by repetitions of one's own speech or inversions of another's, that can give the impression that each character has the same narrative voice behind it as everyone else. To some, this reads not only as King injecting his own voice into the character's, but as an inability by King to get a feel for what each character's unique voice is.
It takes a little getting used to, but I personally enjoy it. Those rhythms and repetitions tend to serve more of a narrative and thematic purpose than a character-based one, and tend to give the story and its ideas a kind of propulsive quality. The trick, then, is to read the characters in the content and ideas and emotions evoked by the dialogue moreso than the literal textual voice presented on the page.
Beyond those nuances, one area King's writing indisputably shines is un those quiet moments that cushion some singular, painfully human moment or line by a character. A conversation will be moving at its usual pace before a character says something revealing and emotionally or psychologically revelatory, something that retroactively imbues the ocassionally robotic cadence of King's stylistic writing proclivities with an incredible amount of human depth.
Thenatically, whereas the last book centered on dealing with recent, fresh trauma, this book looks at it's long term effects and uses it to redefine relationships, between Batman and Catwoman as two orphan children, between Batman and Bane as people too fundamentally scarred to be able to achieve true happiness (and the nihilistic actions it might lead one too), and between Batman and his own mythos and origin, where Bruce Wayne's "death" giving rise to Batman is reinterpreted in heartbreakingly literal detail as the death of Bruce's parents causes him such pain that his 10 year old self, his mother's blood still on his hands, contemplates suicide.
The relationship building with Catwoman is well done, particularly across two issues where each addresses a letter to the other that is read in the background of the action. Catwoman's, in particular, hits on a special quality that made me look at it in a new, believable light, something that Bruce's letter couldn't quite match.
But it's the connection between Bane and Batman that I found took the longest for me to digest, and ultimately it's the one I found most compelling. The most fascinating part, however, is Bane's seeming empathy toward Batman. Even after invading Bane's country and attempting to steal from him, Bane sees a kindred tortured soul caught between an unbreakable will to live and a painful lack of a reason for doing so. Whether he got the diagnosis right or not, Bane found a 'cure' for himself in the Psycho Pirate, and even offered to share that relief with Batman. Bane then explains that when he first came to Gotham, he did so looking for a 'monster', something (an excuse) to fight and struggle against that might ultimately put him out of his misery. For Bane that was Batman, but when Batman refuses the offer of the Pirate's help, Bane offers to be that monster for Batman.
It's strange. Batman has faced threats of death for decades. But I found this one affecting for the way it warped so much of that typical dynamic. Not a threat of death, but an offer. Not a desire to kill, but a willingness to pick take on that burden. Not hate, but empathy, from one broken person to another.
"Tell me I'm happy. Tell me I'm brave. Tell me I can stop at any time."
Those are the things Bane asks of the Psycho Pirate, and it's a mantra I found powerful and heartbreaking. With Bane stalking these issues fully nude, there's a feral rawness to his emotions tempered by the lucidity and clarity of his words, riddled as they are by his long-term venom withdrawal.
This can be a hard book to digest. There's a lot that may put some people off. But of it clicks for you like it did for me, it'll leave you with a lot of things gnawing at your heart and head for a good long while.
sailorgold_'s review against another edition
3.0
Okay so the writing is terribly repetitive. Like a lot of panel just reuse the exact same sentences over and over again. I get that the writer was trying to have a leitmotiv, to give a specific rhythm to the panels but it just felt off. Also there were some weird text/images juxtaposition, especially with the letters at the beginning of the story. But I did enjoy the whole Batcat storyline a lot, especially because the artwork was so pretty!
legge_la_bomba's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mymessytbr's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed seeing Batman catch feelings for Catwoman. What I didn’t really enjoy was the random wanna be joker/Harley couple: Punch and Jewlee. I probably missed something in Suicide Squad—I haven’t caught up with that series—but I just found their characters vanilla and not crucial to the events in this particular story.
dominicangirl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0