Written by: Tom King
Art by: David Finch and Danny Miki
Publisher: DC Comics
With the previous two part story we had Cat and the Bat, now this story is about Bane and the Bat!
Tom King continues to show that he truly has full understanding of Batman character, it’s not just that it seeps out of him that he is a huge fan of the character. He respects the character, and respects what Batman actually stands for, as a symbol. What he does here is gives us another view of the events that we are very well familiar with, King has essentially given us Batman Begins in 32 pages. And has done it perfectly, as it serves as a reminder, with Tom King and Finch giving us shot by shot life of Bane and Bruce Wayne throughout the years. This book shows us that we all have it within us to be good or bad, it’s the choices that we make, the people we surround ourselves with, and the environment that we are in. King continues to give us a more cererbral Batman, essentially taking the best parts of every Batman movie, animated series or comic written before it. As he has done with the I am Suicide storyline or Rooftops storyline, he continues to show us that he has full command of this character. Scott Snyder’s Batman run was great, and Tom King did not even try to just continue on that path. He made this truly his own take on Batman, and that’s why it works so spectacularly.
King is here joined by David Finch, whose dynamic art continues to show us, why he is a perfect fit on this book, even though Mikel Janin’s run on I am Suicide was great as well, Finch is fantastic pick for this particular storyline, because of his way he deals with close ups whenever there is a burst of emotion coming from characters, he is one of the masters; being able to convey that emotion. And this being a bi monthly book it is good that the artists are alternating between storylines so not one particular artist gets tired of drawing a character, as that can always deter from the quality of the book. It does seem like Tom King thankfully has some input in picking the artists for the books,and the arcs, as so far it would have been hard to see anyone else work on these books the way the creative team worked on this particular Batman run.
King and Finch have made Bane into probably the most terrifying Batman has faced in a very long time, and it is because of his sheer power of the will that he is able to go toe to toe with the Dark Knight, and not be scared. There is couple of very specific panels here that are broken up throughout the book that give us that understanding, as to why Bane is as terryfing as he is, and those panels are between some of the best Batman/Bane fights since Knightfall. They managed to create Bane into a force of nature, and that is exactly how I always envisioned that particular character, it’s not comical, it’s not over the top, he seems to be a perfect foe for Batman.
Overall Batman Rebirth continues to be one of if not the best Rebirth title, they are pretty much in a dead heat tie with the entire Trinity, but this is one of those books, that should be in your pull, at least this particular arc. That is one of the best things about the way all three books are written so far, each arc is truly for itself, and is not dependent on the knowledge of the character before hand, so if you just want read just particular story of these characters, you can do that!
