"Batman: Knightfall" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss the popular Batman storyline from the 1990s!

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL



Written by: Various
Art by: Various

In the first installment of this classic storyline that leads to the birth of a new Batman, the Dark Knight's greatest enemies have all simultaneously escaped from Arkham Asylum and are preying on Gotham City. With his city under siege, Batman pushes his body to its physical breaking point as he takes on the Joker, the Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, the Riddler and the Scarecrow, one after another. But things get much worse, when Bane, the mad behind all of this madness, confronts an exhausted Batman and cripples him by breaking his back.

In part two, mentally defeated and physically broken, Bruce Wayne turns to Azrael to assume the identity of Batman during his absence. Accepting his new mission, Jean Paul begins to lose his grip on his sanity as he metes out justice with devastating levels of aggression and violence. Witnessing this dangerous behavior firsthand, Nightwing and Robin try to come to grips with Bruce's highly controversial decision. This collection not only features the first appearance of the new Batman costume but also a titanic battle between Bane, the man who broke the original Batman's back and the new Batman.

In the final chapter of this series, Bruce Wayne completes his improbable recovery from his broken back and is ready to resume his role as Gotham's protector. But Jean Paul Valley, the man who now patrols the night as a vicious and violent Batman, is not willing to give up his new identity. Driven to the brink of madness by inner demons, the new Batman seeks to destroy Bruce as they meet in mortal combat. But in the end, Bruce defeats Jean Paul both mentally and physically and reclaims his legendary cape and cowl.

Comments?

[NewMaxFranklin]

Jeese! As much as I enjoyed this book when I first read it, it really sucks now.

[The Penguin]

I still think it would make a great Batman DTV!

[Nightflower]

I think it would work as a movie. It would cut out so much of the junk of the comic and help focus the story I think. And besides I'd love to see all the villains here animated.

[DR. BELCH]

The original "Knightfall" storyline in the Batman comics was a mess, derivative of the more entertaining "Death of Superman" and a lot more coarse and painful. Still, in the end, this story rehumanized Batman - perhaps turning him back in the slightly less mechanical hero of O'Neil's 1970s work - and toned down the melodrama. The end result is a very entertaining saga despite the flaws.

[Anarky]

Back when I had roadrunner, I downloaded and burned the 4-part Knightfall series produced by the BBC.

If anyone here hasn't been introduced to radio serials, this is the one you want. Added bonus: Michael Gough reprises his role as Alfred.

Sadly, I never successfully downloaded Part One. I have about 20+ minutes of it but I'm missing the ending.

My fave is Part 2 though:
it opens w/ the Arkham breakout, then follows Batman & Robin as they pursue The Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist & Socko, Amygdala, Mr. Zsasz, The Riddler, Joker, Scarecrow...ending w/ the breaking of the Bat!

Part 3 is cool too.

No luck finding it for sale. Anyone else here have it on cd? If so, willing to share?

[Derekwc]

It was produced as an audio book on tape to complement the
then Knightfall Novel. IT was a four tape set. I'm not aware
of it's availability on CD. Maybe if you tried looking under
cassettes?

[James]

The novel was a nice adaption so if the tape was an abridged version then I think it might be worth the hunt...

Yes I believe it was audio tape only, it did come out a while ago. I can recall the front cover - I just can't believe I never bought it!

[Mad Monkey 7]

Hello,

I was wondering, how Batman: Knight Falls Trades are there? I really want to read this story but in trade form.

Thank you

[JLU Dude]

Hello,

I was wondering, how Batman: Knight Falls Trades are there? I really want to read this story but in trade form.

Thank you

There are three. Batman: Knightfall, Part One: Broken Bat and Batman: Knightfall, Part Two: Whol Rules the Night deal with the Knightfall story itself of the KnightSaga. Batman: Knightfall, Part Three: KnightsEnd deals with the last arc, which as the titles suggest, was KnightsEnd. What's missing is the middle arc KnightQuest.

[Fett One]

I read Long Halloween and Dark Victory a few months ago. In those stories Bruce and Selina Kyle were dating. I started reading Knight Fall the other day. I got to a point in this story where Bruce and Selina meet up at the airport and neither of them knows the other. Even Alfred doesn't know Selina. My question is, how did they go from dating to not knowing each other?

[Shawn Hopkins]

I read Long Halloween and Dark Victory a few months ago. In those stories Bruce and Selina Kyle were dating. I started reading Knight Fall the other day. I got to a point in this story where Bruce and Selina meet up at the airport and neither of them knows the other. Even Alfred doesn't know Selina. My question is, how did they go from dating to not knowing each other?

Dark Victory and Long Halloween came out after Knightfall. The dating is a retcon. Although I remember Selina telling Azbats during Knightquest that she could tell just from pheromones he's not the real guy, so either she was exaggerating, her not recognizing Bruce is sort of a gaffe, or she did recognize him and didn't say anything.

[James Harvey]

Rediscover the classic Batman story in this new series of new large over-sized trade releases!

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOLUME ONE



Written by VARIOUS
Art by VARIOUS

In the first installment of this classic storyline, the Dark Knight's greatest enemies have all simultaneously escaped from Arkham Asylum and are preying on Gotham City. With his city under siege, Batman pushes his body to the limit as he takes on The Joker, the Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, The Riddler and the Scarecrow. But things get much worse when Bane, the man behind all the madness, confronts an exhausted Batman – and breaks his back.This massive first KNIGHTFALL volume collects BATMAN: VENGEANCE OF BANE SPECIAL #1, BATMAN #491-500, DETECTIVE COMICS #659-667, SHOWCASE '93 #7 and 8 and BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #17-18, including chapters never previously reprinted.

Comments?

[Simpler Simon]

Very tempted to pick this up - I've got Knightfall in various single issues that have been read and re-read to tatters, so it'd be great to get the whole collection in one volume. And it looks like volume 2 of the re-release will collect the previously-never-collected Knightquest issues, which is great.

It's surprising how well this one holds up, actually. The story isn't nearly as complex as what came later but it's reasonably paced and you had two great teams working on Batman and 'Tec at the time with consistent quality.

[Michael24]

I know a lot of people like to rag on this story, but as it occurred at the time I was heavily into comics as a kid I just have a great love for it. I had never experienced anything this epic before, so I really ate it up and loved following it. I still have all of the original single issues, and in fact it was only just recently that I finally tracked down the last few issues that I had been missing this whole time.

I think Detective Comics #667 is a misprint and should be #666, though, because #667 is the first issue of "Knightquest." It's interesting this first volume includes Shadow of the Bat #17-18, as I believe those were just tie-in issues. They definitely weren't a numbered part of the "Knightfall" chapter. And it's cool to see that "Knightquest" will finally be collected in this new series, too, since those issues never were before. I'll be curious to see what order those issues are put in, because all of those just kind of went back to doing their own thing independently of each other and didn't really have as defined a reading order as "Knightfall" and "KnightsEnd."

[Simpler Simon]

I think Detective Comics #667 is a misprint and should be #666, though, because #667 is the first issue of "Knightquest." It's interesting this first volume includes Shadow of the Bat #17-18, as I believe those were just tie-in issues. They definitely weren't a numbered part of the "Knightfall" chapter. And it's cool to see that "Knightquest" will finally be collected in this new series, too, since those issues never were before. I'll be curious to see what order those issues are put in, because all of those just kind of went back to doing their own thing independently of each other and didn't really have as defined a reading order as "Knightfall" and "KnightsEnd."

Yeah there are some errors in the solicitation, but the new edition should collect everything that was in the previous volumes 1 and 2, plus Vengeance of Bane. I believe the Shadow of the Bat arc was also collected in the prior editions too.

As for Knightquest - true there was no numbered reading order, but you can place most of the stories chronologically based on how Jean Paul Valley upgraded his Batsuit - I believe it went through 3 revisions. Towards the end I also remember Batman referencing both the Gunhawk and Abattoir cases he was working on simultaneously, while wearing the Batsuit that Gunhawk had just turned to swiss cheese. I'm less familiar with how the Shadow of the Bat chapters work in, except the Clayface story that tied into the Abattoir arc and a brutal Tally Man story.

[Michael24]

The solicitation I saw for the "Knightquest" volume also seemed to only include the issues for "The Crusade" and not "The Search." Hopefully it's just another error.

In any event, last September I made an attempt to figure out a good reading order for "Knightquest: The Crusade," using some starting points I found online and by going through them myself. This was the order I came up with and felt worked the best, at least for me.

[Spider-Man]

DC Comics has these listings for the next two volumes of the new Knightfall trades:

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 2 – KNIGHTSQUEST TP NEW EDITION
Batman battles Bane in this second KNIGHTFALL new edition, featuring
many chapters that were not including in the previous edition!
Collecting DETECTIVE COMICS #667-675, BATMAN #501-508, BATMAN: SHADOW OF
THE BAT #19-28, CATWOMAN #6-7 and ROBIN #7!

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 3 – KNIGHTSEND TP NEW EDITION
Writers: Doug Moench, Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Mary Jo Duffy and Dennis O’Neil
Artists: Mike Manley, Dick Giordano, Bret Blevins, Graham Nolan,
Scott Hanna, Ron Wagner, Tom Grummett, Jim Balent, Rick Burchett, Barry
Kitson, Mike Vosburg, Mike Gustovich, Lee Weeks, Joe Rubinstein, Phil
Jimenez and others
Collects: BATMAN #509, 510, 512-514, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #29,
30, 32-34, DETECTIVE COMICS #676, 677, 679-681, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE
DARK KNIGHT #62 and 63, ROBIN #8, 9, 11-13, CATWOMAN #12, 13 and
SHOWCASE 94 #10
$29.99 US, 652 pg

Looks like they go a bit past the actual end of Knightsend, up to the end of Prodigal. Ideally they would actually go to the end of the Troika four-parter that followed Prodigal in order to give a better ending to the whole "Knight" story.

[Michael24]

That's strange that they're including "Prodigal." It looked like they were skipping "Knightquest: The Search," then I saw Volume 2 does have Shadow of the Bat #21-23. But it looks like they're leaving out Justice League Task Force #5-6 and Legends of the Dark Knight #59-61. Weird.

[James Harvey]

Rediscover the classic Batman story in this new series of new large over-sized trade releases!

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL - VOLUME TWO



Written by VARIOUS
Art by VARIOUS

Batman battles Bane in this second KNIGHTFALL new edition, featuring many chapters that were not including in the previous edition! Collecting DETECTIVE COMICS #667-675, BATMAN #501-508, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #19-28, CATWOMAN #6-7 and ROBIN #7!

Comments?