Batman: Knightfall & Some Batman Comic Book History.
Batman: Knightfall was a story arc that ran thru all the Batman comic book titles in 1993-94. During this run they introduced 2 new characters. Azreal, who was a superhero in training & Bane, who was a major villain. The basic story is that Bane is inspired & very determined to crush Batman. To do this he starts his evil plan by releasing all the prisoners of Arkham Asylum, Gotham City's main high-security prison. The rogue list includes The Joker, Scarecrow, Firefly, Madhatter, The Ventriloquist, Victor Zsasz, & others. After their release Batman has to find & fight all of the villains thus weakening him & making him the perfect victim for Bane. Then we all know what happens next because it's a very famous moment in comic book history, Bane breaks Batman's back! Now, I know a lot of Batman fans really love this story-arc because it is very well-written & the artwork was pretty good too. But, here's the deal, I was really into collecting comic books at the time & when this cheesy event happened was when they lost me as a customer. It was such a low-class marketing move that I stopped buying comics for a really long time. That's how offended I was. After a little time had passed ( a few years, ha ha ) I eventually came back. But, the exact moment when Bane crushed Batman was when DC Comics broke my heart, ha ha!
Now, here's some recent events that happened to me. I have been debating with myself to publish this personal opinion of mine or not because it is kinda negative, I guess. But it's something I felt strongly about & I have been collecting a few images for the story when all of a sudden a Bat-Blog reader sent this video featuring some amazing animation. The short "fan film" is a home-made animation that is the entire Batman: Knightfall story arc but sort of condensed. The animation quality is very good. This guy is a very talented artist! ( Thank you Kev for sending the link ). For the readers who were into Batman around this time I'd like to know how you felt about DC Comics breaking Batman. Please leave a comment down below.
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I liked Knightfall, Knightquest, and Knightsend. It showed how human Batman is. Plus I knew he'd be back. Az-Bat wasn't meant to be Batman forever. I thought Az-Bat was kinda cool though.
Well keep in mind this isn't long after DC killed there numero uno , Superman. Him , Bat's and Wonder Woman are there big three as they like to call them. Doing something similar to Wonder Woman ten years ago may have caused a stir up , regardless she having the powers she does we still see a woman when we look at her. They had to show that there characters had some relation with normal people and there's no better way to show they share our same mortal flaws. Granted Supes return was the worst story line ever , however the approach they gave Batman was means of something more realistic. No one wants to see there favorite cape get took down , but it left it open for a new character to build a fan base who's idea was on a lil bit more hardcore vigilante styled justice. I believe with a downed batman they were able to draw more reader's and with a new vicious Batman was an attempt to maybe draw away from some of Marvels Punisher fans. That and Bane's a bad ass.
It was the 90s and most comics were pretty poor, Image was just about to or already had shaken things up. Marvel had X-cutioner's Song, Midnight Sons, Maximum Carnage and DC had Zero Hour and the demise of Superman, Green Lantern and of course Batman. My times may be off but I this is what I kind of remember the most.
Some comics at the timed were tired and overdone, and either boring or going down the "Dark" or Extreme route. As examples, in FF Mr Fantastic dead and Sue wearing next to nothing, Spiderman had dried up and had become all moody, and wasn't this the era of Gypsy and Vibe in the JLA? Basically there were big shakeups coming from everywhere to boost sales and there was nothing we could do about it.
However, I liked Knightfall, I loved Sword of Azrael (one of my all time favourites) but I didn't like the fact that HE was the choice of the next Batman, but then later on we found out that was sort of the point, so he could fall. I liked it because it wasn't a dream, you didn't 100% know that everything was going to go back to normal, it had an impact on the DCU and still does to this day. I hate, hate it when things are ignored or blown over, or a character you loves dies and you feel for it, really feel, only for them to just come back. Its cheap and it really kind of craps on the memory or the emotion you felt before.
So, I love Knightfall and the downfall of Hal Jordan, and the Death of Superman (but not the mullet) because they had a good go and shaking things up, and making a massive go of it, and leaving and impact that doesn't screw with character marketing and keeps the fans (mostly) happy.
However, I don't like big expensive crossovers that most of the time come out as crap, however thats never going to go away.... $$$
I've seen that animation before and it is very cool and well done! I would absolutely love to see WB/DC animate the Knightfall saga in some form someday.
I was 18-19 when Knightfall occurred, and I admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I picked up everything "Batman" at the time, so I had the advantage of having read Vengeance of Bane and the Azrael mini series beforehand - stories that tend to be overlooked now but are pivotal prequels to the Knightfall arc. I wasn't worried that Bruce would one day be back to full form (Superman's "death" caused me much more anxiety, but we all know that turned out okay, so I knew Bats was safe too...eventually.) To be honest, my biggest problem with the series was that Bruce/Batman returned to crimefighting sans the briefs (his costume took on a more Keaton-esque look after Knightfall.) Thankfully that was soon rectified.
I continue to tell myself I need to re-visit the saga to get a more well-rounded viewpoint, but have yet to get my lazy butt into my comic collection to dig it out. Besides, I'm busy following Grant Morrison's run on Batman now and it may very well lead into as crazy an "end" as Knightfall did. Maybe even crazier. Knightfall didn't involve bat-mite after all.
It wasn't Shakespeare by any means, but then again, Shakespeare is full of death and deceit and incest, so...maybe that isn't a bad thing after all.
My tastes may have enhanced or declined since 1993, who knows, but I do look back on the storyline, and the time in my life and the life of comicdom, fondly.
I think it was my post that accidentally got deleted (no worries!). I got impatient trying to sign in and clicked anonymous. I can't remember what I said now, but I'll do my best..
Summarizing: I did not like Knightfall. To me, Batman IS Bruce Wayne (not the playboy act) Batman without Bruce Wayne is no different than any of us dressed up in the suit. The whole Knightfall thing may have been more interesting if it hadn't gone on for so long over so many different series. I found myself just skimming through the issues and only reading the Bruce Wayne portions.
New stuff: I never liked Azrael either. He always came off as a whiny complainer. Plus, he had powers! This contrary to everything I enjoy about Batman.
"Knightfall" more or less drove me away from comics, too (together with "Emerald Twilight" and a couple other indicators that comics had entered an "age" too sick and twisted for my tastes), but I actually made it all the way through to the end.
There was nothing at all "realistic" about this storyline. After months of impressing on us how irreversible and total Bruce's injuries were, he was magically cured at the end by a glorified faith healer. Thus any "realism" went right out the window with a straight-from-left-field deux ex machina better suited to an X-book (or the X-Files).
Then Bruce comes back to reclaim the cowl, only to hand it right over to Dick so he can go off and "find himself." Months later, he returns from this self-defining spiritual quest and makes a major change to the way he does business. That's right, from now on, he's wearing his underwear on the inside of his Bat-suit. Big whoop.
A total waste of my time and money that took what, two years to unspool? Yeah, that pretty much soured me on monthly comics from then on.
I skimmed through a lot of issues at bookstores back then, and was surprised by the idea that DC would mess with 'the formula'. I recently re-read the collected trade paperback edition of the story (volumes one and two), and it is an interesting idea for a story. The artwork was very good throughout, and that helped.
Batman: Knightfall was a story arc that ran thru all the Batman comic book titles in 1993-94. During this run they introduced 2 new characters. Azreal, who was a superhero in training & Bane, who was a major villain. The basic story is that Bane is inspired & very determined to crush Batman. To do this he starts his evil plan by releasing all the prisoners of Arkham Asylum, Gotham City's main high-security prison. The rogue list includes The Joker, Scarecrow, Firefly, Madhatter, The Ventriloquist, Victor Zsasz, & others. After their release Batman has to find & fight all of the villains thus weakening him & making him the perfect victim for Bane. Then we all know what happens next because it's a very famous moment in comic book history, Bane breaks Batman's back! Now, I know a lot of Batman fans really love this story-arc because it is very well-written & the artwork was pretty good too. But, here's the deal, I was really into collecting comic books at the time & when this cheesy event happened was when they lost me as a customer. It was such a low-class marketing move that I stopped buying comics for a really long time. That's how offended I was. After a little time had passed ( a few years, ha ha ) I eventually came back. But, the exact moment when Bane crushed Batman was when DC Comics broke my heart, ha ha!
Now, here's some recent events that happened to me. I have been debating with myself to publish this personal opinion of mine or not because it is kinda negative, I guess. But it's something I felt strongly about & I have been collecting a few images for the story when all of a sudden a Bat-Blog reader sent this video featuring some amazing animation. The short "fan film" is a home-made animation that is the entire Batman: Knightfall story arc but sort of condensed. The animation quality is very good. This guy is a very talented artist! ( Thank you Kev for sending the link ). For the readers who were into Batman around this time I'd like to know how you felt about DC Comics breaking Batman. Please leave a comment down below.
8 comments:
I liked Knightfall, Knightquest, and Knightsend. It showed how human Batman is. Plus I knew he'd be back. Az-Bat wasn't meant to be Batman forever. I thought Az-Bat was kinda cool though.
Well keep in mind this isn't long after DC killed there numero uno , Superman. Him , Bat's and Wonder Woman are there big three as they like to call them. Doing something similar to Wonder Woman ten years ago may have caused a stir up , regardless she having the powers she does we still see a woman when we look at her. They had to show that there characters had some relation with normal people and there's no better way to show they share our same mortal flaws. Granted Supes return was the worst story line ever , however the approach they gave Batman was means of something more realistic. No one wants to see there favorite cape get took down , but it left it open for a new character to build a fan base who's idea was on a lil bit more hardcore vigilante styled justice. I believe with a downed batman they were able to draw more reader's and with a new vicious Batman was an attempt to maybe draw away from some of Marvels Punisher fans. That and Bane's a bad ass.
It was the 90s and most comics were pretty poor, Image was just about to or already had shaken things up. Marvel had X-cutioner's Song, Midnight Sons, Maximum Carnage and DC had Zero Hour and the demise of Superman, Green Lantern and of course Batman. My times may be off but I this is what I kind of remember the most.
Some comics at the timed were tired and overdone, and either boring or going down the "Dark" or Extreme route. As examples, in FF Mr Fantastic dead and Sue wearing next to nothing, Spiderman had dried up and had become all moody, and wasn't this the era of Gypsy and Vibe in the JLA? Basically there were big shakeups coming from everywhere to boost sales and there was nothing we could do about it.
However, I liked Knightfall, I loved Sword of Azrael (one of my all time favourites) but I didn't like the fact that HE was the choice of the next Batman, but then later on we found out that was sort of the point, so he could fall. I liked it because it wasn't a dream, you didn't 100% know that everything was going to go back to normal, it had an impact on the DCU and still does to this day. I hate, hate it when things are ignored or blown over, or a character you loves dies and you feel for it, really feel, only for them to just come back. Its cheap and it really kind of craps on the memory or the emotion you felt before.
So, I love Knightfall and the downfall of Hal Jordan, and the Death of Superman (but not the mullet) because they had a good go and shaking things up, and making a massive go of it, and leaving and impact that doesn't screw with character marketing and keeps the fans (mostly) happy.
However, I don't like big expensive crossovers that most of the time come out as crap, however thats never going to go away.... $$$
I've seen that animation before and it is very cool and well done! I would absolutely love to see WB/DC animate the Knightfall saga in some form someday.
I was 18-19 when Knightfall occurred, and I admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I picked up everything "Batman" at the time, so I had the advantage of having read Vengeance of Bane and the Azrael mini series beforehand - stories that tend to be overlooked now but are pivotal prequels to the Knightfall arc. I wasn't worried that Bruce would one day be back to full form (Superman's "death" caused me much more anxiety, but we all know that turned out okay, so I knew Bats was safe too...eventually.) To be honest, my biggest problem with the series was that Bruce/Batman returned to crimefighting sans the briefs (his costume took on a more Keaton-esque look after Knightfall.) Thankfully that was soon rectified.
I continue to tell myself I need to re-visit the saga to get a more well-rounded viewpoint, but have yet to get my lazy butt into my comic collection to dig it out. Besides, I'm busy following Grant Morrison's run on Batman now and it may very well lead into as crazy an "end" as Knightfall did. Maybe even crazier. Knightfall didn't involve bat-mite after all.
It wasn't Shakespeare by any means, but then again, Shakespeare is full of death and deceit and incest, so...maybe that isn't a bad thing after all.
My tastes may have enhanced or declined since 1993, who knows, but I do look back on the storyline, and the time in my life and the life of comicdom, fondly.
http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/52/trackback
This is a really good article about the lead up to knightfall
I think it was my post that accidentally got deleted (no worries!). I got impatient trying to sign in and clicked anonymous. I can't remember what I said now, but I'll do my best..
Summarizing: I did not like Knightfall. To me, Batman IS Bruce Wayne (not the playboy act) Batman without Bruce Wayne is no different than any of us dressed up in the suit. The whole Knightfall thing may have been more interesting if it hadn't gone on for so long over so many different series. I found myself just skimming through the issues and only reading the Bruce Wayne portions.
New stuff: I never liked Azrael either. He always came off as a whiny complainer. Plus, he had powers! This contrary to everything I enjoy about Batman.
"Knightfall" more or less drove me away from comics, too (together with "Emerald Twilight" and a couple other indicators that comics had entered an "age" too sick and twisted for my tastes), but I actually made it all the way through to the end.
There was nothing at all "realistic" about this storyline. After months of impressing on us how irreversible and total Bruce's injuries were, he was magically cured at the end by a glorified faith healer. Thus any "realism" went right out the window with a straight-from-left-field deux ex machina better suited to an X-book (or the X-Files).
Then Bruce comes back to reclaim the cowl, only to hand it right over to Dick so he can go off and "find himself." Months later, he returns from this self-defining spiritual quest and makes a major change to the way he does business. That's right, from now on, he's wearing his underwear on the inside of his Bat-suit. Big whoop.
A total waste of my time and money that took what, two years to unspool? Yeah, that pretty much soured me on monthly comics from then on.
I skimmed through a lot of issues at bookstores back then, and was surprised by the idea that DC would mess with 'the formula'. I recently re-read the collected trade paperback edition of the story (volumes one and two), and it is an interesting idea for a story. The artwork was very good throughout, and that helped.
Post a Comment