- Cover by Guillem March
- Written by Peter Tomasi
- Art by Graham Nolan
- Coloured by John Kalisz
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BEWARE OF SPOILERS
We’ve come to the end of the four ‘Batman’ villains issues and we end on none other than Bane with an issue that ties in to the ‘Forever Evil: Arkham War’ mini-series.
Tomasi and Nolan have worked together to try and deliver an issue which is reminiscent of the ‘Knightfall’ arc in all aspects. Firstly the artwork has a very classic feel and the colour palette is also reminiscent with the exclusively night setting. Secondly the story calls for Bane to do some back breaking and in general his grand scheme for causing mayhem in Gotham is like a revenge attack for his failure during the ‘Knightfall’ arc, even the opening monologue discusses how Bane almost succeeded the first time.
Although there’s a clear goal to this issue in moving the story in to place for the ‘Arkham War’ arc to begin there’s still room to cram in some Bane backstory to make sure this doesn’t feel like a simple filler story. I had possibly expected a little more of Bane’s brutal side but there’s a cold, calculating nature to him that gets to shine through here.
As we learn a little more about Bane and he pulls together his grand plan there’s a great sense of anticipation burning underneath the story for the impending battle ahead. Several of the other villains issues have touched upon a battle between the inmates of Arkham and the inmates of Blackgate. I’ve said previously this has the potential to be another ‘No Man’s Land’ for the ‘Batman’ franchise and I really hope that DC pulls no punches in making sure the story reaches that level of brilliance.
Another solid entry to ‘Villains Month’
7/10
