@Carpenters
I would love to see an Amazonian Coffee ship/breakfast joint. I bet they would have delicious coffee!
The I Am Batman moment rules so hard in this book. I love the way we are lead to believe bats is down and out. Loved seeing him pull out all the stops!
@Carpenters
I would love to see an Amazonian Coffee ship/breakfast joint. I bet they would have delicious coffee!
The I Am Batman moment rules so hard in this book. I love the way we are lead to believe bats is down and out. Loved seeing him pull out all the stops!
Tomorrow is your last day to let us know what you thought of this week’s book! Make sure you swing by!
Thanks for the reminder, Matt!
Okay, just finished it – like someone else said, this is a fantastic climax to the “I Am” trilogy and I suppose the first act of Tom King’s run on Batman. Looking back, there’s things about it that are a little jarring or confusing (like Bane hanging Dick, Jason and Damian in the bat cave, but he…doesn’t kill them?) but it’s overall a good mix of superhero brawling and character drama.
I think my favorite big moment in this was Bane tearing through Arkham Asylum, fighting all the rogues to get to Batman. A smaller, but equally great moment is the bit in the end where Bruce in his mind(?) is talking to his mother and how he admits that he didn’t go down this path out of vengeance, but simply to help this young woman to make her not afraid anymore. A beautiful distillation of who Batman is at his core.
As for how Bane is in this story…it really doesn’t change my opinion on him one way or another. It’s not my favorite take on him (that goes to Gail Simone’s take in Secret Six). It’s interesting to see him more flawed and complex in his motivations, but he really doesn’t feel as much of a strategist or much of a deep thinker in this story (though later parts of King’s run does fix that).
As for the fast food question…I don’t really have much of an opinion since I don’t eat fast food a lot. Maybe I’d go to a Jitters every once in a while.
I blew through this arc this morning and loved it!
DQ’s:
King and Finch make magic on this book. The best artist on the Rebirth volume of Batman has been David Finch by an absolute lightyear and beyond.
I’m highly biased in that opinion though, as Finch is one of my top three all-time favorite comic book artists. I’ve happily devoured all of his DC work, most (if not all) of his Marvel output and especially his Top Cow book, Aphrodite IX.
If you like good food, good fun, good people and a whole lot of crazy crap on the walls (think an alligator wearing sunglasses and a Stetson hat) come on down to Marshmallow Pete’s Marshmallow Paradise!
Ask for Moe, as he sings when you order the Million Dollar Birthday Fries (but don’t complain about your teeth being cold due to how cold your soda is, as Moe hates that).
Runner-up for a favorite moment would be the comparison scenes between Bruce and Bane when they were younger and as they then matured.
Two-Face’s brief involvement was fun too.
No, I Am Bane is a textbook example of how Bane is Batman’s greatest foe from a physical standpoint.
From the time I flipped through some issues of Batman in a grocery store in 1993 when Knightfall was occuring, up to this arc and to today, I’ve always had the opinion that Bane is one seriously badass villain and Batman is all the greater of a hero for having the stones to continually take him on.
Excellent pick Matt! Did you read Batman #75 yet?
Okay, sharing some of my favorite images.
First, I would have posted some of the Robins together at the restaurant, but I kinda forgot amid really, I’m sure we’ve all seen them several times on Reddit anyway.
Second, while she’s not in here much, I like how Selina factors into the story, basically being the one that saves the lives of Batman’s allies while Bruce distracts Bake with what she describes as their guttural masculine thing, all with her own flair.
King has used a lot of poetry to set the mood for his books starting with this. In case you don’t know, this is from Dante’s Inferno, describing the plaque that welcomes those who pass into Hell. An appropriate one for Arkham Asylum as well.
And how appropriate is it that Maxie Zeus, the villain who thinks himself a Greek God, serves as a sort of Greek Chorus for this part of the story.
I forgot to mention it, but one minor thing I enjoyed in this arc was the use of the surnames of famous folk associated with Batman as street names.
Christopher Nolan, Dave McKean and others all got a nicely deserved little morsel of an easter egg in this story.
I remember when I Am Suicide started and they reference something called “The War of Jokes and Riddles,” it made me excited more than a lot of things that was happening in Rebirth at the time. Don’t get it twisted, most of the stuff they brought back I liked, but it all felt like just rummaging through the past, no one was really doing anything new… until that point.
This only made that desire grow. I don’t think they had announced that the War was going to be the next big arc at that point yet, but seeing this page at the time only made me want it more.
Who doesn’t love a beaten up, bloodied Batman getting back up and facing his foes with all the grit and drive of a man obsessed (with a light sprinkling of sass)?
Considering the big part of the story showing how their mothers shaped Bruce and Bane’s lives, this was a poignant way to end this story.
1.) Is this your first time reading Batman (2016) Issues 16-20?
Yes
2.) What would be your DC Character themed fast food joint? What’s on the menu?
It would be a “the Flash” themed food joint because people want their food fast.
3.) We had a lot of big moments in these issues, which one stood out the most?
The parallel story-telling in issue #18 stood out because it was so compelling and well-written.
4.) Did this book change your opinion of Bane?
Bane’s origin story has always been sad. This narrative really drove that home for me. I have more empathy for him now.
More thoughts:
Everything in #16 was great! I loved them eating out and Bruce eating a burger with a knife and fork - come on, man! Cucumber sandwiches? Damian being bad at the table - haha!
This story is 16 issues in, and it’s where some good action is! I loved getting straight to the action - with some humor in the beginning.
Great pick, @MattMcDonald
@Jay_Kay, thanks for posting the images!
Mmmm marshmallows.
I haven’t read 75 yet! It’s coming in my box of comics tomorrow. It’s gonna be the first one I read! I CANNOT WAIT.
I flash themed fast food resturant is so good.
Surely this a thing in some Six Flags somewhere!
The reveal that the narration was from his mother hits so hard. The build up to that final page is heartbreaking
It is much more action-oriented than other King stuff I have enjoyed, like the acclaimed award winning Mister Miracle and his Vision family 12 issue engrossing Sci Fi adventure over yonder.
I kinda like Action King…how about a nice 9.9 out of 10 for this one?
@Don-El, it was definitely real, Bane references doing it later, not to mention them being at the Fortress. I think the idea was that Bane beat the Robins senseless, and hung them in that way without killing them as a message.
Of course, the question then becomes, why didn’t Bane just kill them?
