Hello and welcome to the World of Bats, the Batman Book Club!
This week we’ll be continuing our look at the epic 90s event Knightfall this four issues, Detective Comics #665-666 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan, and Batman #499-500, by Doug Moench and Jim Aparo!
Detective Comics #665
Batman #499
Detective Comics #666
Batman #500
Reading will last from 2022-01-01T06:00:00Z → 2022-01-07T06:00:00Z, but you can always come back later.
I used to own the version of Batman #500 that had the fold-out cover. Anyway, this is a pretty satisfying conclusion to the first arc of this story, even if the AzBats suit is a bit much. Too bad that the following arcs are a complete disappointment. 
Just finished reading 'Tec 665 and Batman 499, and, like Robin, I’m a bit worried about Jean-Paul’s Batman. It probably means that the writer is doing a good job that I don’t like how far Jean-Paul is taking things and he seems almost hellbent on taking down Bane on his own. Bruce Wayne still being the world’s greatest detective and fighting goons from a wheelchair is fun.
I’m of two minds on the Bat-claw gauntlets (not sure if there’s an official name). They look pretty cool but they also remind me of one of the 90’s trend where everything had to be extreme (or Xtreme).
I find Tim Drake to be an annoying scold in Knightfall.
As for Jean-Paul, I don’t like the character, but it’s not for the reasons I’m supposed to dislike the character. In fact, I feel that he doesn’t go far enough. Perhaps that’s why I find Tim Drake to be so irritating in this story: Jean-Paul doesn’t really feel any more violent than Bruce Wayne was when Tim first inserted himself into the Dark Knight’s life. Maybe if Tim was more “Batman needs a Robin to soften his edge” and less “Batman needs a Robin to nag him endlessly,” it wouldn’t bother me so much, but I just laugh when Tim acts as though Bruce would NEVER go this dark (especially considering how many early post-Crisis stories went darker!).
Speaking of Jean-Paul’s disappointing tameness, the same is true of his revamped appearance. His new costume in Batman #500 is certainly excessive compared to the classic one, but it’s not quite Rob Liefeld levels of embarrassing, and that may be to its detriment. Like, where’s the single glowing yellow eye? I’m not sure if it’s even as silly as Todd McFarlane’s design for Spawn. (Well, maybe the later red variant of the costume gets there.)
Jean-Paul’s fight with Bane at the end was pretty cool. I’m not a fan of Jean-Paul’s Bat-armor, but I guess that aesthetic was in vogue at the time (at least it’s not to Extreme Justice levels).
Gordon knowing that something was different about “Batman” is a good subplot. I especially enjoyed the scene where Gordon turned around and gasp “Batman’s” still there! 
You know I can be down for some mild Tim roasting, but I think I get where he’s coming from here. Reading these issues, I got the idea that it was less Jean-Paul’s violence that was affecting Tim, but more that Jean-Paul seemingly didn’t care about the kids of the mob boss they were pressuring that were in Bane’s possession. Sure, Bruce can be hard on criminals they’re going after, but Jean-Paul seemed uninterested in their welfare as Batman, a marked departure of what I think most people would consider Batman to be.
