Review- BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 3- KNIGHTSEND

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 3- KNIGHTSEND (DC, Third Printing, 2013; Softcover)

Collects Batman #509, 510, 512-514, Catwoman #12, 13, Detective Comics #676, 677, 679-681, Robin #8, 9, 11-13, Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #62, 63, and Batman: Shadow Of The Bat #29, 30, 32-34 (cover dates July, 1994- January, 1995)

Writers: Doug Moench, Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Jo Duffy, and Denny O'Neil

Artists: Pencilers (*also inkers)- Mike Manley, Bret Blevins*, Graham Nolan, Ron Wagner, Tom Grummett, Jim Balent, Joe Rubinstein*, Barry Kitson, Mike Vosburg, Mike Gustovitch*, Romeo Tanghal*, Lee Weeks, Phil Jimenez*, MD Bright, and John Cleary

Inkers- Dick Giordano, Bob Smith, Scott Hanna, Ron McCain, Ray Kryssing, Rick Burchett, Mike Manley, John Stokes, and Klaus Janson

Christ on a stick, would it have killed DC to do a complete run in any of their books? Did they have to omit the Zero Hour crossover which ran across the titles? They included one issue from it in this book while omitting the rest. Between this and the omitted issues from Vol. 2 it is apparent that DC will forever be second to Marvel's Collected Editions department. DC used to lead, and indeed helped define, this market segment but in the past decade became complacent. Marvel upped their game and raised the bar, leaving DC in the dust. All of the people who helped to build DC's collected editions department have long since left, leaving the clueless buffoons we have now running the show

This book starts out with the Knightsend crossover which ran across twelve comics. In that arc we see Bruce Wayne ready himself to return and resume the mantle of Batman. The problem is that his chosen successor, Jean Paul Valley (Azrael) is mentally unstable and is unwilling to give it up so easily. So Bruce Wayne has to defeat him in a pitched battle that requires not one, but two Aftermath issues to wrap things up. It is disgusting that this arc required folks to buy so many different titles in order to get the complete story. That is everything that is wrong with this industry. They should just slap a label on the cover reading ATTENTION COMIC FANS: We think that you are stupid sheep and will buy any and every piece of swill that we shovel at you.

The next arc is Prodigal. Bruce Wayne is not yet ready to resume his role as Batman, and picks Robin (Dick Grayson) to be the new Batman. The real Robin, not to be confused with the then-current Robin (Tim Drake, the third one). I used to spit at DC because of these multiple identities but Marvel has followed suit in the past decade, making me spit at them just as much. Ridiculous. At least this arc shows some true character development for Dick Grayson, as he regains his confidence while battle Killer Croc and Two-Face. Bruce Wayne returns at Batman on the final page of this twelve issue arc. He is wearing an all black costume reminiscent of the 1989 movie.

The writing and artwork are all good to very good, depending. While it is easy to lump in all '90s comics in together I think that DC was doing better superhero stuff than Marvel at this point in time. These three Knightfall books were an enjoyable line marred by DC's omissions. I would love to see DC go head to head with Marvel and do a chunky line of full color trade paperbacks which will eventually collect everything. These 600-650 page beasts are a good place to start.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I love thick chunky trade paperbacks of complete runs.

Linework and Color restoration: Things look good overall. The linework is tight and clean. The original color palette is maintained if certain liberties are taken where the original gradient blends are.

Paper stock: The paper stock is slightly thicker than the cheap paper that DC uses in most of their collections of classic material. It looks like real pulp comic paper, which is nice, but I don't know how well it will hold up over time. Then again, a recent trip to John King Books in Detroit showed me how durable paper can be. I was flipping through books that were 70 plus years old and the paper was solid if browned.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.

Review- BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 2- KNIGHTQUEST

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 2- KNIGHTQUEST (DC, Second Printing, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Batman #501-508, Catwoman #6, 7, Detective Comics #667-675, Robin #7, and Shadow Of The Bat #19, 20, 24-28 (cover dates October, 1993- June, 1994)

Writers: Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Doug Moench, and Jo Duffy

Artists: Pencilers- Graham Nolan, Vince Giarrano, Mike Manley, Barry Kitson, Jim Balent, Bret Blevins, and Tom Grummett; Inkers- Scott Hanna, Vince Giarrano, Mike Manley, Eduardo Barreto, Dick Giordano, Bob Wiaceck, John Beatty, Josef Rubinstein, Frank McLaughlin, Robert R. Smith, and Ray Kryssing

Ahh, the '90s. I quit this hobby during the turn of that decade (as 1989 gave way to 1990), but I occasionally popped in a comic shop to see what was shaking. Whenever I peeked into various comics I was appalled by the artwork (see cover image above). The “Image” look was in vogue, and the speculators lapped this stuff up. Buried under this horrid artwork are occasionally good stories, as evidenced by this very book.

The 1990s were !!!TOTALLY EXTREME!!!, and comics always move with the order of the day. Lame old-fashioned Bruce Wayne Batman was out, and in was the new, almost amoral badass replacement Jean Paul Valley Batman. He had psychological damage due to his programming when he was Azrael, only adding to his !!!TOTALLY EXTREME!!! '90s-ness. He even redesigned the costume with !!!TOTALLY EXTREME!!! weapons. This was a new Batman for today, man. I find the macho posturing of 1990s superheroes to be amusing.

The Joker kidnapping Hollywood studio heads and making a movie, The Death Of Batman, was the best arc in the book. Pretty funny stuff there. Both Catwoman and Commissioner Gordon have realized that this is not the Batman that they knew and loved. Other memorable issues were the ones with Mr. Freeze and Clayface, although why even the cops would refer to this third Clayface as Clayface 3 struck me as being dumb. Abattoir and Gunhawk are both '90s to the core, and were enjoyable adversaries in their own way. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed many of these stories, to be honest with you. They are fun, and while the !!!TOTALLY EXTREME!!!, dark and grittiness can get tiresome I enjoyed this book in 2-3 issue doses. The artwork was mostly decent, although there is some that is painfully dated and ugly.

I drink Diet Mountain Dew by the gallon. It is the nectar of the gods.

In typical DC fashion, this book is far from being complete or comprehensive. The entire Knightquest: The Search storyline (Bruce Wayne's quest to heal his back) is omitted, resulting in Bruce Wayne reappearing completely healed “on set” in the final issue in the book with no explanation. The issues omitted are Shadow Of The Bat #21-23, Justice League Task Force #5, 6, and Legends Of The Dark Knight #59-61. Only Robin #7 from that crossover was included in this book. What a joke. (Thanks to rifft for clarifying this to me.)

I already have Volume 3 and hope to read it someday. Stay tuned!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- DC should do more of these complete runs in chunky trade paperbacks. Marvel has been doing this with their Epic-branded line, and I have been buying them all. I am a sucker for complete runs, and even if I am not very interested in the material I tend to pick them up. Think of it as a Blu-Ray box set of a complete series that you will likely never watch...only for comics that you will likely never read.

Linework and Color restoration: Very good overall. While the original color palette is faithfully maintained, it is the gradient shades that come up short. There were gradient shades in the original comics, and the blends here come up short when compared side by side with the original issues. Again, the colors are correct, and I would say that the blends are better than 90% accurate. For DC, this is good enough.

Paper stock: This being a value priced full color phonebook means that by definition it will have cheap paper. The pulp paper here is slightly thicker than the original issues and a tad heavier than what DC usually passes off on folks in their collections of classic material. I can live with it with this page count at this price point.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.