Rating: 
Summary: This Story's Been Done Better Elsewhere
Review: While breathtaking in scope, the entire saga of KNIGHTFALL feels like one elongated retread of a work done far superior elsewhere. Many of the events occuring throughout the year-long tale are irrelevant to the overall impact of the story. While it was interesting to see another person wear the mantle of the Bat for a time, the urbanized Batman grew cliched rather quickly in his vicious responses to Bat's Rogues Gallery of criminals. That and the noticeable absense of Nightwing from the majority of the adventures leaves many moments with an overwhelming sense of 'ho hum.' Still, the saga climaxes with little fisticuffs, a nice irony in transforming Bruce Wayne back into the part-detective, part-vigilante that occupies his very soul.
Rating: 
Summary: Knightfall: Broken Bat--a grand design but weak execution
Review: With "Knightfall" it is not so much the grand design as it is the execution. Obviously writers Doug Moench and Chuck Dixon were trying to come up with something comparable to the death of Superman for the Dark Night. I think the sacred status of "The Return of the Dark Knight" makes it impractical to try and use the Joker for Batman's primary foe in such an attempt, so Bane plays the antagonist for "Knightfall" the ways Doomsday did for Superman. From a storytelling perspective I really like the triggering event and climax of the first half of the story. The idea of emptying Arkham Asylum as the opening gambit in a deadly game against Batman is a masterstroke. After all, one man can only do so much, and each successive victory weakens Batman. Psychologically scarring a man who has already been traumatized by his parent's murder into becoming a vigilante of the night is going to be pretty difficult, so the idea of simply breaking Batman's back also seems like an appropriate obstacle (Superman already did the coming back from the dead routine). So the set up and the payoff for part one are pretty good.But it is the execution that most readers seem to be quibbling about. The individual comic book stories in which Batman tracks down the escapees from Arkham are not especially memorable, whereas the goal would be almost for each episode to stand on its own as well as lend itself to a geometric progression of the Batman's troubles. The exception that proves the rule would be the climax of "Die Laughing," where Batman gets a does of the Scarecrow's fear-gas, which only dredges up the Joker's killing of Robin as his greatest fear. But when Bane finally attacks Batman, having worn him down through this long series of battles with other foes, even the flashback of the chain of events does not provide a glimpse of anything more than simply piling on the wounds until Batman has nothing left. The result is functional, but not the spectacular culmination you would hope for with such an epic. Furthermore, the artwork by pencillers Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Graham Nolan, and Jim Balent is fairly pedestrian. In terms of providing some of the atmosphere that suits Batman best, the closest would be "Night Terrors," where Aparo's pencils are enhanced by inker Tom Mandrake to good effect. But ultimately the artwork suffers in comparison to the covers and promo pages drawn by Kelly Jones. The idea of Jones having done the entire "Knightfall" saga does induce salivary secretions, but it was not to be. So basically we have a very good idea that could have been great if the execution had been better. "Batman: Knightfall, Part One: Broken Bat" reprints the first half of the epic tale from "Batman" 491-497" and "Detective Comics" 659-663. The tale concludes in "Batman: Knightfall, Part Two: Who Rules the Night."
Rating: 
Summary: Read it somewhere - don't bother buying it
Review: You'll want to read the story if you're a big Bat-fan, but it's not worth owning unless you're a completist. Go find a place you can read it for free and do so.
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