Batman: Knightfall, Part Two: Who Rules the Night by Doug Moench

Batman: Knightfall, Part Two: Who Rules the Night Reviews

• 
  Ethan

  In the comics collected in Who Rules the Night, a new Batman rises after the crippling of Bruce Wayne in Part One at the hands of the venom-addicted supervillain Bane. I won't spoil who the new Batman is, but he's a lot more violent and ruthless than Bruce Wayne was, which concerns Robin. The story mainly follows the rise of the new Batman and his attempts to restore order in Gotham. Several of the criminals that escaped Arkham Asylum in Part One have not yet been captured, and it's up to the new Batman to bring them in and wrestle Gotham out of Bane's control.
  
  I really enjoyed Part Two, possibly even more than Part One, but where the art in the comics collected in Part One was relatively the same in terms of quality, the art in this collection was uneven. It absolutely dropped off a cliff with Showcase '93 #7 (2-Face - Double Cross) and Showcase '93 #8 (2-Face Part Two - Bad Judgment), two comics about Two-Face. Though these comics contain the Two-Face origin story, which was not only cool to see but pretty different than Christopher Nolan's origin story for the same character in his film The Dark Knight, I found the art in those books to be quite bad; the quality was very incongruous with the rest of the collection. The contrast was so stark it made these comics seem like they didn't even belong in this collection.
  
  Also, there always seems to be something slightly annoying pervading each volume/collection. In Part One, it was Bruce Wayne's Batman whining all the time about how tired he is. In Part Two, it's Robin whining all the time about how the new Batman is crossing the line and going too far, not doing things in the "Batman way", etc. Uneven art and whiny Robin aside, I loved this collection and can't wait to read the final installment, Part Three.
  
  Highly recommended!
• 
  Brandon

  I spent the majority of my review for Knightfall: Volume 1 gushing over how much I enjoyed the story and how pumped up it made me for The Dark Knight Rises. Having just finished Volume 2 and seen The Dark Knight Rises twice, I can easily say that I enjoyed this collection on a much higher level.
  
  I'm not sure if it's strictly because now when I read Bane, I can only hear his dialogue in Tom Hardy's voice or that the story takes a turn in a darker, more compelling direction.
  
  That being said, I'm still not completely crazy about the artwork but it does serve its purpose. Some of the character designs are a little on the dated side (Nightwing rocking a mullet) and I often got confused when presented with Jean-Paul Valley (Azreal) and Detective Stanley Kitch in succession as they looked identical.
  
  The battle within the final few pages is something to behold. I'm a sucker for fight scenes that take place in the rain (for some bizarre reason) and this one makes use of the environment wisely. There a few panels in particular that impressed me and left me wanting more.
• 
  Eddie B.

  
  7/10
  
  “Everyday the future looks a little bit darker. But the past, even the grimy parts of it, well, it just keeps on getting brighter all the time.”
• 
  Sam Quixote

  This second book in the trilogy takes a long time to say some very basic things: Bruce Wayne is in a wheelchair recovering, Jean Paul Valley is the new Batman and is dispensing a rougher sort of justice than the usual Batman, and that's it. Robin is still wringing his hands like a worried housewife, while Bane having "taken Gotham" does nothing more than sit in his... flat is it? Talking about how he's controlling all the crime in Gotham and all the money he's going to make.
  
  Having read the origin story of Bane (reprinted in "Batman vs Bane" by Chuck Dixon) I thought the character was motivated for higher reasons than money but it seems Doug Moench got lazy and decided to make the motive behind Bane nothing more than tedious money. He's also far too reliant on Venom to make him succeed, I thought he was a criminal genius but all thinking seems to escape him when he fights, making him nothing more than a `roid-ed out thug. Disappointing.
  
  Jean Paul Valley meanwhile does do some un-Batman like things like value innocent life less while modifying the outfit so it looks scarier with claws and outer-armour but he still wasn't a bad Batman. In fact he does something Bruce Wayne couldn't do in the last book.
  
  There is a lot of filler in this book. There's a two-part Two Face story that had no bearing on this book and an extra-long Scarecrow story that also is irrelevant here. The Two Face story only underlines Bruce Wayne's tiredness (it's hinted at depression in this book too strangely), which had been done to death in the first book, while the Scarecrow story is a pointless ramble and seeks to reinforce the "Jean Paul Valley is a more ruthless Batman" message that we get throughout the book anyway (thanks to an increasingly annoying Robin/Tim Drake).
  
  So, stuff happens in this book but nothing that couldn't have been done in 100 pages or less, instead of the 280 pages here. Bane turns out to be a disappointing victor not doing much, Bruce Wayne does nothing more than sit in the wheelchair, Robin is irritating, and Jean Paul Valley sets out to kick butt. The last 25 pages were good, read this if you want to save time, but that doesn't make up for the overall feeling of padding that this mediocre book provides to make this series a trilogy.
• 
  Jason Pierce

  Part of my
  Batman comic book reread project. Continued from
  Knightfall: Part One.
  
  Five stars, but I almost don't want to give that many. Not because it wasn't great, but because it's not as five starry as the previous installment. Most of this concerns the new Batman,
  Jean-Paul Valley, going after Bane. We also have Bruce Wayne recovering from his broken back, getting used to a wheel chair, and going off on his own adventure which will be covered in Knightquest. There's also a Scarecrow story inserted which is kind of fun, and a Two-Face backstory, but aside from that, the rest of the crazies from Arkham are still on the lam.
  
  The Joker is in here for a brief moment when he decides to terminate his partnership with the Scarecrow. Scarecrow has squirted Joker in the face with his fear gas, and that's actually one of my favorite scenes in the whole book:
  
  
  
  
  Dude is so insane that the fear gas has no effect on him. Love it! Crow gets hit with a chair, and Joker moseys on out.
  
  As for the main story, Jean-Paul takes up the mantle of the bat, makes a few changes in the rules, runs Robin off, and tries to take on Bane. It takes a few tries and a few suit upgrades before he's able to seal the deal, but he eventually gets there. I always liked this story, but after reading it this time, I kind of realize that Bane's really just another run-of-the-mill Batman baddie. Yeah, he broke Bruce Wayne, but only after slowly wearing him out for weeks. As I said in my part I review, Bruce could've taken him in an even fight, especially since Jean-Paul manages to pull off the task later.
  
  Here's what the new Batman looks like:
  
  
  
  
  I thought it was pretty cool, but still like the other costume better. When I first got this book which has Batman in this outfit on the cover, I assumed this new getup had a lot of mechanics that helped Bruce's back. I'm glad I was wrong about that because I enjoy the story we get concerning Jean-Paul's stint as Batman, and... well, once again I'm getting ahead of myself. That will all be covered in later reviews.
  
  Next checkpoint:
  Knightquest
• 
  Daria

  Jean-Paul is a bit much.
  Tim has a really bad time in this one, not going to lie. Feel very very bad for the lad. His idol and father figure almost dies and gets paralyzed, his actual father gets kidnapped, his master gets replaced by a guy that he was supposed to train that is way too unstable for the job. Not great times at all. He also gets a taste of his own medicine, where his student acts without thinking of the people that are around that could become casualties, relying on the other to act fast enough to save him. It's a bit funny, but also very sad.
  We get a small Harvey Dent moment. We get a small Selina moment. None of them of much relevance but I appreciate them nonetheless. I also believe having Bruce waking up at this moment was a bit cliche but we'll forgive them I guess.
  As I said in the Part 1 review, Jean-Paul is a bit upsetting as a character because he wasn't really set up properly. He's an interesting anti-hero but not one I cared much about, the only thing I was rooting for was him getting his ass beat or Gordon figuring out it wasn't Bruce. The real tension came from the fear we had of him destroying the Batman symbol, and from Tim being genuinely afraid of him in multiple instances but still trying to stop him every single time. His motivation for becoming this brutal was also very weak. It was apparently because he was weak. He got beaten up by Crocodile Man and Bane didn't care about him and suddenly it's all coming crumbling down like damn dude that's no reason to become hyperfixated on a serial killer. Also, Nightwing was there. He was also appreciated.
  The Scarecrow arc, no matter how high the stakes were, wasn't too interesting purely because everything was already going so wrong, I wasn't afraid of something else happening. We're already rock bottom. I did however enjoy Bruce trying to fight in his condition. I missed him. This was really not a batman story so every single little snippet of him was joyous.
  Also Oracle! Oracle was also here! Man this was such a mess of characters, what the hell were all of this cameos. It's like fanfictions where the author tries to add all of the characters any way possible.
• 
  Dan

  
  https://youtu.be/Jo5DvpKtDUg
• 
  John Yelverton

  I realize that they were trying to ride the coattails of Superman's death, but this whole series just seemed weak.
• 
  Steven "Steve"

  Volume II continues the tale of the broken bat and the new bat.
• 
  Lashaan Balasingam

  Well, now I can confirm that final Arkham game by Rocksteady studios was partially inspired by the events in this trade paperback. That was nice to see; for the record, Scarecrow was a lot less menacing in this than in the game. The story explored Jean-Paul Valley's evolution and was done in an entertaining fashion, maybe a little too easy and linear. Jean-Paul reminded me a lot of Tommy Gunn in Rocky V, except for the ending.
  
  The volume was definitely fun nonetheless. Sucks that Bruce had to be stuck on a wheelchair most of the time...more like the whole time.
  
  P.S. A full review to come.
  
  Yours truly,
  
  Lashaan
  
  Lashaan & Trang | Bloggers and Book Reviewers
  Official blog:
  http://bookidote.wordpress.com
• 
  Cristhian

  Mes de Batman 03/23
  
  The Bat is Broke.
  
  Oh, hello. Look at this. A brand new Batman. Now edgier. With more pouches! Claws! Metal! 90s!
  
  Oh, he is so edgy. Bleeding cool, uh? Look at him now! He can Mutilate. He will mutilate. And. He. Won't. Care.
  
  Lo sé, lo sé. Azrael como Batman fue una de las peores decisiones de DC. Aún peor que los 4 supermanes, o luego el superman eléctrico... o luego los dos supermanes eléctricos. ¿Qué carajos DC? Pero pues, eran los infames 90s.
  
  Siendo honestos, calificaré este tomo como lo habría calificado mi yo de 1994:
  
  !!!! Tiene disquitos voladores pew pew pew. Quiero esa máscara!
  Pero me cae mal Jean-Paul así que puntos menos por eso. 4/5
• 
  K.S. Trenten

  The best parts of this immediately followed the crisis of Book 1, involving Bruce Wayne, his broken back, and his attempts to recover. There’s a scene between Nightwing and Robin which summarized much of what bothered me about this volume. Large chunks of Jean Paul Valley’s story, why Bruce Wayne chose him as a successor to wear the mantle of the Bat were missing. Tim/Robin spent a lot of time criticizing the new Batman, which was understandable, but I would have preferred those moments to be balanced with action, with Tim trying to figure out what to do and carrying out some sort of plan…even if it was to go back to his life as Tim Drake, spend more time with his father or Ariana. The adversity between Jean Paul Valley’s Batman and Bane felt hollow, as if that part of the story was missing. Some of the best sequences with Jean Paul Valley involve his trances, where he gives in to his subconscious to create or design things, but those moments could have been fleshed out more. One of the best crisises was the Scarecrow’s attempt to take advantage of the chaos in Gotham to become a god. A touching character development was James Gordon’s realization that Batman isn’t the Batman he knows. The scene between Nightwing and Robin showed Dick Grayson’s equally touching devotion to Bruce Wayne, but I agreed with many of the questions he asked Tim/Robin. Nor was I satisfied with Tim’s answers. Despite my misgivings about this volume, if you’ve read Part 1, you’ll want to read Part 2, just to see what happens next to Bruce Wayne and those close to him.
  
  
  
• 
  David

  So, when you hear the name 'Batman' I'm sure most of you, like me, immediately associate that character with his alter-ego of Bruce Wayne.
  
  Not of Jean-Paul Valley.
  
  But that is precisely who Batman's alter-ego is in thus, with Bruce Wayne (the original Batman!) still in convalesence following his brutal battle - and defeat! - by Bane, and with Bruce then temporarily passing the mantle of the bat onto the former Azrael (another lesser-known comic book character to the general masses, of which I was one prior to TVs Gotham and Rocksteady's Arkham series of games) , and former foe rather than - for some inexplicable reason - passing it on to Nightwing, or even to his own sidekick Robin (or Tim Drake in this).
  
  But this Batman proves to be rougher and more violent than his predecessor - harking back to the original anti-hero Batman? - dispensing extremely rough justice to the crooks of Gotham city and side-lining Robin (who seems to do nothing but wring his hands throughout). It's really only at the very end - when Jean-Paul crosses a line - that Bruce Wayne re-appears (somehow, and mysteriously, having recovered from his severr injury), leading to the set-up for the final part of the trilogy: a final part that I will read in due course, but that I currently feel I need a break from!
• 
  Julia McColl

  Volume 1 for me was a 2.5, whereas volume 2 is a definite improvement at 3.5. The highlights for me were the Scarecrow storyline, which saw him portrayed in a terrifying new light, and the character of Jean Paul Valley. JPV is particularly interesting in Knightfall because his violent methods show just how easily someone with Batman's power (both literal and symbolic) can take a very dark path. Christopher Nolan's movies reference this storyline in more ways than the obvious breaking of Batman in Volume 1. The two I noticed were: Scarecrow makes reference to his fear gas spreading through the water supply, and Bane and JPV duke it out on a train (both were fun reminders of Batman Begins). However, the train fight felt tired and cliche without adding much to the final battle.
• 
  Chad

  Didn’t enjoy this as much as volume one. After a pretty thrilling ending to the previous installment, this book takes kind of a perplexing amount of time to really get legs. We go off on a long narrative arc involving Scarecrow that honestly could have been a lot shorter. When we finally get down to the character who steps into the mantle of Batman (following his injury at the hands of Bane) and how differently he handles the role, I was more invested and things definitely picked up. I enjoyed the conflict between Robin and the new Batman and I would recommend the book based on the second half. Just be prepared for a bit of a slog moving through the first half.
• 
  Elliot

  I have a few issues with the dumbing down of Bane but I suppose when you create a character who is the intellectual and physical superior to Bruce Wayne you kinda write yourself into a corner when you have to defeat him. Although it is a little dissatisfying to watch Azrael (tactic: punch him, lots) to only beat him up in an improved Batsuit. Saying that though, the psychological effects of the breaking of the Bat are nicely explored in this, the art is lovely and the Scarecrow's appearance is truly terrifying
• 
  Alok

  "I was condemned before my first cries of life. The world is my prison. I will rule it or I'll die."
  - Bane
  
  This was surprisingly good. The Scarecrow arc is amazing and was what inspired Batman Begins too. I wasn't aware that the movies were so heavily inspired by this series.
  
  It was kind of disappointing that it's not Bruce that beats Bane
  
  I'd take a pause from this series, because there are 2-3 books I'm missing from the next one I have and would pick this up later in the year. The ending was not big cliffhanger for me.
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Ebony Senn

  Read all three volumes several times, I’m a huge Batman fan. From the start I thought I wouldn’t like it as Bruce Wayne isn’t the Batman throughout the story, but now it has to be one of my favourite Batman comics.
• 
  Lucas

  And the camp continues. Not much of a fan of Azrael as Batman (though that's sort of the point) but the Scarecrow and Anarky arcs (very much looking forward to where that one's going) were hella fun. Honestly didn't expect him to beat Bane, not sure where it'll go from here
• 
  Elliott Ploutz

  It can pretty much be skipped if you're only interested in Batman and Bane. Azrael is cool in theory...
• 
  Jim

  Good escapist fare.
• 
  Casey Cordts

  Jean Paul is ruthless. Stories are awesome. Can't to read Knightfall: part III.
• 
  Rob Mead

  Jean Paul’s Batman versus Bane is the dark Netflix series we deserve to see one day
• 
  Benjamin Mooney

  Great tale of Bruce Wayne's vulnerabilities ad Batman and his unrelenting desire to save Gotham City.
• 
  MpaulM

  Such a great series on Batman vs. Bane. So many great pictures and little additions as well; like the newspaper clipping in the background of one scene making fun of electric cars.
• 
  Jim Smith

  While Bane himself is less intimidating than in Part One's iconic climax, the story as a whole is superior. Jean Paul's Batman is a breath of foul air.
• 
  Axl Rōjūrō Black

  "Aquellos que tienen, toman mas, y aquellos que no tienen nada... incluso eso les es arrebatado"
• 
  Gonzalo Oyanedel

  La continuación de la saga Knightfall es heredera de su época, vicios y virtudes incluidas. Pocas sorpresas y mucho efectismo noventero que no ha envejecido del todo bien.
• 
  B.J. Chester

  Great