Written by Tom King
Pencils and Inks by Jorge Fornes and Mikel Janin
Colored by Jordie Bellaire
This is the issue I’ve personally been waiting for a very long time now because in this issue we finally fully go over Bane’s master plan that has been controlling all the events during the Tom King Batman Rebirth era of comics. All the pieces are finally laid out before us in detail from the Plane that threaten to crash in Gotham that Batman accepted he could die there, to his battle with Bane with help of a team that included Catwoman, which placed the two close together growing a relationship that Bane had hope for, and why? Because Bane wanted to lift the Batman up by giving him hope just so he could bring down the Bat by taking it all away. That’s just stone cold right there, but it really shows just how smart Bane really is and how patient he is to play the long game for such a deep plot.
So after 2 years and 72 issues we finally can see the grand scale of the greater picture that Tom King has very precisely planned out for us during his controversial run with everyone’s favorite caped crusader, and I for one am very impressed with the level of detail and the amount of effort it must have taken to craft such a long and well thought out story that truly draws from every chapter of this run and makes each arc a necessary puzzle piece to understanding the bigger story at hand: Bane’s story of how he plans to break the bat.
While going through the pages of this issue we see a battle taking place between Batman and Bane inside of Wayne Manor after Batman has escaped his nightmares he suffered due to being captured by Bane. By far my favorite piece of art in this book features those who have played a role in this grand scheme as they all stand around Bane who sits on his throne of skulls. I like this because of the level of detail here as well as the menacing faces of Batman’s rogues who are all smiling because they believe they have already won, but have they?
As we see the visuals of this fight between Batman and Bane, we read in the narration someone going over every step of Bane’s plan and the ripples effects each move had. It’s crazy to think how Bane was able to push one domino enough to set off a chain of reactions all of which he was able to predict and control in his expert plan that really made me have to respect the man known as Bane. We learn at the end that the person who has been narrating has actually been Thomas Wayne aka Flashpoint Batman who has come here and agreed to help Bane because he wants his son to be broken to the point where he gives up the cowl, but as we all know, Batman will never let that happen.
Ultimately I think this issue is a must read title that I hope will instill a sense of trust return to writer Tom King because he truly shows us here in this issue how much work and long term creative talent he has put into his run. I for one have found this plot to be very interesting, and I’ve spent more hours than I’d like to admit reading and rereading and studying this run of Batman to learn all of its secrets and clues so I’m very happy that most of that plot has been spelled out and now we can move into the final 13 issues of this incredible run.
I give Batman #72 a 9 out of 10
Comic Book Corps 