Batman, Volume 13: City of Bane, Part 2 Review (Tom King, Mikel Janin)

Bane and Flashpoint Batman head up the villains who have taken over Gotham. But the Bat and the Cat have returned to overthrow the City of Bane in one final battle - though at a terrible personal cost to Bruce…

So here it is: the last book in Tom King’s celebrated Batman run. And it’s… fine. There’s nothing here that’ll surprise you. Bat and Cat beat Bane and Flashpoint Batman - we knew that was going to happen because that was the only thing that could’ve happened.

There’s a lot of monologuing going on too that’s a bit tedious. Batman goes on at length to explain what was happening in the previous book - why he was an amnesiac monk on the mountain, why he and Selina were in the tropics, Gotham Girl’s sudden evil turn, and so on. It fills in all the gaps, so it’s satisfactory in that regard, but it’s not exciting to read even as we see Bat and Cat cleaning house with one villain after another.

Then there’s Alfred’s monologue. As much as I know what happens to Alfie won’t stick, I do think King’s treatment is about as brilliant a way for that character to bow out as any (yes, even with the extensive Longfellow quoting!). The voice is so well-captured - dignified, eloquent and heartfelt - that it’s impossible not to be moved or keenly feel Bruce’s reaction in that moment.

There’s more filling-in with Flashpoint Batman’s background and motivations and the predictably standard punch-up to close things out. I liked that Bat and Cat worked together for this last encounter but it’s still an unremarkable finale. I’m glad Bruce and Selina got their happy ending though.

I do like John Romita Jr’s art generally but it wasn’t a good fit for this book. Compared to the likes of Mikel Janin, Clay Mann and Tony S. Daniel, who all drew different parts of this arc, it’s too cartoony and sits unevenly here. Janin’s art is spectacular as always and I really enjoyed Jorge Fornes’ work (think David Mazzucchelli’s style if he was still drawing Batman) as well.

The volume concludes rather anticlimactically with Batman Annual #4 which is just a collection of blah short stories. Batman fights a dragon, a UFC fighter, and so on - we get it, Batman does a lot of impressive shit on the reg.

Still, Batman, Volume 13: City of Bane, Part 2 is a perfectly decent, if underwhelming, final book to what was a superb and truly great Batman run. Well done Tom King and his team - this was easily one of the best times in the character’s history and I look forward to re-reading these books in the years ahead. I’ve not really got much hope for King’s successor, James Tynion IV, particularly having read his recent work on Detective Comics (pee-yew!), but I felt that way about King before I read his first Batman book back in 2016 and I was pleasantly surprised - fingers crossed lightning strikes twice, eh?