A review by captwinghead
Batman: The Dark Knight, Volume 2: Cycle of Violence by Vicente Cifuentes, Mico Suayan, Gregg Hurwitz, Juan José Ryp, Richard Friend, David Finch
4.0
I... would not recommend reading this if you like Damian Wayne.
This was incredibly frustrating for me. I love Damian. I've spent the past week and a half reading anything and everything I could find on this character. One thing becomes abundantly clear in everything I've read: Bruce Wayne has, at best, been a distant father. That's putting it kindly. He's not physically abusive and he has enough contingency plans put in place to make sure Damian is never left alone but he doesn't spend time with his son. Even when reading Batman and Robin, the moments where he embraces Damian or offers a kind word are extremely rare.
There's a moment early in this book where Damian (who's dialogue sounds as if Hurwitz thought he was writing for young Jason Todd, not Damian) tells Bruce that he's "try'n" to be mellower and less angry. He comes to Bruce and says this and that's a huge deal for someone like Damian. He wanted to make it clear that he was "listening" to his father and trying to be better. And Bruce's response is "huh?". You know, because he wasn't listening to Damian.
Then, Batman is dosed with fear toxin and is missing for several days. Damian finds him, brings him home and says he's glad Damian's there... then he proceeds to try a crazy plan that is certain to kill him and force Damian to remotely pilot the plane. He expressly orders his son not to fly him to safety until the job is done. Damian then watches Alfred desperately try to save his father's life. All of this a few months after Damian thought his father was dead.
The worst part of this is that the book ends with Bruce fulfilling a promise to his then girlfriend and spending New Years with her. Not his son.
This whole book is Damian, once again, reaching out to his father and getting nothing substantial in return. It makes me question, like that Rebirth Teen Titans book, why writers don't want Bruce to be a great father to Damian. He's absent, downright ignorant of how to communicate with his son. Which would be fine if we saw that he was really trying. This book makes it seem like he doesn't really care. And worst of all, there was no series at the time to really show the aftermath of these scenes where Damian tried to talk this out or deal with it in silence. It's just a POV we never get.
So, it's frustrating. As much as I think Finch did a brilliantly creepy job drawing Scarecrow and the fight scenes and all the blood, as much as the Crane stuff was well done, this was a frustrating book to read because I just felt like strangling Batman.
This was incredibly frustrating for me. I love Damian. I've spent the past week and a half reading anything and everything I could find on this character. One thing becomes abundantly clear in everything I've read: Bruce Wayne has, at best, been a distant father. That's putting it kindly. He's not physically abusive and he has enough contingency plans put in place to make sure Damian is never left alone but he doesn't spend time with his son. Even when reading Batman and Robin, the moments where he embraces Damian or offers a kind word are extremely rare.
There's a moment early in this book where Damian (who's dialogue sounds as if Hurwitz thought he was writing for young Jason Todd, not Damian) tells Bruce that he's "try'n" to be mellower and less angry. He comes to Bruce and says this and that's a huge deal for someone like Damian. He wanted to make it clear that he was "listening" to his father and trying to be better. And Bruce's response is "huh?". You know, because he wasn't listening to Damian.
Then, Batman is dosed with fear toxin and is missing for several days. Damian finds him, brings him home and says he's glad Damian's there... then he proceeds to try a crazy plan that is certain to kill him and force Damian to remotely pilot the plane. He expressly orders his son not to fly him to safety until the job is done. Damian then watches Alfred desperately try to save his father's life. All of this a few months after Damian thought his father was dead.
The worst part of this is that the book ends with Bruce fulfilling a promise to his then girlfriend and spending New Years with her. Not his son.
This whole book is Damian, once again, reaching out to his father and getting nothing substantial in return. It makes me question, like that Rebirth Teen Titans book, why writers don't want Bruce to be a great father to Damian. He's absent, downright ignorant of how to communicate with his son. Which would be fine if we saw that he was really trying. This book makes it seem like he doesn't really care. And worst of all, there was no series at the time to really show the aftermath of these scenes where Damian tried to talk this out or deal with it in silence. It's just a POV we never get.
So, it's frustrating. As much as I think Finch did a brilliantly creepy job drawing Scarecrow and the fight scenes and all the blood, as much as the Crane stuff was well done, this was a frustrating book to read because I just felt like strangling Batman.