A review by kaipitain
Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2 (25th Anniversary Edition) by Chuck Dixon
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Man this was strange.. the pace in the prelude was a bit slow and here it's just really odd.
I'd say it's paced somewhat slowly in terms of plot since nothing much happens except yapping about in Gotham. But in terms of character, the pacing is just WAY OFF THE LIMITS HERE.
I knew that Jean-Paul Valley would become Batman and drift off into being too violent and brutal, but it happened in like 5 minutes?!
He's just a student at the beginning of Sword of Azrael, becomes Azrael the Avenging Angel of Death, is taken under Batman's wing and trained not to kill as he did before, then Batman get's broken and Azrael has to take up the Mantal.
This is the perfect setup for depicting his character arc as a slow decent back into violence and a tragedy of him falling from grace. But instead he becomes a psychopath out of nowhere as soon as he picks up the mask. It's obvious from the first minute that this isn't going to work out and still everyone let's him do his thing as the new Batman? Why not start with him doing things by the book, making everyone trust this plan before slipping and going crazy.
Well anyway that pacing issue with the character arc of Jean-Paul Valley's Azrael/Batman aside, this was still brilliant. Much more tense and riviting than the prelude, but this other issue bumps it down from being as good as Knightfall Volume 1 was.
I'd say it's paced somewhat slowly in terms of plot since nothing much happens except yapping about in Gotham. But in terms of character, the pacing is just WAY OFF THE LIMITS HERE.
I knew that Jean-Paul Valley would become Batman and drift off into being too violent and brutal, but it happened in like 5 minutes?!
He's just a student at the beginning of Sword of Azrael, becomes Azrael the Avenging Angel of Death, is taken under Batman's wing and trained not to kill as he did before, then Batman get's broken and Azrael has to take up the Mantal.
This is the perfect setup for depicting his character arc as a slow decent back into violence and a tragedy of him falling from grace. But instead he becomes a psychopath out of nowhere as soon as he picks up the mask. It's obvious from the first minute that this isn't going to work out and still everyone let's him do his thing as the new Batman? Why not start with him doing things by the book, making everyone trust this plan before slipping and going crazy.
Well anyway that pacing issue with the character arc of Jean-Paul Valley's Azrael/Batman aside, this was still brilliant. Much more tense and riviting than the prelude, but this other issue bumps it down from being as good as Knightfall Volume 1 was.