The stunning conclusion to "City of Bane" is here! How will Flashpoint Batman be vanquished from our dimension? What will become of Gotham Girl now that she's betrayed all she knows? How will the Bat team cope without Alfred? Will Catwoman stick around? Who will rebuild Gotham City? Is Batman ever going to be Batman again? The event of the summer now closes out the year, setting the stage for a whole new path for the Dark Knight Detective. You don't dare miss the extra-sized concluding chapter to Tom King's epic run on Batman-and it all leads to the new Batman and Catwoman series!
King has produced an epic story that has brought Bruce to his lowest emotional point. However, the Batman has come out of this crucible as a stronger character. He has reaffirmed the inner core of hope that drives him to continue his battle against evil. Also, King has made a convincing case that the Batman can be happy without diminishing his effectiveness as a crime-fighter. Read Full Review
It does feel like there should have been more story after this issue ends. Maybe the upcoming Batman/Catwoman series will show us more of that story. Honestly though, this was pretty great. Congratulations to Tom King for an amazing run. Read Full Review
Overall, this has been a very fun series to review. I started with issue #1 and was ecstatic, because I got the honor of reviewing what would presumably be a tentpole title in comics for as long as I saw fit. Sure, I missed a couple of issues and even didn't enjoy a handful. But I truly enjoyed this chapter of my life following the journey that King and the long list of amazing artists he worked with took Batman and the Batman family. These are memories and stories I hope I can carry with me for the rest of my life and compare to others as I continue to read and support comics. I just hope that you, our readers, have enjoyed taking this journey with us too. Read Full Review
I've had my issues with Tom King's Batman run for a few months now, but I'm happy to report that he does stick the landing in Batman #85 with a strong final issue that calls back to the run's best moments. Read Full Review
Batman #85 isn't a perfect finale issue, but it hits all the right emotional notes. Read Full Review
This is a strong conclusion to Tom King's run while also providing some interesting lead up to James Tynion's forthcoming run. Read Full Review
You know if you are already going to like this title. No one will become Tom King's biggest fan after reading the conclusion, but if you enjoyed the story so far he sticks the landing. For my money, Batman will be a lesser title without his influence. Read Full Review
I think that time will be very kind to this run on Batman, and that, much like Kings other work, reads better in a collected form then as individual issues. King presents Batman as a flawed, but ultimately very human character and I appreciate that he has put Bruce Wayne through a transformative character arc. I hope that other writers pick up this ball and run with it. Read Full Review
Mikel Janin's art is sublime. The characters look amazing and Janin captures the atmosphere and tone of Gotham brilliantly. Read Full Review
With the setting and time changing every other page, BATMAN #85 has a rather jumbled presentation that detracts from the story's climax. There are, however, enough genuinely compelling moments to make the book work overall. Read Full Review
Batman #85 is a loose collection of good scenes that do not feel related to one another or to the other issues. King wrote good scenes and has great running callbacks. But the emotion gets bogged-down by his insistence to use clever literary devices. In a way Batman #85 is a fitting end to King's run, because it is a microcosm of his run:consistently inconsistent. Read Full Review
Ends the whole saga with more of a whimper than a bang, but has some good moments. Probably will read better in the trade. Read Full Review
I really was hoping for more from King with this one because in previous issues of the City of Bane story line there have been times where he has really shown and proved he deserved to be the head writer of Batman and I feel maybe since he knew he was at the end, he just did the minimum to finish the story up. It is still an issue worth reading because of the intimate side details, but if you are looking for an epic action packed finale, you will not find it here. Read Full Review
New Batman writer James Tynion IV adds a preview of his run with a character that King didnt put in a lengthy spotlight in his run. It ties in to events going on in another prominent DC title suggesting Batman will be more in line with current storylines throughout DC instead of a narrow Batman window again. Read Full Review
Tom King is over. For those of you who enjoyed all this, kudos. But King lost me a few issues ago and never got me back. Read Full Review
The ending of Tom King's Batman will be just as divisive as his entire run with this book but at the end of the day, most of the things that I felt needed to be addressed were indeed addressed. King does it in his signature style which may turn away some fans but this run is over and it was all tied together at the end with a nice bow. We even got an interested epilogue for where the story will go from here on out. Overall, it wasn't the epic finale that we all wanted it to be, but it ended in a satisfying manner and there aren't too many books that can properly say that. Read Full Review
As much as the idea of one writer for an extended amount of time sounds attractive, the reality is, at least in this case, that it leads to overblown, oft repeated ideas that come full circle. Read Full Review
Overall, King's run on Batman ends rather abruptly and is in many cases unsatisfying most likely due to the sudden exit of the writer. However, the issue does have its bright moments that are sure to continue in the upcoming Batman/Catwoman series. Read Full Review
If there is one word to describe Batman #85 it would be "lackluster." There is never a point in Batman #85 that comes across as a true wrap up to a long-term creative run. Every conclusion that Tom King presents to specific characters comes across as incomplete. There is so much missing that makes what was sacrificed in the lead up to Batman #85 hurt even more. After enjoying the majority of his epic run it is a shame that King ended his time on the main Batman series with a story in "City of Bane" that was a giant disappointment. Read Full Review
The overall issue ends up feeling a little too bland and a lot too clean for a Batman story and while one could argue that it's never been a Batman story, it's a Bruce Wayne story, even from that angle it misses the mark. Read Full Review
Batman #85 is a rushed story that desperately wants to say "happily ever after" with none of the fight to get there. Read Full Review
It will be interesting to see what elements of this run remain a part of Batman’s legacy, but arguably King was at his best when he was trying to tell a good story rather than deliver on some master plan. (The date night with Lois and Clark stands out as a particular highlight.) Bruce’s last words this issue feel like King trying to psych himself up for what’s next: “Maybe he knows how to go down and how to come back up. Maybe that’s enough. Maybe that’s just enough.” Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see. Read Full Review
The final issue of Tom King's Batman is predictably boring and unsatisfying" Even with low expectations, this is still unsatisfying because much like King's run, he doesn't really accomplish anything. And what King's legacy on Batman will be: a convoluted book with retroactive explanations that fail to add up or hold much water. Read Full Review
No, Tom King, throwing incoherent shit, glueing it up with no context and pretending it has a message is not writing. 85 issues, and everything you've set up at the beginning, every promising thing, went to complete disrepair, and in some cases was just abandoned. Example? Gotham Girl killing Batman - remember when she, herself, teased that in the first arc of the series? If you do, well, you're one step ahead of King, since he, clearly, forgot about it long time ago. No wonder CIA can't overthrow democratically elected governments anymore, if they hire such incompetent hacks.
Writing in this issue is awful, but it's nothing new in the series. Dialogues were atrocious for over two years now, mentioning them feels like beating a more
thank god this pathetic P.O.S. Batman run is finally over!!
leave it to Tom King to riddle his "grand" finale with a juxtaposition of something totally non-consequential to the climax. this comic is ALL over the place! does he think he's being clever?
i can't believe he re-used the Catwoman gag from ‘I am Suicide’. it was dumb the first time, and even more cringe-worthy now that he's forced it in here.
Tom King, take your S***ty Cucumber sandwich eating Batman and Gotham Girl and GTFO you awful HACK!!!
Well. That was bad.
Like actually bad.
Terrible even.
Alfred is dead for no reason. And it just didn't feel like it. No one seems to mourn him. What exactly happened to the batfamily? Are they okay?
So, Selina and Bruce got married. Yay.
But my grodd was this a slow and terrible run. And I'm glad it is over. If 35 issues of this were this slow and bad, I cannot imagine what 20 more issues whit this garbage would've been.
So is Bane an idiot again? Thomas is broken but still alive in the main universe? Or dead. Who knows. Who cares.
And this showcases events in a different order. Again. I don't get it why Tom loves to have flashbacks to the events while having a bor more
Prelude:
Well, it's the last issue of Tom King's run on Batman. A series that showed so much potential at the start but lost it at #50 and never got back to that level. Let's see how this final issue goes.
The Good:
It finally happened.
Janin's art is great in this issue.
The Bad:
The pacing is completely broken.
Batman in his MAIN SOLO SERIES doesn't defeat the villain, Catwoman does and in the same fashion as she has done before.
Still didn't tie the series up with what King had set up earlier.
Conclusion:
Look, it's just so lackluster. The pacing is extremely off, the defeat feels like a cop out, and King doesn't tie it all up. Add the fact that half of more
I didn't know what to expect, and what we got is totally Tom King. Repetition, failure to follow through, obvious metaphor, quoting literature, etc etc etc. I don't care, though. I genuinely couldn't care less about any of this. And knowing that it's over in not a bang, but an astounding whimper, leaves me with an empty feeling I can't help but enjoy... It's like a starvation, but a good one. It's odd. And you know what? That tease with Joker was actually pretty good. I'm on board for Tynion's Batman. That did what it was supposed to, I guess. Maybe that helps soften this blessed emptiness I feel, but I can't act like I'm upset or that I... feel anything at all about this ending. The only reason this is getting a three is because I know a p more
What I disliked............
1. King just did the minimum to finish the story up. This issue feels like he just threw it together and didn't care about giving the fans a real story. I liked a lot of Kings run and disliked a lot also. However with all of what I liked I felt hopeful and was looking for this to be an epic ending. Instead it was more the dying embers to the fire. I was so looking forward to this issue with high hopes and now I'm left feeling stupid for having believed he would give us a good ending to all this. I wonder how different the ending might have been if Kings run hadn't been cut short?
2. What happened with the villains that were being mind-controlled by Bane and Psycho Pirate? And were more
Nice art.
Well commenting on what I like is out of the way. Now for the bad stuff. The action consists of a bunch of "I've got you, no, I've got you, no, I've got you." And it's about as clever as that.
It seems that Bruce was in control of Ventriloquist all along by miking the dummy and speaking to Arnold Wesker. So he controlled Psycho Pirate, who didn't control Catwoman.
So question? Why did Bruce let Bane and Thomas take over Gotham in the first place? No answer from King.
We see a well-drawn but boringly written fight. Bruce says Thomas, you're not my father so cut out the Darth Vader crap. My response was "well duh." That's the big epiphany?
Oh yeah. Cat and Bat "marry." After def more
Jesus that was bad! The only saving grace is the amazing art. Actions have no consequences: bane is shot in the head and is okay shortly after, Thomas is the best fighter in the world until he is the worst for no reason, Batman is also shot and is just fine...I love most of Tom King’s work but that is just lazy and devoid of any emotional impact...
Damn, so Batman is completely ineffective and once again has to have SuperCat come in and save him I mean, Thomas took out the ENTIRE BatFam but Catwoman can take him down no problem. I guess it could be worse, this could be Batman's main solo book. Wait, it is? Oh shit, this does suck then.
Gotham Girl apparently, though has had fairly limited interaction with Bruce since the beginning of this run, seems to KNOW that Selina knows Bruce like no other. Where she picked this up, nobody knows. Also, the kryptonite the King himself created is used here to magically cure Clair. Wow, good thing he created that one thing that could save her and if just so happened to pop up for this occasion.
Wesker, why was he Thomas's butler more
Tom king is always writing h8mself into multiple corners and this is usually how it all ends... forced conclusions at best, but mostly important things are overlooked to make way for fan service nonsense. He had 15 issues to tie up his run and wound up treating it like a kid who doesn't want to take time to study for a final just thinking they can fake your way through it. Well, he failed. BIG TIME
Absolute garbage from Tom King. Thankfully this is his last issue and hopefully there are better things to come for this title.
What a beautiful end to the best Batman run of the decade. Thank you for everything, Mr. King.
I agree in many ways with Linkush, this isn't a real ending and I was flipflopping on if I was completely satisfied with it. Hopefully it will be all wrapped up completely in Batman/Catwoman (especially since Gotham Girl is supposed to marry Duke by the end of his run, and that doesn't happen here). However as a celebration of this run I couldn't be more happy. Allegories out the wazoo with the football game (in Porky's!)referencing Batman's struggle, a sort of cheeky message to readers saying those who have lost will understand, and Batman and Catwoman having that realization they don't need a traditional marriage... because since when did they decide that law rules what they do? Yeah, pretty much as good an ending I could hope for with 2 more
It was okay.
I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed with this, the fight with Thomas wasn't so exciting and this issue didn't bring anything new to the table, just more of the same. It just didn't feel special.
I did enjoy most of it and I understand what King was doing with this issue but I wish there was more to it. The art was great, I'll miss Janin and overall the conclusion was heartwarming and it did fit the story and what King was trying to say.
Guess we'll get a more satisfying conclusion in the Bat/Cat series.
Oh, and the sneak peek at the end was great, can't wait to see what Tynion has to bring to the table.
was just fine. overall, when this run was good, it was really good, when it was bad, it was horribly bad. Which is why it goes right in the middle for me, ending with a grade of C. I'm not sure why this entire run had to take 85 issues, when it could have easily ended in 50-60. The art was amazing throughout, I'm not too excited for Tynion's run since it'll probably be very similar to his Detective Comics, which was also just fine.
Overall this final issue was underwhelming as most of Kings recent issues. Thomas Wayne was beaten way too easily- with a kick in his back by Catwoman, that’s it. And it also made no sense, that The Ventriloquist cant be controlled by Psycho Pirate, well just because. There is no reason for that. I also think it sucks how badly Alfred was treated in this run/ final issue. Instead of mourning him, Bruce has sex with Catwoman & is babbling with her. King just doesn’t know how important Alfred is for Bruce Wayne. Batman would never come to the conclusion, that he can be happy, if Alfred was just killed!
What also annoys me is this stupid Catbat fanfiction story King is writing. I don’t buy it, that Bruce or Selina would ever trust more
Probably the most disappointing & pointless issue of King's run, King never understood Batman. What was supposed to end with a bang ends with a fizzle, Thomas Wayne gets beat up by Catwoman before holding Bruce at gunpoint and ranting to stop being the Bat. You'd think Thomas who has suffered like Bruce will understand he won't stop no matter what but not for Tom King. King's Batman is the worst - a psychotic, accepting he has been a child since ten and claiming he now chooses happiness with Cat (but won't marry) as well as staying Batman. The whole point of why Bruce doesn't get into long-term relationships is that Gotham comes before him, his relationships will get strained due to his life and there will always be a risk to his partners. more
Wow, so sad that immediately after getting married Bruce Wayne is already out cruising for a bit of rough in sports bars.
Pure mediocrity, at best.
I secretly expected Tom King would at least provide something special for the final issue. I'll agree with the majority of reviewers that this was not good. It was not even mediocre. It was bad. The art is really good though. Tom King has some great collaborators who provide the soul of the book and give each issue a lot of value.
But there is no story here. There's no plot, no resolution, nothing. Everything is lukewarm.
It's definitely not epic or a finale. Nothing really ends, nothing really happens. What is going on with the reviews? Black Nerd Problems 9.3? Geek Dad 9? Are we reading the same book?
Good riddance, you flatulating butthead.
Grab Bendis on your way out the door.
Greatest Batman run ever. Can't wait for the Batman/Catwoman mini series.
Strange that alot of peole think this is some kinda ending, cause its not... we have only been told just over 85% of the story.
So yeah, a lot of people have been writing sloppy reviews and should probably stop and think before they go blabbering on about workings they can barely understand.
I like this issue as an issue while realizing it fails to tie everything in the run together. I connect with its sentimentality.
The main story, dealing with the Flashpoint Batman, Bane, etc. was, well, pretty bad. But I've loved the execution of the whole issue, especially the epilogue stuff. Overall, I must say I did enjoy this run - while it wasn't up to par with the other stuff King has written (though he hasn't really written anything this lengthy before), it really had its high points. And while the final few arcs were a huge letdown, I believe it will read much better as a single story.
A slightly anticlimactic ending for my taste. I think it reflects, for better and for worse, every stage of Tom King with this superhero. In general I enjoyed the whole story, seen as a set, which in the end became repetitive, that is not disputed, best of all, the great artists who collaborated with King.
This is over, hell yeah
Well, what a disappointing run.
I feel like I've wasted a ton of time and money reading this garbage. IMO the alternate runs (Batman who laughs, White Knight, Last Knight, etc.) were way better.
Unless the title returns to his Snyder's Court of Owls glory, I will stop buying Batman's main title.
Out of 85 issues, I feel like only 10 of them (including the 4 annuals) were memorable.
Also, please stick to 1 artist throughout and stop that bi-weekly BS
Bane and Thomas should kill each other. Also Gotham Girl is still insane, and Hush junior is stiil in Arkham.
SIMPLY AWFUL! Just as the overall King´s run. Does this crap worths the dead of Alfred? What do we get in return? Gotham Girl? I really hate her, she´s got 0% appeal. Bat & Cat? I´m done with bat & cat. It was just tooooo muuuuch bat & cat! I really like Flashpoint Batman and Bane as characters but King just wasted them in a very idotic way. Before #50 there were some interesting things. I really loved "The war of Jokes and Riddles" and "The Best Man" but after #50 King´s storytelling was just cheap and lazzy. At the end this run just lacks too much. This is BATMAN! Most Meaningful Title in the entire comics industry! and DC just keeps bringing us CRAP. The preview on Tynion´s run just hints at the rumored end of Bruce Wayne in 2020 an more
It seems to me that there are very unfair qualifications for this number, so I will give you the highest grade to make up for a bit.
my real note would be a 9, that's my opinion
Batman and Catwoman are my favorite couple of all time, I loved this number and I loved the story that Tom King told us, it became my favorite among all the stories I have read about this character (and they are not few), The series in general developed quite well and it was great, now is the time to wait for the Batman / Catwoman miniseries, of which I am 100% sure it will be amazing.
In addition, art was always phenomenal.
This is my opinion
"You're not my father"
This issue was fine on its own. But as a part of the bigger story, and like many things in this run, it is too little, too late.
Loose ends are more or less tied up, the bad guys are defeated, we learn that the Ventriloquist was working for Batman all along (sure, of course he was) and Batman is having a beer with the Kite-Man.
Like I said. Fine on its own, but as a conclusion to this big, long and uneven story, immensely underwhelming.
I'm glad it's done. Yet I'm pretty sure I will torture myself further, reading that Bat/Cat book that will be released next year.
Well I haven't read a single issue of this series, but after reading the user reviews here month after month, I can confidently say that Tom King is an aberration without precedent; a fiendish amalgam of Charles Manson, Adolf Hitler, and Jim Jones whose lazy incompetence is exceeded only by his calculating dedication to debasing all that is good and worthy in the world; a cucumber-sandwich-eating pit of filth and moral decay; the very anti-life equation itself with designs on your light and hope. He personally hates each and every one of his readers like a Grinch on bath salts, each word a toxic seed of pretentiousness and bile designed to burrow into brains and fester. Hail this, the day of our deliverance!
Sorry, but the only thing I can say that sounds positive in any way is Thank God this Overly-long, completely pointless poor man's Knightfall rip-off is over. If I never see another story where Bane takes over the city again in my lifetime, it'll be too soon. Why was it called "City of Bane" anyway? It was the overly used Flashpoint Batman responsible for everything. Bane was just a lowly flunky, even if he didn't know it. Alfred's death was just King's "So everyone'll remember me" card to us. Now we likely have to wait for the next "big event" crossover where "Nothing will be the same again" to get him back.
please tell me we've seen the last of Bane and Flashpoint Batman for a LONG time. After nearly 30 issues They've grown tiresome more
I honestly don’t know what’s the meaning of all this. Well, at least it has some fun moments.
Wait, was Mr.Miracle actually good or am I remembering it wrong?
This was a very disappointing conclusion to the storyline. It left threads untied and looking back, the story didn’t make sense.
Alfred didn't die for this.
Nice art though.
Trash.
This is a review of Tom King's run on Batman and what can I say? It's a terrible run and if people think Tynion's Batman is bad, at least Tynion puts in some god damn effort in his Batman. At least Tynion tries to write a good Batman story.
But this.... this is basically a bland version of Knightfall. Tom King turns Batman into a wimp who happens to be emotionless like a Terminator. Thomas Wayne wants to kill Alfred to make Batman happy which makes no absolute sense. No one seems to care that Alfred dies.
Bane is taken out anticlimatically, Thomas Wayne gets butchered and taken out anti-climatically, Catwoman is a god damn Mary Sue, and the 9 panel pages and cringey dialogue makes me want to rip my ear out.
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