there were things i did enjoy about this issue, mostly the art. the art was excellent.
but the big shocking reveal for the motivation behind the Arkham Knight was extremely forced and very poorly handled.

like i said there were good things about the issue, but i'm honestly very disappointed.
will go into more detail later after i've had a chance to re-read this.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

THE GOOD:

-The art is so good. It suits the tone of the series perfectly.

-The action scenes at the beginning of this issue were some of the best I've seen in a comic. It flowed from panel to panel brilliantly.

-At first I was confused as to what the panel with the guy Matt killed was, but then I realized it was an amazingly subtle way of foreshadowing the tragedy to come in this issue.

-Man, Chip Zdarsky writes Daredevil like no one else. At least no one recently. I think I called him the best Spider-Man writer of our generation. Honestly, that's likely true for Daredevil as well.

-I also thought all of the interactions between Matt and his allies were perfectly executed.

-That flashback was used perfectly.

-Goddamnit. That scene with Spider-Man, just, FEELS like it will go down as one of the best comic book moments ever.

-Holy shit. The end of this issue was phenomenal. In every. Goddamn. Sense of the word.

THE BAD:

-Really nothing. This feels like a historic issue. more

THE GOOD:

-I mean, at least the art was good.

THE BAD:

-What was this issue? Like, seriously. What was it? To me, it was a shark talking to Aquaman for a whole issue, just recapping his story so far. There are so many things wrong with that, as an idea, let alone the fact that it was allowed on paper.

-Caille has become a character I'm just really bored with. I also think her story moved way too fast.

-Something tells me the end is just shock value, but I guess I'll hold out hope. I'm sure as hell not putting it under the good column though. more

THE GOOD:

-The art is still good here.

-That first page with Conan was so cool.

-The attack of the Stygians was a great scene.

-Conan beating his challenger was awesome to see.

-I don't think Conan was necessarily a strong character here, just a really badass one.

THE BAD:

-I wish this issue wasn't so inconsistent. Maybe that's the consequence of having a different story every issue. The last issue was bad, the ones before it great, this one mediocre.

-I wish Jason Aaron would lay off the exposition.

-This story was just kinda meh.

-I'm getting so tired of seeing the Razazel storyline dragged on so damn long. I thought it would end this issue. more

THE GOOD:

-Sorry about the late reviews. Been a busy week. Anyways, I thought this issue was fine. I'm just honestly glad to be done with Knightmares and all that garbage.

-Jorge Fornes' art was great. Definitely the best creator involved with this issue.

-I'll be honest, I liked that page with Batgirl calling the Bat family.

-Honestly, I though Alfred was the best here. That scene with him and Batman was good, for me at least.

THE BAD:

-I guess this issue is supposed to be like the sequel to issue 60. Not sure how well that works, especially considering I liked that issue. The juxtaposition effect here didn't seem as strong. Probably because it was already used.

-Sadly, Mikel Janin's art fell apart here. That panel with Batgirl doing contortion was ugly as sin.

-Why does nothing ever happened in this series anymore? It gets really annoying, especially when you know they're just trying to get to 100 issues.

-Batman was just obnoxious in this issue. I hated all of his stupid temper tantrums.

-"I'm going to break your damn back," just felt like an excuse for what could've been an interesting confrontation between Batman and Bane.

-Batman's speech to the Bat-Family was just really corny.

-I thought Bruce was over Selina? But apparently all it takes is Tim to mention her and Batman goes crazy. more

THE GOOD:

-I'll be honest, I thought this issue was great. I also think this story arc is excellent in general, the best thing that's ever happened to this series.

-Man, that opening scene was perfect. Just absolutely perfect.

-The art is fantastic.

-The humor was great. Very naturally injected into the story, but very funny. I think this series may have found it's groove.

-This portrayal of the Legion of Doom was so good.

-Despite not liking the Batman parts, that ending was really well executed.

THE BAD:

-Batman's part of the story wasn't my favorite. The most exposition, the least interesting.

-I wish we could've gotten more on the Bat-Mite vs. Mxyzptlk, but oh well. more

SPOILERS BELOW!

THE GOOD:

-I thought Logan leaving the team was really fitting and well-done.

-I thought the action scenes were really strong, despite the weak art.

-Juggernaut is a great character.

-I also thought Sinister was a great villain here, as well.

-I'm not sure what's going on with Alex, but I'm curious to find out.

-The ending has me curious as to what's going to happen next issue, which is a good thing.

THE BAD:

-I could do without this art.

-I feel like Jono's death didn't get enough attention. It just kind of happened and then things moved on. more

THE GOOD:

-Every time I see this artwork, it continues to impress me.

-The character interactions here are golden.

-Don't worry Lockjaw. I was excited to see you.

-That splash page with Hela and Gladiator is really quite awesome.

-Cosmic Ghost Rider is still perfect.

-Hela is a fantastic villain.

-Oh man, Eros. Oh man.

-That ending is all kinds of bad. In a good way.

THE BAD:

-I don't really like how this issue brushed off the last issue's ending so easily, even if some humor was added. more

THE GOOD:

-Ooh. Great issue. This series is so consistent.

-Right from the get-go, Joe Bennett's art is unique and immersive. Way to go!

-Radioactive ants. Awesome!

-Agent Burbank is just a great villain.

-Honestly, I feel like the presence of Joe could've been explained better, but that aside, his character here was executed brilliantly. <br/>
-"Sometimes it's about the other guy being dumber." Joe's Sherlock Holmes moment was just real good.

-Oh my Jesus. That splash page.

-Ditto for the last page. God, that was awesome.

THE BAD:

-I mean there was that thing about how Joe was introduced, but aside from that, there was very, very little wrong with this issue. more

THE GOOD:

-I'll be honest, I didn't hate this issue.

-Could it be? Is the art… growing on me?

-Honestly Detective Sapienza is alright here. I'd gladly take his narration over *shudder* Ric's.

-I think Hutch is a great character.

-I'll be honest, the end has me interested.

THE BAD:

-Man the dialogue is so cringe-inducing here, especially at the beginning.

-This big bad really doesn't interest me at all.

-Bea is and always has been awful.

-The first page is so awful. Thankfully the art is alright, so it doesn't look so bad visually. more

THE GOOD:

-Hooooo, boy.

-Wow, the first splash page was great.

-I love the way this comic incorporates classic Marvel events into its story so well.

-The emotion always manages to hit so hard in this series.

-The interactions between Reed and Peter are always so good in this series.

-The Kraven's Last Hunt storyline was beautifully rendered here.

-The last two pages are absolutely astonishing.

THE BAD:

-I kind of wish the symbiote was introduced better, but I mean that's not really the focus of the series, and I'm being nitpicky, like I usually am. more

THE GOOD:

-I don't get it. I am so enamored with how it is possible for this comic to be so good every single time.

-You know the drill. Jeff Lemire is a genius. Andrea Sorrentino is a genius.

-That first splash page was great and the distortion was a nice subtle reference to another splash page from issue one.

-"He had such a smile." Ooh, that was creepy.

-The paneling for the first page with the Laughing Man was so good, and his face in the middle there made it so creepy.

-Norton is so creepy and so perfect.

-That scene involving the glass shard was gross and once again displayed outstanding paneling and art.

-The dystopian Gideon Falls is so good. In a typical comic, I would question how if they can keep coming up with ideas, but this series is thirteen issues in and has yet to do so.

-"I am the shadow at the center," was such a great line.

-That scene in the prison was terrifying and perfect.

-Ooh, man. The ending was so good.

THE BAD:

-I don't understand how this series can live up to my expectations every single time it comes out. more

THE GOOD:

-I liked this issue. There's not too much else to say.

-The art is great. It's definitely a common thread with these Age of X-Man miniseries.

-Just the concept of Xavier Day is great, not to mention it was really well executed.

-I have no idea if Twodee and Escher are X-Men from any previous series, but I need to see more of them.

>-The part where En Sabah Nur makes everyone embrace and such was great moment.

-The idea of seeing moments of the past was great and well-done.

-Nate is such as great character.

-Colossus was also great.

THE BAD:

-I don't know how I feel about the end. It feels like it's just one more thing that has to be dealt with in the final issue. more

THE GOOD:

-I enjoyed the opening scene a lot.

-The art here is great.

-Anole is still a really interesting character here.

-The ending was really good. I'm excited to see how this all pans out.

THE BAD:

-I don't know, something felt off about this issue. Like it wasn't reaching its full potential.

-This issue really bored me, and I can't figure out why. more

This story continues to be a big disappointment.
Talking about timeline errors, what are the biggest problem in this issue. If Astrid currently is like 15-20 years old& villains like Harley& Joker were all already in Arkham before she was even born, it would consequently mean, that Harley is like 40-45 years& Joker 55-60 years old. Same would go for Batman. This might have worked at the end of Pre52, but not in New52/ Rebirth, especially because it was stated back then, that Batman is in action for 5 years, when New52 started& nothing was changed ever since. So do writers& editors even care about logic& timeline?
What also made zero sense was the portrayal of the villains. I really can’t see Joker as someone, who is honestly happy about a newborn in Arkham, he’s rather the kind of guy, who shoots the mother in the womb before the baby is born. Or who shoots the baby in front of the mother’s eyes. Same goes for Harley. I can imagine her not killing or hurting a mother, when she’s not with Joker, but back then she would kill everyone Joker wants to see dead. So Joker was totally out of character. Same goes for the inmates overall. It’s implied here, that they would all be friendly& nice, if people were just friendly towards them, while this might go for some, it definitely doesn’t for all. Especially Joker& not even Grundy.
It also is quite lame, that it wasn’t even Batman, who accidentally killed her mother, if Tomasi at least went through with that, but not even that.
However the art was great& I love the cover. Some of Damien’s lines were funny too.
And at least comic Arkham Knight is someone, who wants to protect the inmates it seems, what is something fresh& new, but I’m asking myself where was she the entire time, when Batman beat his way through Arkham? Tomasi created a real messed up AK& yet one, who still has a point, so maybe the story works if more explored. However timeline errors& the portrayal of the villains ruins it for me. It sounds like something that is great on paper, but wasn’t thought through well. more

I dislike Bruce Wayne overall and like the persona of Batman but this is too much, it's making me like the usual Bruce Wayne I don't like; it's really impressive for this fetish-trashy-badfanfiction-garbage for doing something like this.
At this point I don't even care if editors are going to change King or something, all I want from them is to use Janin's art for better stories.

aside from these plot points being left to hang for months on end, King kicks batman through the dirt a little more.
and he's not done making Batman an unlikable idiotic jerk, now he’s going for broke.
OMG is this bad!!! SO freaking bad!!!
this comic reaches a whole new level of stupidity!

...and Tom King still hasn’t explained WHY Flashpoint Batman is helping Bane!!
the lousy frigging hack that he is!! more

"You don't know a damn thing!"

Just what is it with King having Batman punch everyone in the face? For a moment there I thought he will punch Alfred.

Make him angry, make him scream, but enough with the lashing out and waving his fist around. I was on board with that during the Freeze trial and the KGBeast thing, but it has gone on for far too long and now it only makes Batman look pathetic and weak. And let me tell you, that is not a good look for the Dark Knight.

I'm not even going to touch on the general story in this issue, because it is practically in the SAME DAMN PLACE that it was in the last issue and in the last couple of months. But there is a far more serious matter regarding this issue. What was done in this issue to Alfred is atrocious.

No matter how dire the situation might be, no matter how hopeless it would seem, I will never believe that Alfred would tell Bruce that he lost. What he said here felt like a betrayal. It is unacceptable.

This is what you have done Tom. For a brief moment, you have made me dislike Alfred Pennyworth. more

Tom King once again proves that he was a terrible choice for Batman.

As a long time fan of the New Gods I don’t really understand all the good reviews for Mister Miracle. The characters aren’t really in character& while you could excuse this happening to characters like Granny or Orion due to the outcome of the story you can’t excuse it with Scott. He’s acting and also looking like an alcohol addict& why you could argue, that he’s a broken character due to his past, he still never would let him go so much. He isn’t the kind of guy, who gives up like that as he does in this story. So it rather appears to me, that King forced this depression type of story on a character, he doesn’t really understand.
Another problem is the bad dialogue, which is quite typical for King, if I look at his Batman run& HIC. The characters just pretty much sound all the same& are just babbling away.
Storywise nothing really happens, except that actually it’s constantly said, that exciting things were happening like Darkseid getting the full Anti life Equation or Orion becoming the ruler of New Genesis. However nothing of this is shown to the reader or has any real impact on the story. We are just seeing Barda and Scott going from place A to place B& punching one guy& that’s really it. Walter Simonson told an exciting story about what could happen, if someone gains the Anti life Equation. The story here focuses rather on Scott being depressed for no reasons.
I also hate how dumb Darkseid was portrayed here. I’m surprised he could still breath and wasn’t even too stupid for that. The „Darkseid Is“ lines didn’t change that& actually never made sense. They can’t keep up with old lines like „Die for Darkseid& he will live for you“.
The only good thing here is, that the New Gods look like their Kirby version again, but doesn’t help much if their characters aren’t done justice.
Many like the art, but I think Barda just looks too much of a guy here to enjoy any of the art. So I can’t recommend that, I would rather recommend Walter Simonson‘s Orion or John Byrne‘s Fourth World, which both really got Kirby’s New Gods right. It’s sad to see, that new readers don’t get an idea of how great the New Gods are with stories like this. more

Another bewildering installment of Tom King's Babyman.

Meh, guess Kings Batman run is a good example for what happens, if you make fanfiction canon. King doesn’t know how to write these characters at all& at this point I can only hope, that it won’t be that bad after all, when he said, that his run will change Batman‘s character for generations. Hope this is just his ego speaking.
Anyway we should believe, that Batman was imprisoned in Arkham for weeks without the batfamily noticing or looking for him? Doesn’t make any sense. The Batman King is writing is an unlikable, infantile crybaby, who is nothing but agressive. However being Batman means to be able to control emotions. And yeah some people are saying, this is a broken Batman, who is brought to his limits, but how? Because he broke up with Catwoman? King is overrating their relationship& still doesn’t get, that Gotham& Batman are Bruce’s main priority not having a normal relationship. He doesn’t get his character at all. What is a shame. Or was is because Bruce was affected by one of the weakest version of Scarecrow’s fear gas ever? If it at least was a strong version, but no it wasn’t. Or was it, because Dick was shot? Bruce doesn’t care about Dick since issues.
Same goes for the dialogue: For example Batgirl is saying „I reached out to them...Jason is Jason& Dick...is Ric“ That’s how, fans of Dick would talk, but not the characters. Or lines from Batman like „I’m going to break your damn back“ doesn’t fit his character at all. Are the editors all sleeping or why is King allowed to write such bad& unfitting dialogue?
Batman also acts like an overly agressive asshole for no reason: Why does he slap Tim in the face? Doesn’t make any sense, He slapped Dick in Bruce Wayne Fugitive, but it made sense back then.
We should also believe, that Batman is loosing his mind just because Bane tricked him by apparently working together with the staff in Arkham? You think Batman wouldn’t figure that out? Or at least consider it? Instead he gets all agressive& beats Tim? We still don’t get any explanations for Thomas Wayne being in the story at all& I have my doubts we ever will.
King also seems to make a Knightfall 2.0., but just in lame. Nothing, that happened in this run so far is believable in any way. We had some ok stories at the beginning, but everything we got since Jokes& Riddles is just bat& it’s getting worse in every issue. I can only hope no character I care about gets a big role in this story, but thanks to King I can’t take Bane serious anymore& it’s terrible to see Batman‘s character butchered like that.
It’s also a shame how much the great art gets wasted in every issue. more

The 2 pts this issue recieved are purely for the beautiful cover. Its a great looking issue setting on the shelf till you open it and read it. It made very little sense and added ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the current story arc involving Thomas Wayne and Bane. On occation ive enjoyed Tom Kings attempt on writing the greatest comic story told but i know im not alone in saying most of the time i just wanna dig into my back issues and reread some of Scott Snyders amazing stories. It just seems to me King has failed to even come close to matching Snyders incredible writing. Thank god for "The Batman Who Laughs" series because ATM is ur a Batman fan THIS IS STORY TO READ! King you need to seriously sit down with Mr. Snyder and learn how to make Batman exciting again. Bring a notepad and pen and be ready to take notes from the BEST BATMAN WRITER OF ALL TIME! more

More terrible writing from Tom King. Just an awful story.

OH MY GOD.

This is just a rehash of the Knightfall story arc from the early 1990s.

Bane breaks out the Arkham crew. Batman is stressed out, pushes allies away. Hits Robin the same way Hank Pym hit Wasp back in the early 1980s. (The action, while bad, is not a symptom of being a wife beater, but rather psychological stress).

They have two or seven artists, so the look isn't consistent. For some reason Alfred is telling Bruce he lost and is serving Bane and Thomas Wayne/Batman.

This is just a whole lot of who cares, and rehashed who cares at that. King recently boasted that he finally got permission from the suits to do something that will shape Batman for a generation. (It's going to actually have him marry Catwoman after he shakes off the psychological damage done in the war with Bane).

Here's a thought. How about writing Batman as a smart, dedicated crime fighter who is not a dark psycho. That would be refreshing. How about writing smart villains and not rely on CRAZY as a character definition.

Or I could be wrong. No, I'm not. more

I guess telling two halves of a story at once is a good way to engineer a false sense of forward momentum. I wish King would just stop with the gimmicks. He exhausted my good faith 30 issues ago, at least. I think even King is starting to realize that people are catching on to his writing tropes, and since they're not ones that you can easily diversify (There's only so many ways you can tell a "character driven" story about your own form of depression.), he's had to resort to style over substance. Can we just make this a weekly series? I don't want to spend another year on this. more

Ahhh, The continuing story of how to not write Batman, by Tom King. So in this poorly crafted tale, we have what appear to be two separate timelines, presumably both actually happening but with King you never know, one shows Batman sort of gathering the family and the other shows him finding out that he's lost. We start with him on the roof with Gordon lighting up the Batsignal, that Gordon destroyed just a few issues before, but he's changed the bulb out to be red. The significance? Who the hell knows, it's never been referenced before that I'm aware of and isn't explained here. The only way anyone knows anything is because Batgirl just happened to be at her dads office and was told. SHE goes and makes the calls to the Batfamily members to get them to come help. I guess Batman is for some reason unable to actually call them? Pretty damn stupid but whatever. One bright spot here is that Young Justice gets referenced which is cool since I don't think that's really happened anywhere else.
The rest of the story is switching back and forth between the two timelines. One could be a dream maybe? I don't know, it would be pretty bad if it was considering the shit show that was the Knightmares arc. Batman confronts Bane and his dad just stands there while we continue to not get any explanation regarding why he's there or working for Bane. Batman say's he's going to break his damn back, there's more bad dialogue, Alfred seems to have been lured to Bane's side through we can assume Psycho Pirates manipulations aaaaannnnndddd not much else of substance happens. Oh, Batman leads the batfam into Arkham and calls out Bane but everyone there seems surprised because they said everything is fine. King is trying to make it look like Batman has gone mad but after 71 issues of this writing, who wouldn't. It ends with Batman bitch slapping Tim Drake for no damn reason soooo, yeah there it is.
This issue was better than some but was still poorly constructed and written. King continues to rely on the artist to carry his books but, honestly, you could have Jim Lee drawing this book and it still wouldn't make up for the inability to tell a coherent story or follow the writers own damn continuity. more

The worse thing than telling one story with no substance is telling two at the same time. King's writing reminds me of drunk or drugged people mumbling incoherently, probably believing what they say (or try to, at least) makes some, any sense, but it doesn't to anyone who's not as wasted as they are.

We've got an antire arc worth of hallucinations and delirious nightmares coming true. And it was a terrible arc, I may add. King, seems like it, didn't get over it, though, and continues to serve us the same dish over and over again. It's not just bad at this point. It's also cold already.

Half of the art looks great, and that's the only reason this comic got any points from me. Avoid this garbage. more

All I’m thinking as I am reading this is what the fuck is Tom King doing. Enjoyed the artwork. I am quite curious to where the punch will lead to with the Bat-Family. I know I am not going to like it especially how my favorite scene in Rebirth Detective Comics was when Bruce and Tim got reunited.