It's rare to see DC's digital-first comics broken up into traditional story arcs. Most follow a more episodic, chapter-by-chapter approach to storytelling. But with "Bane of Existence," writer Pete Tomasi is giving the longer story arc format a try. It's a gamble that doesn't really pay off for the book.
Issue six collects the final three chapters of the five-chapter "Bane of Existence" arc. Based on the lack of plot progression in this issue, that arc could easily have been trimmed down. These three chapters do little more than preset one long, drawn-out fight scene between Batman and Bane, one that conveniently changes locations in each chapter. The issue opens nicely enough with a flashback to Bane's hellish childhood in Santa Prisca . But once the focus shifts to the present, the impetus is gone. There's nothing about the portrayal of these two enemies or their rivalry we haven't seen elsewhere, and no great insight into Bane's character. Honestly, the brief Bane/Poison Ivy face-off is more entertaining. Between this series and the recent Forever Evil: Batman vs. Bane, it seems that Tomasi is better at writing Bane as a solo character rather than as a direct antagonist to Batman.
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Issue six collects the final three chapters of the five-chapter "Bane of Existence" arc. Based on the lack of plot progression in this issue, that arc could easily have been trimmed down. These three chapters do little more than preset one long, drawn-out fight scene between Batman and Bane, one that conveniently changes locations in each chapter. The issue opens nicely enough with a flashback to Bane's hellish childhood in Santa Prisca . But once the focus shifts to the present, the impetus is gone. There's nothing about the portrayal of these two enemies or their rivalry we haven't seen elsewhere, and no great insight into Bane's character. Honestly, the brief Bane/Poison Ivy face-off is more entertaining. Between this series and the recent Forever Evil: Batman vs. Bane, it seems that Tomasi is better at writing Bane as a solo character rather than as a direct antagonist to Batman.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...