The Caped Crusader continues to make friends when he goes to Arkham Asylum to confront Bane!
Batman 59
Written by Tom King
Pencils and Inks by Mikel Janin
Colors by Jordie Bellaire
Batman is an idiot.
There’s really no other way to put it. The man is not thinking straight. Yes, he got left at a rooftop alter by Catwoman and yes, his adopted son got shot in the head and now he stopped being NIGHTWING and decided to be a cabbie. And Penguin faked an assassination attempt on Alfred last issue to get close to Batman so he could ask for asylum (no, not the Arkham kind). I get that Batman has a lot going on – not even considering the events in Detective Comics or Justice League or any of the other books he appears in.
But the last time Batman was this distracted and worn down, Bane broke his back and Bruce Wayne was out of commission for a long time. It’s probably worse now, and he’s going up against Bane again. This time, Batman may die.
Obviously, he won’t. He’s barreling towards his 80th birthday and Detective Comics’ 1,000th issue. But with this issue, I kind of wish he would die and go away for a bit, because this is the height of “Batman is a dick.”
On the word of Penguin, he marches into Arkham, goes right to Bane’s cell and starts wailing away on him. Bane has been shown to be the mastermind behind everything going on in Gotham right now, and Penguin confirms that Bane is pulling strings from Arkham all the way into the city and Batman is furious. But the outward appearance of Bane is that Batman broke him. He’s catatonic and can barely walk or talk.
Doesn’t matter to Batman. He just keeps pounding on his foe. Bane begs him to stop. Batman hits him some more. Commissioner Gordon begs him to stop, and Batman knocks HIM around, too. These are not the actions of a man in control. They are most certainly not the actions of a Batman. But with Dick Grayson and Selina Kyle out of the picture, he has no one to bring him back from the brink. He’s acting on his base impulses and allowing himself to be played.
I think King’s long-term plans for Batman are becoming pretty obvious, as he seems poised to drag Wayne through hell during his 80th anniversary. Batman doesn’t seem to care to put up a fight against it at this point. It can really only get worse from here.