Written by Tom King
Art by Jorge Fornes
Published by DC Comics
It is the penultimate chapter of the City Of Bane storyline!
This was one hell of an issue, too. Tom King had been been building up to these final moments for years. It is a very tough balancing act that he is trying to pull off. I hope that he is able to actually accomplish it.
The opening pages of this book have Bruce and Thomas Wayne facing off.
Batman just says, “For Alfred.”
Thomas Wayne then just punches Batman. It is a wild opening for sure. It is then that Tom King decides to give us a little bit of backstory.
Normally, I am not a fan of this, but here it really worked.
We get to see the aftermath of Bruce and Thomas fighting in the desert. We get to see Thomas with the Joker.
Thomas keeps appearing at different points during King’s run.
We get to see him when Bruce proposed to Selina. We get to see when Thomas first appeared during the “Button” storyline. We get to see Thomas make the decisions that he makes because he believes that it is good for Bruce to experience his plan.
We then get to see Thomas in his own reality. It gets more and more brutal as the conic progresses and it is completely unexpected. Watching Thomas brutally murder some of the rogues gallery that Batman has in his universe is horrifying. It leads into the beginnings of the Thomas Wayne Batman.
It is a stunning story that has one of my favorite last pages of the entire run. It ends on a cliffhanger (of course). But that is okay. It is very exciting. The amazing art of Jorge Fornes makes it even more exciting . It is an unexpected treat for sure (Originally it was supposed to be artist Mikel Janin on this issue, but I am so happy that it is Fornes on the art.)
So how will this all end? I have no idea. It has been a fun ride up until now. Let us hope that King can stick to the landing and make something great.
RATING: A
