DC Comics brings us the ninth and penultimate issue of Batman: The Knight. It is the new NEW origin for Bruce Wayne from Chip Zdarsky and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico.

Recruited by Ra’s al Ghul, Bruce and Anton begin training with him and his army of ninjas. As they continue to train, Bruce and Anton begin to drift apart in their styles of fighting crime. Meanwhile, Talia, the daughter of Ra’s, begins to take notice of Bruce and starts to show affection to him. Bruce starts to disapprove of his new mentor’s methods while Anton starts to embrace the deadly methods.

To be fair, this issue had a pretty cool cover. I liked the image of Bruce Wayne readying his sword and facing the reader. The artwork for the entirety of this issue was competent, but nothing out of the ordinary.

The story gets lazier and lazier. There was so much freaking introspection, exposition dumps, and just staring I got bored. It has become more clear that this is not a story about Bruce Wayne, but a self-insert story for the writer and the editors. That is why the story cannot justify its existence. It lacks the simplicity of the original origin, the imagination of “Untold Tales,” the realism of “Year One,” and the sci-fi retooling of “Zero Year.” DC Comics is allowing their iconic characters to be exploited in this manner and it is ruining them.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, movie, or novel you would like me to review. While you are at it, check out my reviews for Iron/Hellcat Annual and Isom. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more posts like this one.

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