Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Batman #56

By Hervé St-Louis
October 21, 2018 - 12:37

While the KGBeast reminisce his life story with his brutal and deadly father over a drink, Batman is chasing him across the world and finally reaches the remote cabin in Russia where the mercenary is hiding.

This is another one of those set up stories by Tom King where only a moment of a wider story is told. While it is a pleasurable read, being a methodical exploration of Batman’s world will not save this brief chapter from not being as relevant in a few years. This is what I consider comic book padding. The result at the end of the issue is predictable as all motivations have been answered.

What is confusing is which part of Batman’s long continuity fits in this story. It appears that Batman is barely familiar with the Russian. The two have had many encounters in the past. I was not so enthused with the appearance of Bronze Tiger as he was a bit too familiar with Batman. One of the problems that King runs into is managing which aspects of continuity fit in his narrative. When he did a commemorative issue of Batman and Catwoman in issue 50, we saw many versions of the characters which included the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age Batman. We continue to see many versions of other characters in many tales. It seems easier to say that everything is canon but when one wants to make an adjustment, it is done. This is King’s approach here and it does not always work.

Tony Daniel rhymes with Batman for me. Now, it is not a version of Batman that I enjoy as much but for this story, he is the best match.

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12