Batman: Arkham Knight Vol. 2: The Official Prequel to the Arkham Trilogy Finale

Batman: The Arkham Saga #4.2

by Peter J. Tomasi

THE PREQUEL TO THE BEST-SELLING VIDEO GAME CONTINUES!
 
The struggle for the soul of Gotham is on!
 
The Venom-fueled supervillain Bane has broken out of Arkham Asylum, and this time he’s amassed an army of followers ready to overrun the city and install him as ruler of Gotham—fulfilling what Bane believes to be his destiny. To defeat him, Batman will need an army of his own, and will stand shoulder to shoulder with allies and enemies alike to fight for their city.
 
But Bane isn’t the only threat facing the Dark Knight. While Jim Gordon runs for mayor as part of Bruce Wayne’s “Gotham Reborn” city revitalization plan, Harley Quinn and the rest of the Suicide Squad are after the billionaire’s head, as ordered by none other than the Penguin himself! And through it all, someone new is watching from the shadows…
 
Plus, learn the stunning origin of Batgirl in the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive story “Batgirl Begins!”
 
In ARKHAM KNIGHT VOL. 2, writer Peter J. Tomasi (BATMAN AND ROBIN) and artists Victor Bogdanovic ( Reality Check ), Ig Guara (BLUE BEETLE), Art Thibert ( Utimate Spider-Man ) and Julio Ferreira (TEEN TITANS) present never-before-seen stories from the BATMAN ARKHAM universe as this official prequel to Rocksteady Studio’s best-selling video game continues! 

Collects ARKHAM KNIGHT #5-9.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Video Games, Graphic Novels Comics

160 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2016

About the author

Peter J. Tomasi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, such as Batman And Robin; Superman; Super Sons; Batman: Detective Comics; Green Lantern Corps; and Superman/Wonder Woman; as well as Batman: Arkham Knight; Brightest Day; Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors; Nightwing; Black Adam, and many more.

In the course of his staff career at DC Comics, Tomasi served as a group editor and ushered in new eras for Batman, Green Lantern, and the JSA, along with a host of special projects like Kingdom Come.

He is also the author of the creator-owned titles House Of Penance with artist Ian Bertram; Light Brigade with artist Peter Snejbjerg; The Mighty with Keith Champagne and Chris Samnee; and the critically acclaimed epic graphic novel The Bridge: How The Roeblings Connected Brooklyn To New York, illustrated by Sara DuVall and published by Abrams ComicArts.

In 2018 New York Times best-selling author Tomasi received the Inkpot Award for achievement in comics.

Reviews

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a lot more interesting than what the first volume had to offer. This tie-in series to the Arkham City and Arkham Knight video games does bring some fun facts to the table (including Bane's mysterious disappearance from the game). However, this story arc shouldn't be taken to seriously. It was essentially fun to see various characters from the game pop up through out the comic, but the stories presented weren't as astonishing as one would hope.

P.S. A full review will come soon.

Yours truly,

Lashaan

[Starlah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Great. Batman is Great!

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an improvement over the prior volume. The story was more put together and had better continuity instead of just a bunch of random battles and appearances that the previous one had. The art was the best thing being offered. Being that this is a video game prequel tie-in series I understand that a lot of this story is to set-up or excuse the presence of characters in the game.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very solid Batman tale. I like to think of it as an Elseworlds tale since it's a prequel for the Arkham Knight video game.

[47Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end goal for this comic is quite vague. It has progression, but on multiple fronts. It's unclear which is the most important. It does provide an impression of the grand scale of things that are being influenced by the cast. Good and bad guys are active, but no definitive confrontations have happened yet. The story just keeps going and going... I'm thinking of going too. Going away toward something more structured. At least Harley is trying with a 47 reference.

Batman fights Bane using his new vehicle. Bane is some sort of descendent of some sort of people from whatever Santa Prisca is who built Gotham years before. After running around a bit, it ends with an explosion that leaves both Bane and Batman passed out. Batman is nursed back to health by a the former usher at the place Bruce's parents visited last before being killed.

Penguin and Harley build a new Suicide Squad aimed at killing Bruce Wayne. The latter attacks them head-on as Batman. They also have Deadshot to worry about - he is secretly working for Waller. So now he and Batman have a reluctant team-up, albeit a pretty effective one.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art 4/5, Story, 3/5 Bruce and Barbara try to convince Gordon to run for mayor. I like the flashbacks in the beginning of Batman the night before in the same spot that they're running in. It plays out like a movie scene. Barbara leaves them, and a baddie tries to rob her. She beats him up, though. And puts on the bat girl hood.

Somebody breaks Bane out of Gotham Stone Ridge Penitentiary. Batman finds Penguins hideout which ends up being a trap that he avoids. It's Penguin and Harley working together.

Batman sees a batsignal and heads towards it which is actually from one of the escaped prisoners seeking help. When Bane and his crew are about to kill him, Batman shows up and nearly gets shot but saves him and sends him to GCPD in the Batmobile while he continues in pursuit of Bane.

We then learn a bit about Bane's childhood in Santa Prisca prison, and when we get back to present day, we see that Poison Ivy jumps in to help Batman fight Bane.

In the middle of the fight, Arkham Knight grabs the unconscious Batman, and sets up a bomb to send Bane, Batman, and Poison Ivy into the sewers. Ivy and Bane escape. Batman follows Bane deeper into the sewers.

Meanwhile, Gordon is trying to figure out what happened with the explosion (Penguins trap for Batman) and the recent one in the sewers. But one of his cops is working for Harley and Penguin.

Batman faces off with Bane and as he escapes, a bomb goes off burying Bane. He is found by Arkham Knight.

The next issue is my favorite part of this book. Batman is found by a poor guy who takes him in without removing Batmans mask. He helps him recover a bit, but then his landlords (mean guys) come in to harass him. Batman, still recovering is hidden under the floorboards, but can't help beating the guys up anyways when he hears the harassment. He says not to bother him again. I liked this story because it's personal. It gets in close at a one on one incident with Batman. instead of showing him save all of Gotham, he helps and is helped by a single stranger.

Deadshot and Boomerang rescue Killer Croc from a transfer. Lawton (Deadshot) almost kills Robin as he and Batman leave Gordon's noise, but Harley stops him. This gang, the suicide squad meet up with Penguin under the city.

The Arkham Knight gets keys to Wayne Manor from a groundskeeper. And gets inside. The squad attempts to kidnap Bruce Wayne but find Batman in the car. During their fight, Deadshot helps out Batman, claiming he was working under cover. He was trying to see what Penguin was up to.

They find a project Meta, a derivitave from clayface, and it gets released.

After stopping it, Lawton is arrested, but released by Waller.

Batman (Nighgwing) then delivers Bruce Wayne to Gordon after his alleged being thrown out of the car during his attempted kidnapping.

Nightwing's bike, stolen by Arkham Knight, is used to access Batmans computer systems to start running the tanks he's been ordering.

Calendar man is introduced into the story.

This is all followed by a cool little story about Batgirls origin in college. Not really cannon, but still good.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Peter J. Tomasi and and army of artists try to cash in on the Arkham video game series with this Batman volume. The staggering story deals with Bane breaking out of prison, Poison Ivy making a cameo, an attempt to put together the Suicide Squad, and the appearance of a Metamorpho in name only. The book fails to really find itself following any real direction, instead floundering through character appearances in an effort to attract gamers to the comics world. The dialogue is painful to read through, the cast is grossly misinterpreted, and the plot fails to gain any traction. Even the art chores are a mixed bag of cartoonish figures, blocky builds, and nonsensical poses. Batman: Arkham Knight is a great video game, but it is a disaster of a comic.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was moving a lot faster than volume one. Bane is incarcerated but he has a plan, Scarecrow is plotting his own schemes. Penguin and Harley are working as a team to defeat Batman, meanwhile the tension in Gotham was growing. I really liked the first storyline, but then Batman went to Germany... That really made no sense at all.

[SoReadsABit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting this one to be a fast paced story given it is the penultimate book and that left me a little underwhelmed. It was an interesting read but I'd have liked a bit more depth to the storyline.

[Tamam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was second of the three part volume series. Also found in my local WML branch. They don't have the third one, so I guess I will have to settle for digital for the next.

The story is good. But, not as captivating as I wished it to be.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not bad and the art is good but it just seems pointless. The Arkham games are already jam packed with storylines, villains, plots and subplots so adding more in the form of a prequel seems like topping a pizza with another not as good pizza it's too much. It doesn't add much to the story.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A minor improvement over volume 1.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good volume.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Nope.

[readwithlogolepsy || AFNAN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall not a bad comic book, still needed some few excitement whatsoever

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5. Some absolutely great art. Some good stories. Some average. Overall a nice book for fans of the Bat!

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one is all about getting the car and beating up some villains.

Another light read, great if you are just after fights and cool images. Ok for story.

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nightwing ♥
El escuadron suicida, batman trabajando con un villano, penguin, el soup-man y esa historia tan humana de la persona que ayudó a batman.

[JestersRaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better then the last volume but that’s not saying much since the first one was so boring

[Sam Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

[Kole · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[newyorksense · Rating 3 out of 5]

girl whatever needed more jason why tf are tim and babs a thing in this au

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as Vol 1 or even 3, but still worth reading for the right price.

[Mya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!

[Wojciech · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather boring and generic story, and it barely has anything in common with the Arkham universe.

[Chris Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should start by saying Arkham Knight is my least favourite Arkham game. I enjoy a lot of the gameplay but the car annoys me and narratively I was disappointed. John Noble’s Scarecrow was fantastic but the Arkham Knight himself and his constant whining I really wasn’t keen on. Other narrative decisions such as the constant kidnapped allies and general treatment of female characters frustrated me. The Tim Drake-Barbara Gordon relationship needs to burn in hell. There’s a lot to like (the Joker stuff) but a lot to dislike too. This is the prequel to that game so my thoughts on Arkham Knight may be relevant as we go on.

Volume 2 of the prequel series can be split into two halfs.

The first half is a two part story Bane of My Existence and a short story Safe House. I know from Tomasi’s other Batman work thar he’s a Bane fan. This story certainly treats him with more respect than Arkham Asylum and Arkham City did and it’s an enjoyable story. It also starts Poison Ivy’s journey away from being a villain. The following short story about Batman in some guy’s house for a few pages left no impact on me whatsoever.

The second half is a two part story Suicide Blues and a short story Batgirl begins. The Arkhamverse Batgirl origin at the end is alright. Pretty close to the main universe with her facing Killer Moth in a home made costume. The Suicide Squad story is dreadful. Harley makes her own suicide squad of Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc to do a mission for Penguin. Deadshot is secretly working for Amanda Waller and ends up teaming up with Batman. Croc brings nothing of value to the book. Boomerang is quickly and unceremoniously killed off. I assume this was a cheap attempt to tie into the film? The Arkham games don’t have any connection to the Suicide Squad apart from one naff tease in Arkham Origins (and now I guess the new Suicide Squad game coming out but that wasn’t a thing when this book was written) so why is Tomasi dragging them in here? It introduces the rubbish Simon Stagg character from the game, and possibly creates Metamorpho, I’m genuinely not sure. In the background Arkham Knight steals a tank. It’s a dreadful and unnecessary story.

The book ends by teasing Calendar Man for volume 3. I enjoyed volume 1 of this prequel but I don’t recommend this volume.

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like these Arkham Knight Batman stories. I do not play the games, but enjoy the story and art. Lots of action in this one. Some treat these stories as "Elseworld" type stories and that is okay with me. The writers can take Batman into an even more darker world than normal. Just picked up and will get to it pretty soon. Love the feel and look of the hardback covers.

[Brian Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites. I didn't feel that there were that many tie ins with the game. In addition, other than the last couple, the first few "stories" were nothing but action and very little dialogue. Was not impressed

[Sas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that into it. Not enough ladies, (although I will always love Barbara Gordon), and Ivy's look in this series is disgusting. She's a giant pair of boobs with (hardly any) Ivy covering her ladybits. A total nerdboy boner look. I just couldn't get in to it.