As the summer of 2012 approaches with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises starring Tom Hardy as Bane, DC comics is releasing new trades featuring the man who broke the bat, with this trade collecting “Vengeance of Bane” and “Bane of the Demon” which funnily neither story contains any sort of Batman versus Bane which simply contradicts the whole title of this trade paperback.
Vengeance of Bane gives us the origin of Bane and I really liked how it kind of perfectly sets him as the anti-Bruce Wayne, after all Bane’s pitch was “mix of Batman and Doc Savage” so while Bruce Wayne is a the prince of Gotham who lived with the wealthiest people, here we have a child who was born in one of the most dangerous prisons on earth and survived thru hell. Both persons had child traumas, both utterly dedicated to their cause and both perfected themselves both mentally and physically. The story also introduces to Bane’s lackeys that you’ve presumably learned from Knightfall.
Bane of the Demon is a good character driven story that very loosely parallels with The Dark Knight Rises. The whole connection with Ghuls, even in this book you have utterly loyal “suicide ninjas” who shout the phrase “to die is to serve!” which I found totally awesome and reminded me of the IMAX preview of the Dark Knight Rises.
Rating: 93/100 – The book gives the reader not only a well written origin story for Bane, but also an additional story showcasing his strength, cunning brilliant mind and his utter dedications and shows his motivations to all of this. If you’re a fan of Bane or you’re intrigued by him due to The Dark Knight Rises or another reason, this is the book for you. Still one might wonder why the name “Batman vs. Bane” instead of “Vengeance of Bane” or “Bane of the Demon” or something incredibly forcefully tied with the 3rd Nolan Batman movie, like “Bane: The Fire Rises”.
