- Title: Batman #18
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Tom King
- Artist: David Finch
After kidnapping Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, and Duke Thomas, Bane offers Batman a simple exchange: his friends for the Psycho-Pirate. Despite his history with the Dark Knight Detective, the villain is unprepared for Batman’s response.
The latest issue of the “I Am Bane” storyline features an extended fight sequence between Batman and Bane. Although the villain gets the upper-hand, he’s unprepared for Batman’t contingency plan. Keeping Bane occupied with repeated headbutts to the super-villains’ fists gives Catwoman enough time to free herself and the other hostages and take away all of Bane’s leverage. Batman wins basically by letting Bane kick his ass.
The comic is inter-cut with images of Bruce Wayne and Bane as children suggesting several similiarities between each’s tragic past and the obsession born out of it. These scenes take up a few too many panels for my taste, but they do underline the arc’s central message suggesting Bane is a serious threat to Batman with more in common than one might expect. Worth a look.
[DC, $2.99]