Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

PART 3: KnightsEnd

When we last saw Bruce he was using Lady Shiva to regain his fighting spirit. As I mentioned there the logic is sound. Shiva is one of DC’s best assassins, alongside the likes of David Cain, Deathstroke, and others…most of whom fight Batman or Robin a lot I notice. She might find the idea of getting Batman, who doesn’t kill, a few lessons from the assassin side, since it’s practically a religion to her. Batman’s also beaten her before so he knows defeating her will mean Bruce is ready to retake the cowl.

Narratively, and I don’t know yet if the book or the original comics this is adapting took the opportunity, we have a chance to explore Bruce’s “no kill” rule, something fans of the “kill the Joker” group like to break out is that Batman (or The “Bat-Man”) did kill in his earliest appearances.

Wait, isn’t this the Joker’s origin?

Fair enough but that one could be an accident, even if that Batman didn’t seem bothered by it. Early Batman got his cues from pulp heroes like The Shadow, when killing the baddies were all the rage. Eventually DC (then known as National Comics before naming themselves after Detective Comics for a reason) decided that if kids were flocking to this character and back then they didn’t hate kids (or rather their money) maybe a killin’ Batman was not a good idea. Also the Comics Code happened. By now, however, the idea that Batman doesn’t kill is just part of his character, that he respects life and will not play judge, jury, and executioner. Let the courts kill him and if the Joker ain’t dead yet, stop blaming Batman. The problem with killing is that it gets easier and at some point, the argument used by opponents of the death penalty, you end up killing an innocent person.

Let’s see how this story uses Shiva, but first we should check in on Jean Paul. He’s not a well man.

Bullock meets with Jean Paul. He likes the idea of Batman’s new violent streak. Gordon doesn’t, and knowing this isn’t the real Batman has opted to try to limit his actions. Bullock tells Not-Batman that Gordon has attempted radio silence, using pay or cellular phones to get messages to police HQ. This is the 1990s so while cell phones weren’t the big shoe box size things of the 1980s they were still rather expensive and thus hardly anybody had them. I know, some of you can’t imagine those times, but they also didn’t have text messaging and various apps. Poor Harvey’s in for a dissapointment soon. He also has a list of baddies he swiped from Gordon. Thus far they haven’t been able to get the good on them but Bullock’s one of those guys who misunderstands how Dirty Harry operates. That’s why he comes off more like Sledge Hammer.

Meanwhile, Bruce completes his lessons with Shiva…at least to his satisfaction. He came to Shiva around Christmas and the previous segment told us it was New Year’s. So it took about a week (although the next segment says he was here for a month so either I didn’t follow the timeline or the novel didn’t spell it out well…and it could also be the comic’s fault) for Bruce to regain his capacity for violence. He also notes to himself that seeing Shiva fall butt first into the snow with her fourth fist or foot mark was a bit more satisfying than he would have liked, something he’ll have to examine about himself in the future. Right now the important thing is to reclaim the mantle from Jean Paul Valley before he ruins the reputation of the Batman completely.

Not wanting to risk a second confrontation even in the Manor, Bruce spends the night in a hotel back in Gotham, using the excuse that sometimes he needs to follow a guru’s advice and get away from ancestral “ghosts”, though of course Bruce doesn’t believe in actual ghosts. You know, not counting the occasional supernatural villain he’s fought either in Gotham or with the Justice League, including Gentleman Ghost. After arranging a meeting with Tim, Bruce decides to spend the time in meditation, if only because going out exercising doesn’t seem very Bruce Wayne like, or at least the public version of Bruce. Remember, here at BW the real Bruce Wayne is somewhere between public Bruce and Batman. I don’t believe Batman is the “real face”. It’s also telling that Bruce chooses meditation while waiting for a meeting while Jean Paul went cruising for bad guys to pound while waiting for his meeting with Harvey earlier.

Bruce gets an update from Tim, who has been cautiously spying on Jean Paul this past week/month. He’s being careful not to get caught but for some reason he doesn’t think Jean Paul would hurt him. After comparing what they know about Jean Paul they figure out he’s going after an arms dealing operation led by the man who killed the previous Azrael, Valley’s father. The question is whether this was on Bullock’s list and JP got lucky or if he did this on his own. As Tim said and we’ve seen, his detective skills are bare minimum at best. Tim goes to meet his girlfriend (Ariana Dzerchenko at the time, though here they only give her first name…I had to look up her last, and yes Tim did in fact used to date girls exclusively) and Bruce uses the computers in his office to get a better look at Tim’s photos, noting the Order Of St Dumas symbol in Jean Paul’s hand because even comics computers become magical.

We’re finally seeing some minor hints at the difference between Bruce and Jean Paul, but the novelization is focusing more on Bruce as he regains his fighting mindset but also starts to wonder about his issues being human. Between realizing he didn’t thank Tim to his worry he might have enjoyed the violence a bit too much it should be character growth for Bruce but I’ve not heard of that being capitalized on. He’s still the brooding loner of three or four different teams, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. We’ll see where things go from here next time.