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 2: KNIGHTQUEST

In our last installment we saw Jean Paul Valley’s first night on the job as Back-Up Batman and…there are concerns. The man was trained by lunatics following the teachings of a false saint. Having issues should surprise nobody…except Alfred and Bruce, apparently. I’d say “hopefully things go better this time around” but that miss the point of this storyline, to show readers what a kill-happy Batman would actually be like and why Bruce doesn’t want to be that Batman.

I have to wonder how long have they been planning this storyline? Bane was created just for this story but managed to stay around and is more memorable than Cyborg Superman Hank Henshaw easily. Perhaps using TWO existing superhero names didn’t help old Hank? Azrael was created before this story but were he and the Order Of St. Dumas created before this idea? If Bane isn’t going to be the main villain and they need to explain why Dick Grayson wasn’t called back to be Back-Up Batman the origin of Jean Paul Valley, a man trained in the ways of the Order by someone who was not quite in sync with the Order, would have to be explained. It’s like when Grimlock was put in command of the Autobots for a while. Bob Budiansky in the US Marvel comics created a scenario where Grimlock showed on the surface that he had the right qualities but then he started the job and proved it was the bad idea we suspected.

So was the whole Azrael thing created as set-up to “Knightfall” or did they see a previously made character that could fit into this story? Something to ponder as we go into the next duo of chapters.

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