DETECTIVE COMICS #666 - September 1993

The Devil You Know
Credits:  Chuck Dixon (writer), Graham Nolan (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), John Costanza (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  Batman learns from Commissioner Gordon that Bane’s three henchmen are being kept in police custody.  Tricking Trogg, Bird, and Zombie into believing that Bane has orchestrated their release, Batman breaks the trio out of jail and follows them to Bane’s hideout.  Batman confronts Bane, and is soon physically thrown out of his apartment.  The fight moves to a construction site.  Batman’s life hangs in the balance as Bane cuts away the rope that’s keeping him tied to a scaffold.

Dramatic Exits:  Commissioner Gordon expects Batman to abruptly leave during their conversation, and is shocked when he doesn’t.  The new Batman doesn’t understand why he would leave when someone is still talking.

Review:  Comparing this issue to Batman #499, it’s not hard to get the impression that Chuck Dixon was into this storyline much more than Doug Moench.  Not that every Moench chapter is bad, but too often he seems to be going through the motions, dutifully recapping the previous issue’s events while setting up the story for the next chapter to begin.  Dixon seems to be having more fun with the crossover, as he creates a genuinely humorous moment between the new Batman and Gordon, fakes out the reader (and the villains) with a phony prison escape, and crafts a decent fight scene between Bane and Batman.  Bane is allowed to do more than just growl and beat his chest this issue, even if the story is emphasizing his physical strength and not his mental prowess.  He simply has more personality when Dixon writes him, which goes a long way towards salvaging the storyline.