Information AboutKnightsaga |
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KnightSaga is the informal name given to a major though the names of the first two parts were not. PLOT The Knightfall saga started when a new supervillain, named Bane , freed all the maximum security inmates of Arkham Asylum . His plan was to weaken Batman by making him deal with the most deadly villains one after the other to wear him down. His plan succeeded, and Bane confronted Batman and managed to break his back. After that, Bane assumed control of Gotham City. Bruce Wayne let Jean-Paul Valley take up the mantle of the Bat in order for Gotham to be protected from evil. Jean-Paul accepted the role, but soon became more violent and exhibited "supervillian" tendencies. Unlike his predecesor, Valley would sacrifice lives in order to achieve his goals. He defeated Bane, and created a new costume to show that he really was the new Batman and not just a "pretender", as Bane had called him. When he continued his career as the Caped Crusader, he got increasingly unstable. It was up to Tim Drake, the new Robin, and Dick Grayson, now Nightwing, to try and keep Valley under control while Bruce Wayne retrained himself in order to reclaim the mantle. Prelude The prelude of KnightSaga consisted of the introduction of two characters key to the KnightSaga storyline:
Knightfall At the start of Knightfall, Bane and his comrades released the maximum security inmates of Arkham. He then continued to monitor every one of the villians and Batman, following their exploits. Batman was already suffering from an illness and exhaustion (it's hard to say when this specifically started, some fans suggest it began ever since Jason Todd died). Batman faced every villain in Gotham, from the small time ones like the Mad Hatter to the Joker and Scarecrow . When at last he defeated them all, Bane had previously deduced that Bruce Wayne was Batman and showed up at Wayne Manor ready to fight the Dark Knight. Although he had little chance of defeating Bane in his current, weakened state, Batman fought Bane heroically, in a climactic battle in the Batcave that ended when Bane broke Bruce's back. With Batman out of the way, Bane took control of Gotham's underworld. Who Rules the Night After his defeat, Bruce enlisted the aid of Doctor Shondra Kinsolving to get him back to full health. He also had Jean-Paul Valley, aka Azrael, take up the mantle of the Bat until he was better again. Tim Drake, the third Robin , argued with Bruce to allow Dick Grayson to take the role of the Dark Knight as he was more experienced and mentally competent to be Batman, but Bruce said that Dick was his own man now and would only do so reluctantly. He gave Jean-Paul strict orders to never engage in combat with Bane. However, as Jean-Paul continued filling in for Bruce, his violent streak increased and he would not listen to Robin and disregarded Bruce's advice. Soon after, Kinsolving and Tim's father, Jack Drake, were kidnapped and Bruce and Alfred left the country to find them. Jean-Paul then created a new costume for his incarnation of Batman as he saw himself becoming the true Batman, he was now better than Bruce Wayne and no longer the pretender. He eventually confronted Bane, and defeated him easily with his technologically advanced metal gloves, absolute dedication and sheer brutality. Valley left Bane broken, both mentally and physically, just as Bane had left Bruce Wayne. He then continued to look over Gotham, but grew increasingly unstable. Knightquest Knightquest is divided into two storylines. Knightquest: The Crusade Knightquest: The Crusade follows the story of Jean-Paul Valley, who assumed the mantle of the Bat. He enjoyed the initial success of defeating Bane. However, Jean-Paul Valley became increasingly mentally unbalanced. He drove away Robin and repeatedly redesigned his costume, adding more Gadget s and more lethal weapons. His questionable actions culminated in allowing the Serial Killer Abattoir to die. Since Abattoir was holding an innocent man inside a secret, hidden Torture chamber at an unknown location, Valley's action condemned that prisoner to death. Knightquest: The Search Knightquest: The Search follows Bruce Wayne's search for two kidnapped people, Jack Drake and Shondra Kinsolving , with whom Bruce Wayne had fallen in love. Wayne was able to find Kinsolving. She had been kidnapped by her half-brother, Benedict Asp, who wanted to use her Special Power to kill people at a distance with but a thought. When Bruce Wayne found her, she used her special power to heal him of his broken spine. However, the drugs forced onto her by Asp had reduced her mind to that of a child, and Wayne had to put her into a Mental Institution . KnightsEnd Jean-Paul Valley has begun seeing visions of his deceased father, who had programmed him at birth to be a deadly weapon. These visions started telling Valley to find the man who killed him and avenge his death. Valley then began a search throughout Gotham for his father's killer. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne went to Lady Shiva , a deadly assassin, to retrain him and get him back to his physical prime. Shiva agreed to do so, and pitted Bruce against several martial arts experts after killing their master in Bruce's disguise. In Gotham, Nightwing and Robin were preparing for Bruce to come back and kept constant survelliance on Valley. When Bruce returned to Gotham and defeated the last of the martial arts experts, he donned the costume of Batman and proclaimed that the fight to reclaim Gotham had only begun. They tracked Valley down to the penthouse of a powerful mobster of Gotham, who Valley believed to be his father's murderer. Bruce and Valley then enganged in combat. The final battle, however, took place in the Batcave, bringing the transition of the story to completion. Rather than best Valley at hand-to-hand combat, Bruce tricked Valley to take his costume off, believing that once it was off, the root of Valley's insanity would disappear. The plan worked, and when Valley looked on Bruce in the original suit, he said "You are Batman... and I am nothing." Bruce then comforted Valley, and after Valley left Gotham to travel the world and find his purpose just as Bruce did. The story concludes with Bruce reaffirming his and Tim's relationship and partnership. He then immediately passes the mantel of the Bat to Nightwing, beginning the Prodigal storyline. After KnightSaga KnightSaga paved the way for the Prodigal storyline, in which Dick Grayson (currently Nightwing and formerly the first Robin), who had been angry with Bruce Wayne for choosing Valley over him to be Batman, was given the chance to be Batman. INFLUENCE AND IMPACT KnightSaga took place roughly about the same time as the Death Of Superman . The two storylines thus involved DC Comics ' two most prominent characters in what were regarded by some as daring, bold stories and by others as stunts designed to do no more than sell extra comics through Sensationalism . KnightSaga was, in terms of the number of titles and issues it encompassed and the duration of the storyline, by far the most ambitious Batman Crossover ever at the time it was published. Its success made it possible for other extremely large Batman crossovers, such as No Man's Land , to later be published. |
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