Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing quite well for a Wednesday. For this week's comic book review we're diving back into my childhood comic book collection to take a look at the very first main DC Universe Batman comic I ever got. So let's get into Batman #493, written by Doug Moench, with art by the late Norm Breyfogle and published by DC Comics in 1993.
Looking at this cover, I am amazed that my mom agreed to buy this issue for me. I mean the villain of the issue, Victor Zsasz is about to stab Batman while the Caped Crusader inspects the body of a dead woman. Which doesn't happen in the issue by the way. In fact the only deaths in the issue are two male cops. But back in the 90s very rarely did the covers reflect what was actually happening in the issue. Not that that practice hasn't continued to the present day nor was it a new concept in the 90s, but in earlier times it was less common than it has been since the 90s.
As I mentioned in my intro to this review, this was the first Batman comic I ever got that wasn't an issue of The Batman Adventures. At this point I don't even remember why I was at the hospital when I got this issue. It was probably one of those times where I was there for a long day of appointments and my mom took me to the gift shop between appointments. There weren't any other issues of The Batman Adventures at the gift shop as I'd already gotten the issue that came out the same month as this one did.
Batman #493 is the third part in the "Knightfall" storyline that ran through Batman and Detective Comics (with other books being added for "Knightquest" and "KnightsEnd") from 1993 until 1994. I didn't read "Knightfall" in it's entirety until 2005 or 2006 when I got the reprints of the original trade paperback volumes, but it almost wasn't necessary since back in the 90s they were still doing standalone issues, even if they were part of a larger storyline with the occasional two or three part story mixed in. I read this issue no problem without having read the previous two parts of the storyline or the five or six issues that led up to the storyline.
There isn't much to this issue as most of it is just Batman finding Zsasz and the hostages he took, including Detective Montoya. Batman is exhausted throughout this issue and it's still quite early in the "Knightfall" storyline. Basically Bane broke all of Batman's enemies out of Arkham Asylum and Batman had to take them all down while fighting off some sort of illness that took him out for a couple of issues not long before this issue. Of course this leads to the infamous scene in Batman #497 where Bane broke Batman's back.
As some of you may know, this is my favourite era of Batman. He's still got the gray suit with the blue cape and cowl that he'd had since the 40s, Tim Drake was Robin, Dick Grayson was Nightwing, Barbara Gordon was Oracle, Stephanie Brown had just been introduced only less than a year before this issue was published and Jean Paul Valley was Azrael. This was my introduction to the character in the comics. I knew of the character because of reruns of the 1966 TV series, and the 1966 film, plus the Burton films, but I didn't know he was a comic book character aside from The Batman Adventures. Since I encountered him in other media first.
The artwork in this issue is pretty great. Norm Breyfogle and Jim Aparo are my favourite Batman artists as they were the first two Batman artists I encountered their work in, along with Kelley Jones, who did pretty much all of the comic book covers for both Batman and Detective Comics during this period. I actually like how Breyfogle differentiates being in a lighted room and being in a darkened room without just having a black panel with only a flashlight effect in the centre the way many comic book artists do it. Which Breyfogle actually also does in this issue for one panel.
Overall this is a good issue. You don't necessarily need to have read the previous issues to understand what's going on. You don't even need to have read Zsasz's previous appearances to understand who he is here. That's what I love about comics published by DC from the 1930s to the mid 90s. They're easier to jump into Batman with since they were all standalone issues until about 1969 or 1970 when they started having standalone issues within a larger narrative which continued until the late 90s with storylines like "No Man's Land" and series like JLA and Young Justice.
Alrighty that is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back on Friday with my review of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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