Batman: Knightfall Volume 3 – Knightsend by Chuck Dixon is the final chapter in the epic series that covered 2 years of comics. Knightfall started with the super villain Bane breaking every inmate of Arkham Asylum. Where Bruce Wayne – Batman works tirelessly to arrest every criminal, Bane then confronts a weakened Batman and breaks his back. Bruce must make a quick decision to find a replacement and pick Azrael – John Paul Valley a former brainwashed assassin Bruce and Tim Drake – Robin have been working with. He takes down Bane but shuts Robin out as he slowly starts to go insane, which lead us to this chapter with Bruce Wayne’s back now heeled can he take down his former protege that is besmirching the Batman name. The story is split into two parts Knightsend and Prodigal Son. Both parts are good and have a clear beginning and end to each. This book was the easiest to read and the story had a clear vision on where it was going. At 642 pages this was one of the longest book but the best paced by far. The main villains are Killer Croc, Catwoman, Two-Face, Scarface, The Tally Man, and Lady Shiva, but the big fight is Batman vs. Batman. This is the first book that really starts the Bat family as Dick Grayson/1st Robin now Nightwing is brought back and confronted about why he left being Robin and Why Bruce did not choose him to be the new Batman.Batman: Knightfall Volume 3 – Knightsend collects issues Batman #509-510, #512-514, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #29-30, 32-34, Detective Comics #676-677, #679-681, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #62-63, Robin #8-9, #11-13 and Catwoman #12-13.

Plot Summary: Bruce Wayne is healed after breaking his back in a fight with Bane, he’s decided to give up being Batman, but when he’s what Azrael has done as the new Batman purposely letting a criminal die to make a point. Bruce Wayne decides he must retake the mantle, but his body and muscle memory are not up to the task. He gets Lady Shiva to help him, after a couple of weeks she thinks he’s ready, for what he doesn’t know. Lady Shiva murders a master and pins it on Bruce Wayne who sends all his students on a mission to avenge his death. Bruce must beat all these student who are now masters themselves who are all set to kill. After each one he takes down his strength and confidence increase until he’s ready to fight Azrael as Batman. He has enlisted the help of Nightwing and Tim to track him as Bruce takes him down. Azrael is convinced that a Gotham gunrunner is the man who killed his father and is out for blood can Batman stop Batman before he kills again. This story has two parts the summary is just part 1.

What I Liked: The Batman and Nightwing conversation about why he didn’t get asked to take over the role of Batman is great. The conversation borders on both love and hate. The Batman vs Batman fight on top of the bridge was pretty epic. I liked the Azrael solo story after the big fight. I liked how many nods to the murder of Jason Todd and how everyone missed him and he was a big part of the missing family. The Two Face storyline started out ridiculous but was one of the better stories and ended really well. I really like the return of the Tally Man, and we see the damage Azrael did to him as the unhinged Batman. The master reveal was interesting and very 70’s shaolin movie. The Shadow of the Bat has hands down the best art. I like the new Batsuit at the end which looked the closest to the Tim Burton Batsuit.

What I Disliked: The ending of the Batman vs. Batman in the Batcave, it was too easy and Azrael got off way too easy. Two Face getting released on a name technicality was really hard to believe, number one is was a former District Attorney and number two half of his face is covered in acid burns. The name is Harvey Kent it was pretty ridiculous.

Recommendation: Knightsend had the best Volume 1 and 2, my favorite single volume is Knightfall Part 1, But this is the best of the Knightfall graphic novels. As a kid I started reading the series but fell off, it’s a lot of comics on a 12 and 13 year-old allowance. It has been fun to revisit as an adult. I rated Batman: Knightfall Volume 3 Knightsend by Chuck Dixon 4 out of 5 stars. This book was really close to 4.5 stars but not enough to push it up to 5 stars. The series as a whole I would give a 4 out of 5 star, there was only one volume in the series that was 3 stars with the rest being 4 stars.