The 3 part Knightfall story (Knightfall, Knightquest and KnightsEnd) that took place in the early 1990s represents a period in Batman comic books that was sometimes overblown, overwritten and ultimately poorly executed. Similar to the No Man’s Land story, Knightfall presents a terrific concept that should have been amazing but could have been delivered in half the amount of issues. The best moments are Bruce Wayne dealing with both his injury and the fallout of the mass escape from Arkham Asylum by most of the villains.
This marks the first time we see Tim Drake officially as Robin in a major story. The new characters that help to carry the plot are Bane, who is a far more interesting character in his origin story (The Vengeance of Bane), and Jean Paul Valley, who takes up the mantle of Batman after Bruce is paralyzed, and who eventually becomes the anti-hero known as Azrael. Bane is thinly characterized throughout this entire story; he's little more than a terrorist and utilized here only as a reason for Batman to have his back broken and as the catalyst for the Arkham breakout. Azrael is a decent example of what was wrong with 90's comics.
The Knightfall saga is indicative of a lot of problems that 90's comics had. While not as ridiculous as a lot of what was going on at Marvel by the middle of the decade (X-men comics were getting pretty convoluted and Spider-man's Clone Saga was a mess), Knightfall definitely was a sign of the times. The Death and Return of Superman was a far better attempt at having an iconic hero leave the role for a time only to be replaced by inferior and perhaps darker versions. Whether the Death of Superman saga is better because it had better writers is debatable. The basic problem with the Knightfall storyline as a whole is the bloated writing. Had the writers tightened the concept into maybe a dozen issues for each part, it would have faired better.
What never made sense to me was the idea that Bruce Wayne, having known Jean Paul Valley for such a short time, would entrust his greatest secret and something as important as the Batman role to a new young man? Why not have Nightwing fill in for a time, as he later did in the Batman story, Prodigal?
While many Batman fans fondly remember this event, I don't share their enthusiasm. By no means is it a bad story. In fact there are innumerable moments that are brilliant, particularly in the Knightfall part. The art is also gorgeous by Norm Breyfogle, Jim Aparo et al. However the length of the story, the crossover bloat with other titles, the overly dramatic Jean Paul Valley sequences, and the many D grade villain appearances (Film Freak and Amygdala among others) are enough to downgrade the entire story for me. Is it worth a read? Definitely! Does it deserve the constant praise as one of Batman’s greatest stories? I don’t think so. It deserves remembrance for that time when Batman was paralyzed and eventually did the impossible by coming back from quadriplegia. If any part of the series holds up, it's definitely Knightfall. By the time Jean Paul takes the Batman mantle, it becomes monotonous. Knightquest and Knightsend can be difficult to get through, particularly when whole story arcs like "The Search" have not even been collected in trade paperback. In the context of Bat-history, this story is of course very important, a landmark for sure. I just think it deserves more of a critical analysis by fans.
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