DC; $3.99

When Batman #56 concluded, the Dark Knight was steps away from confronting the KGBeast for shooting Dick Grayson. Given what Batman went through to get there, and what we saw Anatoli Knyazev was capable of, it meant that the follow up would probably be pretty good. The title delivered.

Batman and the KGBeast have one heck of a fight which reduces dialogue down to mostly grunts of pain and effort. But, it isn’t short on story as writer Tom King interspersed an animal folktale about survival and predators. While it doesn’t answer some major questions looming over the story, it does provide some satisfaction.

This issue is centered around the action rendered by Tony S. Daniel, folktale art by Mark Buckingham and Andrew Pepoy, and colors by Tomeu Morey. The fight is pretty intense and the lack of dialogue makes it a very quick read, but the pain and difficulty is obvious. Having the folktale peppered throughout gives it a jarring tone, but juxtaposes how violence has shaped their lives from longer than they may realize.

-Amanda Sheriff