Kiightquest trade question

[Green Goblin]

Any particular reason why Kightquest has never been collected in trade paperback it really fills the gap between nightfall and kightends , its the storline where joker films the death of batman and bruce quest to recue time drake father and dr kinsolving

[Batman was taken]

I think they just didn't care.... This was before the time when everyone traded everything, so they just skipped it.

Shame too, it wasn't too bad of a story.

[Choppa]

They wanted you to do the work of finding the issues

[Captain Jim]

There were two Knightquest's - the Search & the Crusade. I always thought the Search should be collected; it's just about the right length and definitely fills in the gaps of Bruce's story. Not exactly sure why it wasn't, though I don't think the original sales on this storyline were too great.

The Crusade, however, was basically Azrael's story and it would take 2 or 3 volumes to collect it all. It really isn't all that essential to read either; it simply details AzBat's descent into madness.

[dancj]

The problem is that Knightquest: The Crusade is a bit on the long side. It would be good if they did collected accross a few books though.

Knightquest: The Search on the other hand is just really bad.

[Captain Jim]

The problem is that Knightquest: The Crusade is a bit on the long side. It would be good if they did collected accross a few books though.

I suppose you could do a single volume, collecting only selective stories. I hadn't thought of that.

Knightquest: The Search on the other hand is just really bad.

Really? I didn't think so. I thought it just wasn't very popular because few people were interested in reading about a crippled Bruce Wayne as opposed to super heroics. (It also didn't help the way it skipped around in different titles.)

[Maestro]

The main parts of The Crusade are Batman #501-508 and Detective Comics #667-675. They could both make a nice trade along with half of The Search in each.

[matthewaos]

That's funny... I thought that the whole Knightfall story was a trilogy: Knightfall, Knightquest and Knightsend. Two or three years before I found a TPB called "part one". I thought that I should get both three tpbs someday. Are you saying part two does not exist?

[Captain Jim]

That's funny... I thought that the whole Knightfall story was a trilogy: Knightfall, Knightquest and Knightsend. Two or three years before I found a TPB called "part one". I thought that I should get both three tpbs someday. Are you saying part two does not exist?

Knightfall takes up two volumes; that's probably what you saw.

[Batman was taken]

That's funny... I thought that the whole Knightfall story was a trilogy: Knightfall, Knightquest and Knightsend. Two or three years before I found a TPB called "part one". I thought that I should get both three tpbs someday. Are you saying part two does not exist?

Knightfall part 1 - Bruce's fall, ends with Bane breaking him
Kinghtfall part 2 - Jean-Paul's rise, ends with him beating Bane
Knightquest - not collected at all, chronicles Az-Bats adventures and Bruce's search.
Knightsend - Uh.. the.. end.

[Buried Alien]

Of course, if DC were doing this today, the year of BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS leading up to KNIGHTFALL (including the VENGEANCE OF BANE and SWORD OF AZRAEL comics) would be collected as COUNTDOWN TO KNIGHTFALL CRISIS, followed by KNIGHTFALL, KNIGHTQUEST, KNIGHTSEND, and KNIGHTFALL AFTERMATH: PRODIGAL.

:D

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[GRANT!]

^^^^^^^
Don't forget the Venom storyline in LOTDK.

The Azbat stuff would be about a years worth of stories in Detective and Batman and almost a years worth of stories in Shadow of the Bat, not to mention ties in with Robin and Catwoman.

It would require a two or three trades or one of those fat OMNIMBUS books.

[Choppa]

Of course, if DC were doing this today, the year of BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS leading up to KNIGHTFALL (including the VENGEANCE OF BANE and SWORD OF AZRAEL comics) would be collected as COUNTDOWN TO KNIGHTFALL CRISIS, followed by KNIGHTFALL, KNIGHTQUEST, KNIGHTSEND, and KNIGHTFALL AFTERMATH: PRODIGAL.

:D

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

But that is a real trade!

http://www.thebatsquad.net/_images/prodigal.jpg

[Captain Jim]

But that is a real trade!

Right, but it doesn't have the Knightfall name in the title (which was the whole point of Buried's post).

[matthewaos]

Also sword of Alzrael is collected. Thanks by the way guys, I was confused a little it seems... I thought there weer just three tpbs.

[Captain Jim]

Also sword of Alzrael is collected. Thanks by the way guys, I was confused a little it seems... I thought there weer just three tpbs.

The Sword of Azrael trade reprints Jean Paul's first appearance and takes place *before* Knightfall. And there *are* just three trades with the prefix "Knight" in them. But they don't collect everything.

[Carter Hall]

My take on this is that Knightquest itself is not really one story. It's what was going on during the year between Knightfall and Knightsend. The Crusade, anyway, was three or four stories even not including the Robin and Catwoman and whatever else crossover stuff. It'd be the same as collecting any year of Batman. There are certain sequential stories that take place but it's not exactly TPB material. And yeah, plus, they weren't very good. Although I did really like the Catwoman crossover story (Batman 503, 504 and Catwoman 6,7). I never read the Search, though. Sounds like people were mixed on it.

Of course, if DC were doing this today, the year of BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS leading up to KNIGHTFALL (including the VENGEANCE OF BANE and SWORD OF AZRAEL comics) would be collected as COUNTDOWN TO KNIGHTFALL CRISIS, followed by KNIGHTFALL, KNIGHTQUEST, KNIGHTSEND, and KNIGHTFALL AFTERMATH: PRODIGAL.

:D

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

HA!!!! Freakin' hilarious!!!

[matthewaos]

So is knightsend any good?

[Choppa]

So is knightsend any good?

Yes, especially the final fight between Bruce and JPV from Legends #63.

I didn't like 'The Search' at all, but 'The Crusade' was actually interesting. Seeing Batman's rogues react to JPV was cool. I really liked the Joker's "Death of Batman" movie.

Towards the end when he started going against other armored guys it got kind of lame though.

IMO, if Progidal gets collected, 'The Crusade' should be too.

[Jedeye Sniv]

I'm re-reading this arc at the moment actually, having for some mad reason become obsessed with it for a little bit a couple of months back and tracking down all the issues I was missing from various internet retailers at a not insubstantial price. Knightfall was probably the first meaty Bat-story I ever read, coming hot on the heels of discovering Death in the Family and Killing Joke in trade (it still amuses me that one of the first comics I ever read at age 10 was an Alan Moore story that crippled Batgirl. I had no idea how shocking it was and how brilliant the artwork was, I just thought that's how American comics were. and I like the joke at the end but -DIGRESSION END).

The point that I was going to make was that seeing as Knightfall was my intro into the then-modern Bat-verse, it's odd that I was missing a whole chunk (and imo, the most interesting chunk) of the story. Bruce being crippled and seeing JPV's tentative first steps as Batman were great, but it was jarring to go from that to a full-on mental Batman in Knightsend. I always wondered what happened in between, and I'm glad I tracked down the issues as it's a great and unique Batman story.

It's great on a surface level first, the stories are from when Dixon, Moench and Grant were really firing on all cylinders (I really do contend that the Cross-over era Batman up until the end of NML is the best era until this current Dini/Morrison era), and are great action stories. Joker drawn by Graham Nolan is a treat, the Abatoir story is pretty fun and ties really well throughout the various titles, playing in to the very-odd Clayface story as while the assassin arc plays out in the 'Batman' title. Also, the Knightquest JPV Batman as a whole is a nice comment of both 90's comics eXXXtreeeeme!111!-ness and of the more intended theme of having great power without the necessary maturity, kinda like Supermanboy-Prime in current DCU.

JPV's obsession with Catwoman was wonderfully played by Moench too, just the right side of filthy with Valley's nascent sexuality causing him problems mid-fight and him playing the encounter like a 9th grade idiot playing at being Batman were excellent fun, I agree.

The whole shebang, Sword of Azrael through to Troika should be traded like the Death of Superman Saga, it's well worth being collected as a whole, if only to celebrate the utterly mad ambition of the comics at the time. And so should Spidey's clone saga. The mistakes of the 90's are fun to revisit.

[Choppa]

The 90's were the best. I loved the way every story had a purpose and things weren't just forgotten the next issue. And those writers did a great job of filling in the rest of the supporting cast like Krol and Shondra, etc.

I was just reading Progidal yesterday and loved how the stories actually continued from one another. Like in the first issue Killer Croc shows up from the river were you last saw him fighting with Bane. The current runs don't have anything like that. (Dini has it but only references his own stuff). I loved that about them.

[dancj]

I didn't like 'The Search' at all, but 'The Crusade' was actually interesting. Seeing Batman's rogues react to JPV was cool. I really liked the Joker's "Death of Batman" movie.
I agree. The Death of Batman was possibly Chuck Dixon's best bit of Bat-writing - especially The Joker's escape at the end.
I really do contend that the Cross-over era Batman up until the end of NML is the best era until this current Dini/Morrison era
But that includes some really terrible stories like Contagion and Cataclysm.

[Scott Iskow]

I wouldn't mind a "Best of Knightquest" collection. I don't think it's necessary to collect all of it, though. The fight with Robin, the Joker story, and the Catwoman story seem like good ones to include. Also the Abattoir story is kind of important, since it's when JPV crosses the point of no return (which he later returns from).

[Carter Hall]

The 90's were the best. I loved the way every story had a purpose and things weren't just forgotten the next issue. And those writers did a great job of filling in the rest of the supporting cast like Krol and Shondra, etc.

I was just reading Progidal yesterday and loved how the stories actually continued from one another. Like in the first issue Killer Croc shows up from the river were you last saw him fighting with Bane. The current runs don't have anything like that. (Dini has it but only references his own stuff). I loved that about them.

I also LOVED how all comics related to each other in the 90s and I really miss that today. I love continuity and it made the universes feel more like universes, not companies.

[Choppa]

I also LOVED how all comics related to each other in the 90s and I really miss that today. I love continuity and it made the universes feel more like universes, not companies.

I was rereading the Zero Hour trade and loved the scene where Batman and Superman first cross paths when the heroes are teaming up and Bruce remarks that they both had interesting years, and that Supes looks different after having died, and Superman remarks that even a broken back can't stop Bruce.

Interestingly, that scene is reprinted in another ZH Superman issue. I forget why.

[Scott Iskow]

I was rereading the Zero Hour trade and loved the scene where Batman and Superman first cross paths when the heroes are teaming up and Bruce remarks that they both had interesting years, and that Supes looks different after having died, and Superman remarks that even a broken back can't stop Bruce.

Interestingly, that scene is reprinted in another ZH Superman issue. I forget why.

The scene that we saw in Zero Hour was expanded in the Superman issue (wherein we see a ton of different versions of Batman show up). They probably reused the conversation for continuity's sake. (Ironic, considering that the whole point of Zero Hour was that continuity had gone wonky.)