What happened to Bruce Wayne while he was gone in the Knightfall trilogy?

[glbearden26]

I recently read the entire Knightfall trilogy for the first time as contained in the most recently published collections. Are there any books that tell the story of what happened to Bruce Wayne after he left and handed the mantle to Jean Paul Valley? He suddenly reappears at the end of vol 2 healthy and ready to train but there are no details of where he's been or what he's been doing.

[Mat001]

Yes, the collections neglected to collect "Knightquest: The Search". It was printed in Justice League Task Force #5 and 6, Shadow Of The Bat #21-23 and Legends Of The Dark Knight #59-61.

[stk]

Do even the new collections skip that stuff? I thought the new, much larger editions were going to include everything. Why can they not figure out a way to f up their tpbs? This is ridiculous.

[Mat001]

Volume one has the following contents.

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL.1 NEW EDITION collects the entire sections of "Broken Bat" and "Who Rules the Night" arcs:

BATMAN: VENGEANCE OF BANE SPECIAL #1
BATMAN #491-500
DETECTIVE COMICS #659-666
SHOWCASE '93 #7 and 8
BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #16-18

Excluded is "Sword Of Azrael" and the build-up issues in Batman and Detective Comics. For volume two...

BATMAN KNIGHTFALL VOL.2: KNIGHTSQUEST collects all of "The Crusade" arc.

DETECTIVE COMICS #667-675
SHADOW OF THE BAT #19-20, 24-28
BATMAN #501-508
CATWOMAN #6-7

This also collects ROBIN #7 from "The Search" arc. Missing is the entire "Knightquest: The Search" arc, as well as the first two issues of Robin's monthly series. As well as the first Catwoman story arc, "Lifelines" which takes place during the latter half of "Knightfall" and the start of "Knightquest". Also absent is "Batman/Punisher: Lake Of Fire", but that's not quite relevant. There are no excerpts from Superman #83, Catwoman #5 and "World's Finest" #8.

For volume three...

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL.3, KNIGHTSEND collects:

BATMAN 509-510 and 512-514
BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT 29-30 and 32-34
DETECTIVE COMICS 676-677 and 679-681
BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT 62-63
ROBIN 8-9 and 11-13
CATWOMAN 12-13
SHOWCASE 94 #10.

"Prodigal" is included, but not "Troika". I believe because of "Prodigal", "Knightquest: The Search" is absent.

[stk]

Jiminy Cricket, that is pathetic. The list of missing material almost makes me feel like they shouldn't have bothered collecting it at all. I have all the individual issues, but I've been seriously considering getting the new tpbs for the bookshelf, since I hate digging through longboxes and taking all the little comics out of their little bags and then re-bagging and re-filing. But forget it now, if that's the case.

If nothing else, Sword of Azrael should have been included -- or at least be in print as a separate TPB. But no. And missing Knightquest: the Search is inexcusable. I thought adding The Search was part of the reason they did a new edition in the first place. I guess not.

[Captain Jim]

Yes, the collections neglected to collect "Knightquest: The Search". It was printed in Justice League Task Force #5 and 6, Shadow Of The Bat #21-23 and Legends Of The Dark Knight #59-61.

These stories have their critics, but they certainly do supply a needed piece of continuity. And I for one am disappointed they were left out of the most recent collection.

As I recall, Task Force is pretty much a throw away story (nothing much happens), but the other two titles are worth seeking out if you want the entire story. Maybe not the most exciting comics ever, but I enjoyed them.

[carabas]

These stories have their critics, but they certainly do supply a needed piece of continuity. And I for one am disappointed they were left out of the most recent collection.

As I recall, Task Force is pretty much a throw away story (nothing much happens), but the other two titles are worth seeking out if you want the entire story. Maybe not the most exciting comics ever, but I enjoyed them.

Not getting into how exactly Bruce got his spine fixed and what happened to Sonya is kinda sloppy even by DC trades standards.

[Super Buddies Forever]

I recently reread The Search issues that have gone digital and was surprised by how much I enjoyed them. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for stories where Bruce visits England, stories where he's hindered by some physical or mental calamity, and stories where he's out of the costume. Regardless, you'd think they'd have extra incentive to collect those issues since they include the first appearance of The Hood, who Morrison brought back for Incorporated.

This is why I stopped trade collecting. This is even worse than when they excluded most of Funeral For a Friend from the Death and Return of Superman Omnibus.

[T Hedge Coke]

This just makes the O'Neil novel easier to love and way easier to be the go-to version of the story.

[Haytil]

Do even the new collections skip that stuff? I thought the new, much larger editions were going to include everything. Why can they not figure out a way to f up their tpbs? This is ridiculous.

It's hard to believe that, in this economy, people with such incompetence can still hold on to their jobs.

I guess it just goes to show, connections will always trump competence.

[Mat001]

These stories have their critics, but they certainly do supply a needed piece of continuity. And I for one am disappointed they were left out of the most recent collection.

As I recall, Task Force is pretty much a throw away story (nothing much happens), but the other two titles are worth seeking out if you want the entire story. Maybe not the most exciting comics ever, but I enjoyed them.

Though with JLTF, it picks up with Bruce in Santa Prisca which is where he was in Batman #498 and 500. If one were to skip that and go to SOTB #21, it would seem a bit off.

This is why I stopped trade collecting. This is even worse than when they excluded most of Funeral For a Friend from the Death and Return of Superman Omnibus.

The downside is that without enough comics shops, it's kinda difficult to get the necessary back issues. Hell, I missed out on this when the books first came out. At the time, SOTB had only been available briefly in the book store where I purchased some of my comics from. Mainly issues one through for. Same with LOTDK. When On-Cue opened, I was finally able to purchase those titles. But by then, "The Search" was about over. No problems getting "The Crusade" issues.

This just makes the O'Neil novel easier to love and way easier to be the go-to version of the story.

Not really since so much is still missing from that, not to mention changed all together. I was really disappointed in that adaptation compared to Stern's Superman novel.

It's hard to believe that, in this economy, people with such incompetence can still hold on to their jobs.

I guess it just goes to show, connections will always trump competence.

I wouldn't call that incompetence. They just didn't need to include "Prodigal". That should have been made available separately.

[cactusmaac]

I don't really mind the Search being excluded since it was mostly crap and easily the weakest link of the whole story. How Bruce gets healed is really stupid. I'd have preferred Venom, Sword of Azrael and the prelude issues in Batman being collected. Not the Tec prelude issues since Michael Netzer's art looked like he was doodling.

[Mat001]

Weak or not, it's important. It's like cutting out Bruce's escape from the Pit in "The Dark Knight Rises" and just jumping to his being in costume, in Gotham five months later.

[cactusmaac]

The pit sequence was awesome, Hemingford Gray and magic back healing not so much.

[TomSlick]

Wow, I really loved The Search except for the way his back was healed. There was one scene in there where Bruce put on the costume and Alfred tied him to a pole. The Hood wasn't sure if he was really Batman and Bruce was like: I've spent my whole training to fight. Go ahead and bring it if don't believe me.

The Hood - luckily for Batman at that point - didn't take him up on it.