DCAU #139: To Live and Die in Gotham City!

IN THIS ONE... Bane is back, off the Venom, and willing to kill Batman's enemies for him.

CREDITS: Written by Ty Templeton; art by Brandon Kruse and Rick Burchett.

REVIEW: The DCAU's Bane continues to be a more interesting character than the DCU's own (pre-Secret Six) en-Venomed wrestler. Actually, he's off the sauce in this sequel, and the better for it, finding a friend on the road to recovery and eventually, rejecting him. There are parallels to the addict's pathology in this, without it being obvious. Bane's real addiction - as with all supervillains - is doing bad things, and though he makes a go of being a vigilante, and paying tribute to the one man who could beat him by trying to take out big fish like Rupert Thorne and his henchgirl Candice. But Batman breaks him again when he rejects the notion that they should be killed, sending Bane back to the depths of villainy. All very rife with psychological interest.

Action-wise, we also get Robin vs. Bane, holding his own, and a kickass sequence in which Batman takes an unusual route to Bane's fourth-story window. Totally worth the cover price.

REREADABILITY: Medium-High - A very nice sequel that continues Bane's story and fleshes him out as a character.