Holy First Appearances!!!

With the new Dark Knight film causing many fanboys to froth their pants about Bane. I think that its time we had a new Holy First Appearance! And invoking my personal favourite comment about the latest Dark Knight Rises image on the web. Inspired genius Gotham Spoilers, inspired genius...

So Vengeance of Bane #1

Bane probably was created by (and this comes from the sometimes dodgy Wikipedia) by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench and the Graham Nolan. Bane was a character dreamt up to actually do something important.

Like Breaking The Bat important.

This was way before Batman became R.I.P, in 1993, the 'Knightfall' plans were afoot to break Batman's back. This would then cause Bruce Wayne to surrender the mantle to another new, unknown character, Jean-Paul Valley, Azrael.

For a while before 'Knightfall' the key Batman writers were slowly putting the foundations down in slow measured ways. The nasty drug Venom (imagine super-strength Anabolic Steroids combined with the addictiveness of Heroin) was introduced into the official canon in a 'Legends of the Dark Knight' story arc called, unsurprisingly, 'Venom'.

Elsewhere, Azrael was unleashed in a four parter by Denny O'Neill and Joe Quesada (that's some creative parentage isn't it?).

But obviously to complete a storyline that is this important you need a proper villain. One that isn't obsessed with riddles, bodycounts, fear or split personalities. A villain that plays the strings and comes into to do a job effectively and efficiently. And that job is simple, if you want to be the Kingpin of Gotham- to rule Gotham- you must break the Bat. And that is where the brilliance of Vengeance of Bane part I works, we get a fully developed character that in 64 pages.

As for Bane's début storyline introduction, this is his life story as to how Bane has become the man he has. A man raised in a Santa Priscan (a fictitious Latin American right wing dictatorship country) prison because he is to serve the sentence of the crimes of his father. Bane shows cunning and toughness. He gets respect through his brutality. He is then is experimented upon so that he becomes hooked on the drug of Venom.

Also there is a small in-joke at play. An Easter egg, if you will, Bane's henchmen are also introduced: Bird, Trogg, and Zombie. So what you do now, is go to Play.com or Amazon and put a search into their music department these names and experience the world of New York Punk (and here is you're opportunity to learn about the subtleties of the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols). Legend has it that these were the favourite bands of Grant, Moench and Dixon.

One defining characteristic of Bane is his Mexican wrestling mask. This mask serves less of the need to hide Banes true identity. Nope, it's an efficient way of taking Venom. This drug makes Bane stronger and nastier. Of course, this will become his undoing... but, that's another story. If I'm really reaching I'd argue that the appearance of pro wrestler, Van Vader in the old WCW had an influence in the way that a Mexican masked wrestler could be a giant, nasty rotter as opposed to the traditional lucha-libre high flyer. Coupled to that, I suppose you could argue that pro wrestling is also referenced in this story was released just as the Zahorian/WWF in which steroids and wrestling would be forever linked (and the tragic link between Jeep Swanson and Bane in 'Batman and Robin', could illustrate this point, sadly). However, I would state that the use of the Venom, was more of a statement by the creators about the illicit drug trade, and it's influence upon the criminal underworld at the time. You see, Bane is the inevitable outcome of a government backed narcostate. This is a common theme of Chuck Dixon's work throughout the early nineties whether it be in his Batman or Punisher work.

If I'm honest, it is the Vengeance of Bane Part 2 that pops up a few years after that truly really makes the character whole. Dixon makes Bane a reformed drug addict, but has the refined the way that he operates. Less use of muscle (because Venom, is no longer needed- thus quite a lot of Cold Turkey here), and more brains. Crucially, though he is still a man of haunted by his abusive upbringing, and he has a proper purposefulness to his life. Even then, you can't like him, he's still a bastard.

As a fan of Batman though these titanic events of 'Knightfall' are fascinating. The execution of this storyline is excellent. For me, though, it was the completion of the trilogy 'KnightsEnd', and the psychological breakdown of Az-Bats that hooked me as a fan. But hey-ho.

With the new film on the horizon, and Bane being a crucial component in it, it appears that the Moench/Dixon/Grant era of Batman is finally getting the mainstream recognition that I feel has been long overdue.

Big Event: Death in the Family

When Denny O'Neill took editorial control on the Batman books, he would become responsible for some of the most important story lines that have ever affected the Batman character. The bravest moment, of probably two that he made, was asking the Batman readership whether Jason Todd, the second Robin, should be killed off.

Yes, it was a publicity gimmick, described by O'Neill as 'The Great Robin Experiment', and it really, really worked. I'm old enough to remember it getting a segment on 'John Craven's Newsround' (a kid's news show on the advert-free BBC, for those who don't know), which meant that this event went mainstream all over the world. The 'experiment' was decided by a phone poll, and the results were 5271 to 5434. The result: a paltry 72 votes decided that a teenage boy (true, a brilliantly written fictional one) should be beaten to death and then blown up. The only people that treated this event as a wake, were the Batman editorial team, who ordered food so they could await the final result in the DC offices.

So, the main event of this Starlin/Aporo storyline (which had showed Batman and Robin fighting the evils of child pornography, atomic terrorism, African famine, crazed Islamic dictators and corrupt charities) was that Jason Todd had to Die.

It's the consequences of Jason Todd's death that are more interesting for me. It was how this death would be used as a narrative device for the next twenty years. As O'Neill noted in 'From The Den', part of the success of Batman was because there was also a Robin. And this formula had successfully worked for over fifty years. By pulling apart the Batman and Robin team it would allow writers to explore a 'back to basics', lone Dark Knight but by doing this it might alienate a section of the readership. Recognising this the many writers were clever enough to make Jason Todd's death as an additional emotional factor for Bruce Wayne journey into the dark night. So that Batman was now haunted by another ghost to avenge on the mean streets of Gotham City. In short, new emotions, new stories, new possibilities! Great decision!

However, decision doesn't reflect in the actual monetary value of the comic book. While I am quickly closing in on the completion of the Denny O'Neill era of Batman, this is one of a handful of books that I felt I had to pay a little more for (which, at this point in the Quest, is very rare). Fortunately, I picked it up for a paltry fee at a comic mart. This was surprising, as it proved to me that the market value of this story has not responded to this massive event in Batman folklore. Yet, I do think that in future years, as these books will become rarer to find on the open market in NM condition, I predict they will rise in value as the market corrects itself. Regardless, of the telephone gimmick, I truly believe that this storyline is still very, very important. So if you're a collector of Batman (like me) then snap this storyline up as soon as you can.

Don't worry though, Jason Todd may have died, he did recover. In the science of comic books it is possible to recover from being bludgeoned with a crowbar, and then blown to smithereens. It just takes a few decades to do it.