Collects Batman #509-510, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #29-30, Detective Comics #676-677, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #62-63, Robin #8-9, Catwoman #12-13 and Showcase '94 #10
There's a few different collections out there for the "Knightfall" saga, the Batman super crossover event from the 90's where Bane broke Bruce Wayne's back, and ushered in the arrival of a new Batman. I don't know if, at the time, they planned for the new Batman, Azrael or "Azbats" to take on the mantle of the Bat permanently, but Knightsend is the story of how Bruce Wayne reclaimed it. The mantle was getting a little too spiky, to be honest.
Jean-Paul Valley, the new Batman, continues to have visions of increasing intensity, of his deceased father and of St. Dumas and he chases a man who he believes is responsible for a gun-running scheme in Gotham -- only it's not that man at all. In parallel, Bruce Wayne hires the expert assassin Lady Shiva to train him and get his body back to what it used to be, to earn the right to be Batman again. Bruce Wayne's story is kind of a kung-fu-meets-urban-jungle kind of story.
It all leads up to a final confrontation on a Gotham City bridge between Azbats, Batman, Robin & Nightwing, Catwoman, as well as the criminal boss responsible for the gun-running. There's a whole lot of explosions, shouting and sharp edges, but the real payoff is the ending. It's a beautiful ending that shows you why Bruce Wayne is Batman. So many times, you see that might makes right. It's with force that you make the world make sense. But Bruce Wayne refuses to take that route in the final battle with Jean-Paul. He chases him down, and hounds him finally to the Batcave, where he leads him to the same tunnel that he fell in as a child. The tunnel is so small, Azbats has to shirk his armor off, and at the end of the tunnel, Bruce opens the way to the outside, blinding Jean-Paul Valley enough that he finally has to take off his Bat helmet. It's a reverse-birth of sorts. Bruce Wayne had to fall down that hole to become Batman. Jean-Paul has to climb up out of it to leave Batman, and his insanity.
Visually, you're finally interrupted from all the colors, the red heat from Azbats' flamethrowers, the explosions and the shouting, when he climbs through that tunnel. It's a return to reality for Jean-Paul and a resolution that didn't need any fisticuffs. Easily my favorite part of the story.
You can binge-read this collection in a couple hours, and the art styles flow from one title to the next. Honestly, there wasn't much variety back then I suppose, but I'm always a sucker for Scott Hanna's inks. I'm not sure it needed so many issues to tell, but it's worth reading this piece of Batman history for yourself. Here's another, supplemental article that kind of gives you some insight into the whole series.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/i-will-break-you-an-oral-history-of-the-batman-knightfall-saga
Here's the full, 9-page blinded-by-the-light sequence. SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY.
Read more about Knightfall:
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