Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 2- Cycle of Violence

Quick Summary

Pros: The main conflict is exciting and remains compelling from start to finish. The examination into Batman is occasionally interesting. The examination into Scarecrow is consistently interesting. The artwork looks great and matches the book’s tone.

Cons: Suspension of disbelief is severely strained at multiple points throughout the volume. The time spent reliving Batman’s origins feels unnecessary.

Overall: This is a mostly positive story arc with Scarecrow at the center. It has an intense conflict, some meaningful looks into Batman as a character, a great showcase for Scarecrow as a villain, and artwork that makes everything even better. The resulting story is entertaining, as long as readers are ok with some intense strain on suspension of disbelief. Anyone looking for a Batman book with Scarecrow as the villain should consider checking this comic out.

Story

Many times, it feels as if Scarecrow is one of Batman’s more underappreciated villains. He plays a major role in many stories but, often times, his role is just jump-start a flashback through the use of his fear toxin. It is then, typically, revealed that Scarecrow is not the main villain, he is just a pawn in someone else’s plan.

Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 2: Cycle of Violence, by Gregg Hurwitz, is an example of what a good Scarecrow story can be. It centers around a solid conflict between the hero and villain, one where defeat seems like a possibility and many lives are at stake. This conflict becomes more interesting as flashbacks into the main characters’ pasts take place and inject some additional drama into the mix. There are places where the narrative stumbles but the core conflict remains compelling all the way through. In the end, this is a solid take on a battle between Scarecrow and Batman.

(spoilers start here)

Most of Cycle of Violence is a battle between Scarecrow and Batman. The battle is tense and has high stakes, as the lives of multiple children are at stake. It also comes with Scarecrow’s characteristic ability to twist Batman’s perception of reality and make everything even creepier than it would be otherwise.

The rest of Cycle of Violence is an examination into its starring characters. This arc looks back at Batman’s past and examines how it still has an impact on his present. It brings up an interesting point about how the death of his parents caused him to gravitate toward darkness rather than bringing light. The only problem is that Batman’s origin has been done so many times that the flashback portions of the story feel like old news.

Luckily, the examination into Scarecrow’s character is far more successful. Watching him grow up and seeing the torture he had to live through really inspires some sympathy for his current situation. Though he is clearly not remorseful about what he is doing, he does seem to at least have some care for children, which adds some complexity to his character.

Unfortunately, Cycle of Violence also suffers from some serious problems with suspension of disbelief. This volume has Scarecrow display lightning-fast reflexes on multiple occasions in order to give him the upper hand over Batman. Then, it has Scarecrow trade a couple of diamonds for a giant blimp with the power to cover Gotham in gas. Then, it has Batman spray Gotham with his own blood as an antidote to the gas. Finally, it has a young girl, who was repeatedly tortured by Scarecrow, insist that he isn’t all that bad. All of these factors help create a tense, interesting, and thematically consistent volume, but they are also so ridiculous that they make the story harder to get into.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Cycle of Violence sees a continuation of the artistic success seen in the previous volume. David Finch draws an amazing Batman and an equally amazing Gotham City. In this volume specifically, Finch does an excellent job with Scarecrow. He ensures that the villain never matches the physical levels of intimidation seen in other Batman foes but also ensures that the hallucinations he generates are downright spooky. With these hallucination, Finch gets even more creative and is able to make the book feel almost like a horror comic at some points, which works really well with the narrative’s tone. Overall, the artwork here looks great and suits the book well. 

Continuity

Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 2: Cycle of Violence continues the story from Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 1: Knight Terrors (Review).

The story started here is continued in Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 3: Mad (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Damian’s conversation with Bruce is a reference to his actions in Batman and Robin Vol. 1: Born to Kill (Review).
• Joker’s attack on Batgirl, from Batman: The Killing Joke, is referenced here.
• Commissioner Gordon’s son’s insanity, a plot point from Batman: The Black Mirror (Review), is referenced here.