Alejandro's Reviews > Batman: Curse of the White Knight

The Murphyverse expands!


This is the TPB collecting the issues #1-8 of the comic book event “Batman: Curse of the White Knight” plus the one-shot of “Batman: White Knight presents Von Freeze”.


Creative Team:

Writer & Illustrator: Sean Murphy

Illustrator for Von Freeze one-shot: Klaus Johnson

Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Letterer: Andworld Design


THE LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE!!!

After the huge success of The White Knight by Sean Murphy, opening the path to the new line of DC Black Label and fans talking about a “Murphyverse”, it was only logical to have a sequel and due the first one was so good, it was understandable if the second one wasn’t that good…

…BUT…

…it was the same as good!

Sean Murphy showed in the first White Knight his love for Batman, the Animated Series and Batman ‘89, still keeping that, in this second volume of the saga, he showed his influences of the rest of 90’s Batman films but also the 90’s comic book event of Batman: Knightfall, clearly showing his modern influences about Batman, making him a banner in a new generation of writers/artists for the universe of Batman.

Which one is better? Well, I think that’s losing time and enjoy both stories, since it’s like saying that “Empire Strikes Back” is better than “A New Hope” but you can’t have “Empire” without “New Hope”, you need one for the existence of the other, and while it’s clear that the whole Jack Napier thing in the first White Knight was managed awesome and you could say that the new antagonist isn’t that well psychologically developed, the bets in the second story are higher, Sean Murphy isn’t afraid of doing what’s needed for the whole picture of the story, taking true advantage that he has his own comic book universe, and the status quo in the Murphyverse is shaken so much that you have to recognize that Curse of the White Knight is as enjoyable and well written than the first entry of this modern masterpiece of the comic book industry.


KNIGHTFALL REIMAGINED

The Joker is back in prison and Jack Napier is inside of clown’s mind again, however Jack Napier did so much and exposed so much in the first entry of the story that Gotham City can’t be the same anymore…

…and that’s something that the rich elite can’t afford so The Napier Initiative needs to be stopped and if Batma doesn’t cooperate…

…well, he will need to be stopped too!

ENTER: AZRAEL aka Jean-Paul Valley

However, Sean Murphy reimagined this and offers a better solution to the eternal problem of Knigthfall…

…why Bruce Wayne chose a total stranger like Jean-Paul Valley as his successor over better choices like Dick Grayson?

And Sean Murphy did it quite easy, since the idea of a new Batman isn’t taken by Bruce Wayne but the very rich elite that needed a better pawn to keep Gotham City under their leash.

However, that it will the peak of the iceberh since the very existence of Jean-Paul Valley means to Bruce Wayne more than he ever imagined since in this reimagination, Jean-Paul Valley isn’t a stranger to the legacy of Gotham City!

Bruce Wayne, Harleen Quinzel, Jack Napier, James Gordon, Barbara Gordon and the entire Gotham City won’t be the same after the shaking events of this monumental story.

Also, you’ll get in this TPB a great chapter about the past of Victor Fries’ father under the regime of the Nazi Third Reich.