Batman: Curse of the White Knight #8 Review

The End ... Or Is It?

Writer: Sean Murphy
Art Team: Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth, AndWorld Design
Release Date: March 24, 2020
Cover Price: $4.99


Curse of the White Knight wraps up this month concluding the sequel series featuring this alternate take on Batman and the company he keeps.  While I enjoyed where the series started, by the middle my interest began to waver, but I still look forward to seeing how all this wraps up. So let's get right down to business here and see what Sean Murphy does to conclude part II of the White Knight universe.




The issue begins pretty much where we ended the last issue as Batman, Nightwing and some other company are chasing after Azrael through the streets of Gotham.  When they do finally locate the 'villain', Batman triggers a kill switch in the other cars, so that when he does finally catch up to Azrael they get a little one on one alone time, which Nightwing knows can lead Bruce down the one road he swore he never would go down.  The setup to the conclusion here is exciting not to mention very well drawn, it definitely does a good job setting the stage to draw the reader in, and this beginning got me back on board after the previous issue which I found not as 'fun'.

Our next act sees Batman catch up with Azrael for that one on one we've been waiting for, with Batman using the classic Burton Batmobile to take down his nemesis in spectacular fashion. This series of panels with Batman and Azrael is my favorite of the issue all around only interrupted when Nightwing comes in to assist in the battle. Azrael gets the worst of the exchange here, using a distraction to his advantage to get away for now, as Batman and company are left plotting his next move, and this is where the story loses me a tad.

Watch Our Batman: Curse of the White Knight #8 Video Review

Azrael at this point is headed off to the Gotham Reservoir in an attempt to blow it open flooding Gotham in the process. Batman, after a brief pitstop and a few flashbacks, meets him at the scene and another battle between the two ensues, this time via swords. Some trickery leads to Batman getting the best of Azrael in the end as we go on to see most of the loose ends left tied up through narration in some form. The end leaves the reader with a few surprises to ponder, one main thing I found very intriguing and much better than the typical non-ending sort of deal we've gotten from DC lately, so it scores points in my book for that alone.

The art throughout the series was most definitely the high point of this title. The story while not bad isn't anything that retained my interest throughout the length of the series. I eventually just wanted Batman and Azrael to fight and it just took to long for that to happen.

Bits and Pieces:

Overall, Batman: Curse of the White Knight wasn't a bad sequel but also didn't feel very necessary at the same time.  I think a little more time to think this story out might have been needed here instead of DC rushing things to market (from what it felt like) because the initial series was a surprise hit and retroactively attached to DC Black Label. I can't say enough about Sean Murphy's art throughout the series it kept my interest even when the story might have lacked in areas and is worth the price of admission alone.  As a final thought, Curse of White Knight is worth a read overall but it fails to live up to the quality of the initial outing.

7.0/10