Both this issue and Arkham War could have been great with a more introspective and cerebral approach. This issue is at its best early on, when Bane is patrolling his city, dealing with looters the Old Testament way, and meting out his peculiar version of justice and mercy. The storytelling flaws here are frustrating, because occasionally it seems like Tomasi does have a great handle on Bane. It's noticeably scratchier and less refined, with the fight between Batman and Bane lacking much in the way of scope or energy. Meanwhile, Scot Eaton's art isn't at its best coming off of the previous six-issue series. But there's little psychology to this battle, only lots of punching and boasting and hitting each other with stone gargoyles. There's a fascinating psychological connection between these two that hasn't been properly explored since the days of Gail Simone's Secret Six. When the Arkham War ended, Bane was the clear victor, but his reign over Gotham proves to be a short lived one in Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs. Batman's dialogue is strangely off-kilter, especially considering the great work Peter Tomasi has done on Batman and Robin over the years. While that element is thankfully out of the picture (despite being depicted on the cover), this clash between nemeses is largely unsatisfying. King personally teased the Batman and Bane showdown, releasing panels depicting the two men removing their gadgets, armor, and equipment, before diving into bare-fisted combat.

The issue where Bane donned a makeshift Batman costume is about the point where my brain checked out of Arkham War. Having manipulated and broken Batman twice already, Banes final fight against the superhero is easily the most honorable (relatively). While the good news is that there's not much in the way of spoilage here, the bad news is that this issue is as flawed as Arkham War was before it. Bane #1 serves as an epilogue to the recent Arkham War mini-series, with Batman returning to Gotham to end Bane's brief reign as the city's champion. This isn't the first post-Forever Evil comic DC has published despite Forever Evil #7 being delayed well into May, but it does seem especially cheeky to be putting out a book with 'Forever Evil Aftermath' in the title.

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