Knightfall Bane (2015)

Visualize the Bane of DC’s New 52 and chances are you imagine the seven-foot juggernaut with sequoia trunks for arms and legs. He wasn’t always so. Created to disable the Batman by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan, “first appearance” Bane had the build closer to a pro wrestler than a professional bodybuilder, and for good reason too. A body rippling in musculature was unnecessary: the Venom steroid injections made Bane into a herculean powerlifter. The representations of Bane’s body remained powerful, imposing, but tangibly mortal from The Vengeance of Bane to the first half of the “Knightfall” storyline. The first few to draw Bane—Graham Nolan, Glen Fabry, Jim Aparo, Travis Charest, and Norm Breyfogle—rendered the mystery man from Santa Prisca as a muscleman in the typical nineties fashion: muscle definition where it counted. But a hulk he was not. Then enter Kelley Jones.

Kelley Jones did three covers for Detective Comics before becoming the primary “Knightfall" cover artist for both Batman and Detective Comics. It took eleven issues into the storyline before fans finally saw Jones’s take on Bane in Batman #497. Jones drew Bane with mammoth shoulders and a gargantuan knee used to cripple The Dark Knight. Jones’s Bane was unlike any we had seen before and the “The Breaking of the Batman” cover became an instant classic. To be sure, Detective Comics #659 (“Knightfall,” part 2) showed us that the artist was not shy about pushing the physical boundaries of the human form. But the Bane on the cover of #497 was three times the beast than the one in the interiors by lead pencilers Jim Aparo and Norm Breyfogle. Bane was now all biceps, pecs, deltoids, and traps, with a head to be found somewhere in the trenches of all that muscle anatomy. Detractors of Kelley Jones say that his art strays too far from realism. But his version of Bane, and the towering menace we saw on the covers of Detective #664, #666 and Batman #498 that followed is befitting of Batman’s illusory; this was the fever-dream nemesis that Batman conjured up from sleep deprivation. Jones’s work on “Knightfall” left us with an indelible image of a monster of muscle. As a result, Kelley Jones, more than any other artist before or after him, has had the strongest influence over how Bane is depicted today.

The premise of “Knightfall” was sadistic, but ingenious by design. Released at the tail of my freshman year in high school it became an anticipated storyline to follow over summer break and keep me distracted from the mind-numbing work of landscaping with my dad. Incidentally, my dad had a back-busting injury at work that had us thinking he’d become paralyzed like Bruce Wayne (he wasn’t). Perhaps because of this emotional connection, “Knightfall” became my favorite storyline, Bane became my favorite Bat-Villain, and Kelley Jones, whose covers arrived bi-weekly (weekly?) became my new favorite artist. His work imitated none, and none could imitate his work. Often described as gothic, his style to me was hallucinatory, often defying the limitations of muscular anatomy to give his subjects a sense of surreality. Nothing stood out more than Batman’s stalactite horns and cape that rippled like the surface of murky water.

In this contemporary take on Bane, Jones eschews the wrestler’s singlet, which looks silly compared to the trendy sleek redesigns that take place today. Bane’s mask and Venom piping are organic parts of his body; it’s hard to tell where the apparatuses end and the flesh begins. Bane’s upper-body strength is still the focal point. The rock formation on Bane’s neck and back are likely a result from aggregated Venom. The crumpled cowl is my favorite touch because of the skilled use of black and white contrast around the folds. The cowl’s impotent horns are a symbolic disparity to Bane’s power. The pleasure of commissioning original artwork from Mr. Jones is something to be treasured in perpetuity.

11 1/2” X 17”.
Ink on paper.

A tremendous thanks to Mr. Kelley Jones whose kindness, generosity, and work ethic prove difficult to equal.