Review: Batman – Last Knight On Earth #3 Is A Hope-Filled Apocalypse

All good things must come to an end. After eight years Batman: Last Knight on Earth #3 brings one of the most epic Batman creative collaborations in the character’s history to a close.

It’s all brought to an end by the legendary creative team of Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano.

Batman and the Joker have reunited in Gotham with their last remaining allies; Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon-Grayson, their daughter Bryce, Duke Thomas and Jim Gordon. They have only twenty-four hours to stop Omega, the corrupted Batman who rules over Gotham, before he uses the anti-life to conquer the world once and for all. Can Batman defeat his greatest foe; himself?

Snyder has outdone himself with this issue. It’s not perfect, but it’s a wonderfully done metastory about all Batman stories, while also being an incredibly fun and exciting action story on its own. There’s a lot of emotional moments, and the Batman versus Batman elements allow for an exploration and deconstruction of many of the tropes surrounding the character. There are some pacing issues and a few plot points are unresolved, but overall, it’s incredibly successful on multiple levels.

Capullo and Glapion deliver their all into this extra sized issue. They layout each page with care, making sure there’s nothing wasted and each reveal in the script gets the impact it needs. Capullo’s designs are all very fun, evoking the spirit and history of the characters while doing something new with all of them. Plascencia makes sure the colors don’t muddy up the art, and create a feeling of hope to go with the story.

This is a fantastic end to one of Batman’s greatest runs, and I’m glad to see it end successfully. I’m excited to see what Snyder, Capullo and gang do together in the future.

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #3 is available now from DC Comics.