Batman #85 Review: Tom King’s Farewell to the Run

Writer: Tom King / Artist: Mikel Janin / DC Comics With issue #85, Tom King’s run on Batman comes to an end after three and a half years. The series’ end came a bit sooner — and suddenly — than expected, but that doesn’t take away from the many fantastic moments the series delivered along the way. Issue #85 is, as stated, a farewell. It’s a nod to many of the tropes and jokes that King has sprinkled in over the past 84 issues and leaves a mark that should last for a while (read: Alfred’s death). While it may feel a bit rushed at times, issue #85 does a solid job of wrapping up the remaining loose ends of the series. King uses an interesting choice of skipping back and forth through time and bouncing back and forth between flashbacks (in the past, obviously), the conclusion (in the present) and the epilogue (in the future). We see how the story will end up after a couple of pages, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to see exactly how Bruce’s confrontation with Thomas Wayne will play out. And it plays out well. We learned around the middle of the series that someone was pulling strings to make everything up to this point occur. We were led to believe that it was Bane, seeking revenge for Batman interrupting his sanctuary — albeit a corrupt sanctuary. But, at some point, it’s clear that Thomas took control. But even before that, we finally see how he ended up in this universe in the first place.

Back during the events of “The Button,” we thought we saw the end of Thomas Wayne or a…