I just finished reading this and I have to say this might be one of my favourite Batman stories of all time. Blackfire is great villain (though he shouldn't really be a recurring one). Also, I liked how Jason Todd really got to shine in this one. It got really creepy, disturbing and violent but I think it really worked throughout.
Also, anyone else think this would fit in really well in the Millerverse? It's just the way that Batman behaves, his more extreme approach when he takes Gotham back, this incarnation of Jason, good soldier and all that, and the general atmosphere and feel of it.
>>84274111
I always thought Blackfire was a fake until I learned he lived for centuries then I was like woah! Turns out Blackfire did have some kind of mystic power but had gone insane to the point where he looked fake. Ironic. I'm glad Bats is able to break the brainwashing. Jason is such a lad in this I felt sorry for him when they found all the dead bodies piled up, it was another nail in the coffin of his innocence and a hint of Jason's eventual fate. Until they use the no one really dies in comics get out clause for Jason / Red Hood much later on.
Despite the fantasy involved, the drugs, brainwashing and fanaticism of The Cult echoes real life issues with cultism & problems of the forgotten people that end up doing things perhaps they really shouldn't and how it leads to takeovers of whole communities if left unchecked.
>>84274246
Yeah, if the events of this is canon or not, both pre-new52 and post-new52, I don't know, but it would go a long way to explain why Jason turned out the way he was before his death- Also, seeing what a good soldier he is in this one makes his death much more tragic.
And yeah, the brainwashing and drugging, such methods being real, makes The Cult even creepier..
>>84274111
Op, here, forgot to mention the art is absolutely fantastic. Some of the best I've seen.
>>84274246
i think starlin was trying to launch a thinly veiled critique at right-wing american politics in the 80's and not actual cults.
How did they manage to brainwash Batman?
>>84276070
drugs, torture and power of suggestion.
>>84274111
>Also, anyone else think this would fit in really well in the Millerverse? It's just the way that Batman behaves, his more extreme approach when he takes Gotham back, this incarnation of Jason, good soldier and all that, and the general atmosphere and feel of it.
It's not surprising, I think Cult tried to imply this was where Batman first gets the idea to do the Battank from DKR.
>Liking Starlin's Batman
Absolute shit taste desu.
>>84279296
>It's not surprising, I think Cult tried to imply this was where Batman first gets the idea to do the Battank from DKR.
Definitely felt like it. Plus all the talking head news coverage.
>>84280243
>Plus all the talking head news coverage.
Yeah, that was a pretty obvious DKR influence, Bernie Wrightson usually doesn't pace like that.
>>84274111
The Cult was great and Jason did shine in it.
