Collecting Batman #534, Batman: Bane #1, Batman: Bane of the Demon#1-4, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #54, Catwoman #36, Detective Comics #701-702 and Robin #32-33.

Batman: Bane of the Demon #1 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Graham Nolan. Bane returns to Santa Prisca, the island of his birth. He meets with a priest and discusses the men who could possibly be his father. Bane trail eventually leads him to Singapore, unaware that Talia Al Ghul, daughter of the immortal Ra's Al Ghul, is there as well.

I have said many times before how Bane is one of my favourite Batman villains, so it was good to see him get his own mini-series. Obviously, this mini-series bridges the gap between Vengeance of Bane #2, where he escaped from Blackgate, and Detective Comics #700, where he is revealed to be working for Ra's Al Ghul.

In Batman: Bane of the Demon #2, Bane is brought to Ra's Al Ghul where they strike up an alliance. Bane later saves Talia's life and they soon strike up an attraction. Ra's is aware of the whole thing and decides to keep an eye on Bane just in case.

This whole story starts out as a search for Bane's father, but that all gets put aside when he gets involved with Ra's Al Ghul. When do we actually get to find out about who Bane's father was? Or does the mystery gets strung out for years and we never do actually find out? One thing we do find out is that Ra's Al Ghul was the one behind the first outbreak of the Clench virus. The Order of St. Dumas stole a weak strain of the virus from Ra's and released it instead.

In Batman: Bane of the Demon #3, Ra's Al Ghul sends Bane and Talia to steal a mysterious text from the terrorist known as Kobra. Ra's and Talia later discuss the idea of her relationship with Bane, but Talia does not approve. Bane also discovers the Lazarus Pit that keeps Ra's alive and starts to make his own plan to make use of it.

I never particularly cared about Ra's Al Ghul, but the various hints about his history that are dropped in this mini-series are starting to intrigue me. Maybe I will check out more story about Ra's Al Ghul. I want to find out more about him, so hopefully I will get to discover more. Failing that, I will just take a look at his Wiki page or something.

In Batman: Bane of the Demon #4, Bane has been imprisoned by Ra's Al Ghul but still manages to escape. He makes himself invaluable to Ra's by memorising the information that Ra's needs in his search for the Wheel of Plagues. Now Ra's can't kill him without losing the information he needs.

I suppose that the hole Ra's imprisoned Bane in is nothing compared to Peña Duro. Needless to say, Bane easily escapes the place. Bane might consider himself a master of everything, but he is nothing compared to Ra's Al Ghul and would have died if Ra's didn't realise Bane had the missing information he needed to find the Wheel of Plagues.

Catwoman #36 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Jim Balent. Catwoman has been imprisoned by Ra's Al Ghul and must escape her rapidly flooding cell. If Catwoman does manage to escape, then there is still the matter of her nemesis Hellhound to contend with.

This issue was Catwoman was the only issue collected in the original Legacy trade that I had read years ago. I always wondered how Catwoman managed to get stuck in the middle of the desert. Reading the other Catwoman issues collected in the first volume of the latest trade edition filled in the gaps, now we can continue with the parts of the story I am most familiar with. For a woman that claims to hate the water, Catwoman does find herself getting wet an awful lot.

Robin #32 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Staz Johnson. Robin and Nightwing travel to Paris to track to Ra's Al Ghul's agents who plan to release the deadly virus there.

I had forgotten that Tim had prior experience of Paris. Batman sent him there to train during his first solo mini-series. The martial arts master Tim trained with had some disgruntled ex-students who Tim thoroughly thrashed. I guess they're eager for another butt-kicking as they get into Tim's face here as well.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #54 is written by Alan Grant and illustrated by Dave Taylor. Bruce Wayne attends an art exhibition in Eduburgh, Scotland, believing that artefacts shipped there from Sudan may be part of Ra's Al Ghul's plot to smuggle the deadly virus into the city.

If the deadly plague wasn't bad enough, there are also a bunch of thieves trying to steal sacred stones. The thieves claim that the stones are rightfully theirs, but whatever. It just complicates Batman's plan to stop Ra's Al Ghul's minions from releasing the virus.

Batman #534 is written by Doug Moench and illustrated by Jim Aparo. The last target for Ra's Al Ghul's plot to unleash a deadly virus on the world is Calcutta, India. Batman must work together with Lady Shiva in order to prevent the virus from being released.

I’m am always happy to see Lady Shiva appear, so it was good to see her here. For a supposedly deadly killer, Batman does seem to end up working with her more than working against her. I suppose Batman would need to beat Shiva in order to bring her in, but to the best of my knowledge I don' think he has ever beaten her. It's a shame that Cassandra Cain hasn't been created yet in that case.

Detective Comics #701 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Graham Nolan. Batman and his allies return to Gotham City, believing that Ra's Al Ghul plans to release the deadly virus there. However, Bane is there as well and raring for another chance to break Batman again.

There must have been some excitement around this issue as it has a long-awaited rematch with Batman and Bane. Obviously, the rematch goes much better for Batman this time. It might have had something to do with the fact that Bane wasn't hopped up on Venom at the time and Batman wasn't burned-out from trying to catch all the escaped loonies from Arkham.

Robin #33 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Staz Johnson. While Batman is busy with Bane, Robin and the others board the boat where Ra's Al Ghul is hiding and try to find a cure for the new strain of the virus.

It was good to see Huntress working with the rest of the Bat-family. I guess Batman thought he had more pressing matters than disapproving of Huntress's methods. This issue also teases the events that lead to Nightwing's solo adventures. Dead mobsters from Blüdhaven wash up in Gotham, so Nightwing heads out to investigate. I have already covered that story in my review of the first Nightwing volume.

Detective Comics #702 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Graham Nolan. Batman aids the people of Gotham in curing the people infected by the virus. Unfortunately, the League of Assassins are planning to attack police headquarters where several of their other members are being detained.

Unfortunately, the people of Gotham don't have much time to relax after this. No sooner have things calmed down after this story arc then the city is hit with a massive earthquake. As always, that is another story for another time. Let's just say that dark times aren't quite over for Gotham City.

Batman: Bane is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Rick Burchett. Recovering from his defeat at the hands of Batman, Bane takes over a floating nuclear platform, planning to detonate it near Gotham City. Not if Batman and Nightwing have anything to do with it!

This one-shot was published to coincide with the release of Batman and Robin along with other one-shots starring Batgirl, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. I have already read the Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze one-shots as part of their respective Batman: Arkham trades, collections of notable stories about various Batman villains. I will go into more details about those stories when I come to review the respective trades.

My rating: 3 stars

Next time: Avengers Masterworks Vol. 17.