Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #5 main cover by Bernard Chang
Batman — Santa Clause: Silent Knight Returns #5
Writer: Jeff Parker
Art: Lukas Ketner and Michele Bandini
Epilogue Art: Bernard Chang
Colors: Marcelo Maiolo
Main Cover: Bernard Chang
Variant Covers: Pete Woods, Michele Bandini
Release Date: December 26, 2024
This review contains spoilers
Batman — Santa Clause: Silent Knight Returns #5 begins with seven heroes—Etrigan, Mera, Robotman, Nubia, Metamorpho, Mary Marvel, and Ulah Claus—battle enchanted giants and the Silent Knight while another team of seven—Green Lantern, Superman, Santa, Zatanna, Robin, Batman, and Thunderheart—explores the Faerie Castle. Inside, the castle tests the heroes in the Melancholy Courtyard with their worst fears. Batman identifies the illusions, but Thunderheart discovers the truth: her father has been drained of life. Santa reveals he hid the truth but believes those affected by the Silent Knight’s life draining can be restored.
As they proceed, a misunderstanding insults the castle, triggering vines to ensnare all the heroes. Zatanna realizes the castle reacts to visitors’ reactions to the gifts it tries to bestow upon visitors. A Faerie Frog challenges the heroes with a cryptic question about what is in it’s gift box, and Batman solves it, deducing that the castle gives you whatever you request. The Silent Knight’s armor, enchanted by the castle, was what he had wanted, but it corrupted him.
Meanwhile, Etrigan’s fire destroys the giants’ brands and releases them from the Knight’s spell, turning them against him.
The heroes devise a plan: returning the Knight’s armor to the castle should break the enchantment. Ulah offers a pie to open the portcullis which opens it, and Jason Blood, in knightly armor made of Metamorpho, confronts the Knight. Enraged, the Knight is lured and pushed into the castle. As he enters, the enchantment lifts—life returns to those affected, undead soldiers crumble, and the armor is dismantled. Flash returns to Thunderheart who is very happy to see her daddy.
In the epilogue, the heroes celebrate at the North Pole with Santa and Ulah. Batman and Superman receive gifts, and Santa is inducted into the Justice League with a membership card and a new red cape.
The end.
Review: Let’s start again with things I liked in Batman — Santa Clause: Silent Knight Returns #5. and the run as a whole. The strange one liner dad jokes were almost completely missing from this run. There were a few “zingers” in the background, but it wasn’t nearly as distracting or odd as the first run. It was also cool to see the heroes working together and how the “heroes they needed” were able to help. Ulah is also a fun addition to the team. She’s very cool, has yeti friends, and is strong fighter. And she can also make pie out of thin air, which is a talent I wish I had.
The art was also lots of fun. There were little jokes or stories told just within the art that had nothing to do with the story. For instance, my favorite green fire breathing demon cat was featured in many of the fighting sequence, but was never mentioned in the story.
In the splash page where the Knight if finally dismantled we see all the different people hurt by the Knight getting better, including a man who was about to be cut open by a mortician, which appealed to my darker sense of humor.
Thunderheart’s story, as short as it was, was also sweet. She seems like a fun character and I think I’d like to see more of her fighting with her dad.
I also really liked the castle. It added an interesting element to the story that couldn’t be solved by punching something real hard. There was deducting and problem solving, which is where Batman came into play. And the way the heroes all worked together to defeat the Knight as the end made for a really satisficing art panel.
Overall it was a fun story and many of the different heroes had a role to play in one way or another throughout the story. And the story wasn’t completely straight forward either. There were unexpected and creative roadblocks they had to over come, again, not always but just punching their way through. I also appreciated that the enchanted giants had personalities, a voice, and a desire to be free of the Knight and not just be smashy-smashy villains.
Things I wasn’t a fan of in Batman — Santa Clause: Silent Knight Returns #5 and the run as a whole . This had originally come off a Zatanna/Damian/Santa story, and though they had a bit of time together, it really wasn’t much to speak of. There was mostly some time at the beginning where they do research together and Damian and Santa fight baddies in Gotham for a page or two. This was a bit disappointing for me as a reader as I had been looking forward to the Santa and Robin team up. The middle few issues were also very, very wordy. The first time reading through I would glaze over a lot and not until I was needing to read for reviews did I have the patience to sit and read. Though it did end up being interesting, I think it was a bit much for what this story delivered in five issues.
I also was confused why the Knight was draining the life from people. It appeared to make him more human and corporeal again, which made him easier to defeat. Which was odd. Him marking certain heroes also didn’t seem to have much of an affect as no one really lost their strength or powers, nor did their mind’s turn like the giants. It just seemed inconsequential for the most part.
But other than those nitpicky things, which really are more about the overall run, I think this was a fun run, and this was a very satisfying final issue. I would say it doesn’t hold a candle to the first run plot and story wise, but art, hero team work, and writing quality went up with Batman — Santa Clause: Silent Knight Returns.
