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Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight

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For the animated Batman episode, see Legends of the Dark Knight (The New Batman Adventures episode).
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
Cover of Legends of the Dark Knight #2 (Dec 1989).
Art by Dean Motter.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
ScheduleMonthly with a few bi-weekly runs.
FormatCompleted ongoing series
Publication date(Legends of the Dark Knight)
November 1989 - Late August 1992
(Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight)
September 1992 - March 2007
No. of issues215
(225 with annuals and specials)
Main character(s)Batman
Collected editions
ShamanISBN 1563890836
GothicISBN 1563890283
VenomISBN 1563891018
FacesISBN 1563891263
Other RealmsISBN 1852869771
The Ring, The Arrow and The BatISBN 1401201261

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, commonly referred to as simply Legends of the Dark Knight is a DC comic book featuring Batman. It was launched in 1989 with the popularity of the Batman movie, following on from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. It differs from other Batman titles in that it has constantly rotating creative teams, and the stories are not necessarily part of the current events of the other Batman comics. However, since this is the first months and years of Batman's crime-fighting career, they are still accepted as continuity.[citation needed] Initially the title was promoted as running only stand alone self contained five issue stories of graphic novel quality. However, after issue 20, stories of different lengths started to appear. While some stories have tied in with the other titles, generally this has not been the case.

Most of the stories featured in Legends are set in the early years of Batman's career, though a few have been set in the present and even the future. Stories set at the beginning of Batman's career are referred to as taking place during Year One, meaning Bruce Wayne's first year of crime fighting as Batman. The title had been initially promoted as only doing stories from before Robin, but Dick Grayson, the first Robin, did appear in issue 23, though he was still a circus performer. The title was discontinued with issue #214, in January 2007, to make way for a new Batman anthology series, Batman Confidential, which focuses on more personal events in Batman's life (first encounters, building of new technology etc.), rather than early crime-fighting tales.

Some of the creative talent who have worked on the series include Dennis O'Neil, Grant Morrison, Mike Mignola, Bill Willingham, Matt Wagner, and Doug Moench.

Story Arcs

Shaman (1-5)

Bruce Wayne and a bounty hunter climb a mountain in Alaska as they try to capture a murderer named Thomas Woodley. Woodley quickly manages to kill the bounty hunter before falling off the cliff after a small fight with Wayne. Wayne's supplies are lost with Woodley which nearly results in Wayne's death when a Native American with her grandfather discover him. The grandfather is able to save Wayne's life by taking Wayne to his cabin and tells him a story on how a mouse became a bat while wearing a mask of a bat. After he recuperates and leaves, Wayne is warned by the granddaughter never to tell anyone the story.

Upon his return to Gotham City shortly after, Wayne attempts to fight crime but fails miserably. That night after he fails a bat flies into the room and reminds Wayne of the Native American's story from years earlier and so he decides to create a costume for himself and become Batman.

Gothic (6-10)
Main article: Batman: Gothic
Prey (11-15)

Gotham City's new psychiatrist, Hugo Strange, is obsessed with Batman. He convinces the mayor to prepare a special task force to capture Batman with Commissioner Gordon as its head. Gordon deploys the seemingly not-too-bright, overzealous Sgt. Max Cort to lead the task force. Later, it is found that Strange hates the Batman because he loves what the Batman does, becoming a creature of the night but he can't do it. He deduces the Batman's identity and plays psychologically with him by placing life-like mannequins of his parents in Wayne Manor with audio tapes. He then hypnotizes Sgt. Cort into donning a costume & becoming another vigilante, who then kidnaps the mayor's daughter. Batman rescues the mayor's daughter, while Hugo Strange is shot several times before falling into Gotham Bay. His body is never recovered.

Venom (16-20)

When Batman fails to save the life of a young girl held for ransom, he decides to try a new experimental drug designed by her father called Venom.

Faith (21-23)
Flyer (24-26)
Destroyer (part 2 of 3) (27)

A miscreant is blowing up Gotham's newer buildings, which according to him, have overshadowed the old Gotham & his destruction leads to Art. The other parts appear in Batman & Detective Comics.

Faces (28-30)

Two-Face takes over a small island and forces plastic surgeons to create a society in his scarred image.

Family (31)
Blades (32-34)

While the Batman is distracted with a serial killer who targets senior citizens, a new vigilante, the swashbuckling Cavalier, begins his own war on crime.

Destiny (35-36)
Mercy (37)
Legend of the Dark Mite (38)
Mask (39-40)
Sunset (41)
Hothouse (42-43)
Turf (44-45)
Heat (46-49)
Images (50)

Continuity

Technically, most of the stories in LOTDK are in the accepted Batman continuity, albeit with a number of exceptions. These include stories set in the year 3000, Batman being a cyborg, etc. A lot of the stories share a lot of elements with the regular Batman and Detective Comics: the wedding of Jim Gordon and Sarah Essen Gordon, the introduction of the Batsignal, the origin of Robin, Leslie Thompkins' discovery of Batman's identity, the origins of Joker venom, etc. Whereas most titles move forwards, Legends like Confidential mainly focus on Years One, Two, and Three.

Specials

In the 90s, writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale collaborated on three Halloween specials that led them to create Batman: Haunted Knight: Choices (1993), Madness (1994) and Ghosts (1995). In the last, based on A Christmas Carol, Bruce is visited by three spirits on Halloween, that of Poison Ivy (spirit of Halloween Past) The Joker (the spirit of Halloween Present), and cloaked, skeletal version of Batman (the spirit of Halloween Yet To Come). Having been immersed so much in stopping crime for nearly two years (the time being Year Two in which the story takes place), Bruce undergoes a change, much like Ebenezer Scrooge, in which he is reminded what it is to be human.

Crossovers

  • The Destroyer - #27
  • KnightQuest - #59-61
  • Knight's End - #62-63
  • No Man's Land - #116-126
  • War Games - #182-184

Collected editions

Several of the stories from the title have been collected into trade paperbacks including the following:

Awards

Issues 116 through 126 of the series were part of the No Man's Land storyline, which won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 2000.

Specials and spin-offs

There are three annual Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale; the popularity of these led to the limited series Batman: The Long Halloween.

The short lived series Legends of the DC Universe was based on the concept of Legends of the Dark Knight. But instead of Batman, it featured a rotating roster of other DC superheroes.

The Mitefall special used a modern version of Bat-Mite who first appeared in Legends of the Dark Knight to parody the Batman Knightfall storyline.

See also

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