By Grant Morrison & Klaus Janson (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-671-9
As with most of the “British Invaders†that made the jump to American comic-books, Grant Morrison was offered a shot at Batman sooner rather than later in his career. At this time, with popularity at an all-time high because of the Tim Burton movie, DC had launched a new Bat-title that was designed to present multi-part epics refining and infilling the history of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths hero and his venerable cast. The added fillip was a fluid cast of premiere and up-and-coming creators.
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight was a fascinating experiment even if the overall quality was haphazard. Most of the early story arcs were collected as trade paperbacks, helping to jump-start the graphic novel sector of the comics industry, and the re-imagining of the hero’s early career gave fans a wholly modern insight into the ancient if highly malleable concept.
This current edition is the second story-arc, (issues # 6-10), and features the rising star Morrison paired with relative veteran Klaus Janson in an interesting if slight supernatural thriller full of the author’s signature fascinations, and illustrated in the rough and visually dynamic post-Frank Miller manner.
Batman is still relatively new to the streets and shadows of Gotham when the city’s criminal hierarchy start dying in spectacular and rapid succession. Desperate, the surviving Ganglords try to establish an armistice with the caped vigilante so they can deal with the murderous and terrifying Mr. Whisper.
When Batman discovers that the monstrous murderer is not only a 300 year old monk but also a serial child-killer and one of the teachers at Bruce Wayne’s own prep school twenty years previously, he finds a potential connection to his own father which leads him into a world of ghosts, devils, arcane architecture, sacred geometry, and a plot to destroy Gotham with a centuries old Plague-bomb.
Fast-paced if a little over-egged, this modern horror-romp is a solid but uninspiring thriller. Bat-fans will be comfortable with the formula, but Morrison’s contemporary fan-base might find it a little insubstantial.
© 1990 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.