By Mike W. Barr & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-5638-9390-2
This Elseworlds tale (created outside regular continuity and featuring small or large re-interpretations of a character’s fundamental properties) is a generational saga by Mike W. Barr featuring three heroes of the Wayne bloodline fighting against the eternal villainy of the immortal Vandal Savage.
Dark Past is painted by Scott Hampton and tells of Joshua of Wainwright, a Knight Templar accused in 1222 AD of theft and treason by his peers who could not believe his tale of undying warriors, shape-shifting temptresses and vanishing fortresses, whilst Dark Present, with art by Gary Frank and Cam Smith, crafts a different origin for the Bruce Wayne Batman when his life of indolence is cut short by the machinations of Vandal Savage.
This time the villain has become a playboy’s business manager in a scheme to use the Wayne fortune to capture the meteor that made him immortal 50,000 years ago, uncaring of the damage it will cause. Newlywed Bruce Wayne, outraged and inflamed, is determined to thwart the plan at all costs…
Dark Future, illustrated by Scott McDaniel and Bill Sienkiewicz, reveals the final battle between Savage and the House of Wayne in the dystopian Gotham of 2500 AD. Thinking he has neutralized the Wayne dynasty with sybaritic excess, the undying man has not reckoned on the forceful girl Brenna whose archaeological interests lead her to the secrets of the Batcave and one final chance to defeat her family – and Earth’s – greatest threat…
Although no masterpiece this undemanding chronicle is a fun and furious epic that will please action-fans and art-lovers everywhere. Old fashioned thrills just as you like them.
© 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.