Batman: Dark Legends

Batman Post-Crisis #24

by Dennis O'Neil, Mike Mignola (Illustrator), Alan Grant

This paperback collects four Batman stories from the Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight comic book series: Mask (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #39 and #40 from November to December, 1992), Images (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50 from September, 1993), Tao (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #52 and #53 from October, 1993) and Sanctum (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #54 from November, 1993). [courtesy dcDOTfandomDOTcom]

Four of Batman's moodiest thrillers, from the early days of his crime-fighting career, are collected in this volume. Included are "Masks" a tale of vengeance in which Batman nearly loses his grip on reality; "Images" chronicling the Dark Knight's first encounter with the Joker; "Tao", and "Sanctum".

Genres: Batman, Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

174 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Dennis "Denny" O'Neil was a comic book writer and editor best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement.

His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.

Reviews

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent-enough set of small arcs of early Batman stories. I'd say "ret-con", but they seem to fit any given continuity, so it was more of a "retroactive expansion" than a "retroactive continuity correction". All arcs brought to you courtesy of the "Legends of the Dark Knight" series.

"Masks" examines the core of Bruce Wayne's psyche as well as the possibility that Batman is nothing but a delusional fantasy of a broken man. I especially liked "Images" for its deft interweaving of new material, the 1940's Joker origin, the later Red Hood origin, and some The Dark Knight Returns modern mythology.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think its fair to say that I am not a huge fan of the Legends of the Dark Knight Series. Although a lot of writers that worked on this series, such as Grant Morrison, went on to later write much better Batman comics.

This collection contains issues #39-40, 50, and 52-54. The first story is about Bruce Wayne losing his group on reality and takes the more psychological approach. There isn't anything here that hasn't been done before, but it was still an enjoyable read and had a cool cameo of the Mutants from The Dark Knight Returns. Bryan Talbot's artwork here is also very good. It has very creepy and unsettling tone that almost gives off a Richard Corben feel.

The second story is by far the most forgettable in this collection. Its a story about the first confrontation between Joker and Batman (which was eventually done WAAY better in The Man Who Laughs!!) and is written by Denny O'Neil with art by Bret Blevins. The art work is pretty ugly here to, seeing as how Joker's face looks like one of the hyenas from The Lion King. Not really gonna get into more detail on the story because its basically just a rehash of better Batman comics.

The third story is about Bruce Wayne traveling to China and plays out like a tribute to 1970's Bruce Lee films. The story is essentially Big Boss meets Batman. Arthur Ranson's artwork here isn't bad, but I really did not like the way he drew Batman. It was also kinda weird that Bruce Wayne looked a lot like Christian Bale considering that this was published in 1993. So basically the story is just about Bruce learning meditation, as well as hang gliding, and he beats up some bad guys in the end. Overall kinda boring

The fourth and final story is the real highlight, and the sole reason why I do recommend you pick up this trade. It's a one shot called "Sanctum" written by Dan Raspler with art by the incredible Mike Mignola. The story itself is not great, but I will say that this is by far the best art that Mignola has done with Batman.

UPDATE 2017: don’t bother picking up this trade Sanctum just got collected in DC Universe by Mike Mignola. Buy that instead.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I remember it. The stories seem very dated, some were legitimately boring, and I was happy when it was over. The art was hit or miss. I really liked the illustrations in Tao and the last one. Masks and Faces looked just... old.

This is a skippable volume.

[Dale Parnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years there have been many monthly Batman titles, and for me, one of the best was Legends of the Dark Knight. Collected here are four stories from LotDK, featuring some of the best names to ever write and draw comics. Focusing on Batman when he was a lone crimefighter, Legends often covered stories from Bruce Wayne's years in training.
This is a fantastic collection of early Batman tales to savour!

[Indika de Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four extremely disturbing short tales from the lore of Batman and his messed up past.

A must read for the fans of the Dark Knight.

[Eliza Clara Hemming · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of stories that offer variety, action and mystery.

Mask is a great idea, a new take on the idea of Batman that is let down by a convoluted ending that feels a little forced. A few panels near the end do suggest Batman might still be a figment of a drunk man's imagination though...!

Images is good fun, but pedestrian. It doesn't offer much new in way of the Joker, and actually robs him of some mystery. The punchline in the last panel will definitely raise a smile though!

The final two tales, Tao and Sanctum, are the strongest. The former an exploration of the more mystical side of Batman's nature, and the latter a Poe-esque tale of murder and horror.

The artwork throughout is excellent, each tale having it's own tone.

A great collection!

[H. Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stories, leaning toward the creepy, mostly quite good. The weakest link is the Joker story, which I think focuses on the same old story too much. The other three are a creepy "fake hospital" story, one about Batman's training that boasts great dialogue, and a final creepy one.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago, I made a chronology for how to read modern Batman. I was focused quite a bit on creating the order, as opposed to just reading the books for enjoyment, so now I'm going back to see how the chronology holds up.

I've dumped a few collections off the chronology already, but this one stays. It is, sadly, not currently available from Diamond (who hold a monopoly on distribution rights to comic book stores),but it's worth digging around used book stores or online to find a copy.

It opens with Bryan Talbot pulling double duty as writer and artist for a deconstruction of Bruce Wayne story. As I mentioned in my original review, this is the Batman equivalent to the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode where Buffy wakes up in a mental institution. It's very well executed, and would have made for a fascinating finale to a Batman side series.

Dennis O'Neil and Brett Blevins' "Images" story is also a great first Joker story. It's not his origin (though it alludes to the Red Hood version of the origin story), but it serves as the first time Batman encounters the Clown Prince Of Crime. It's fun and throw-backy but well-written. Also, Blevins doesn't get enough credit for being an important Batman artist. His take on The Joker is excellent.

"Tao" by Alan Grant is the skippable weak-point of this book. Its fetishism for Asian culture hasn't aged well, and wasn't spectacularly interesting to begin with. Arthur Ranson's art is fine.

The volume closes with an early Mike Mignola story where he does the art, and co-writes it with Dan Raspler. It's not on par with Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction or B.P.R.D.: Vampire, but it's definitely a Mignola story, and is worth the read.

I would currently put this as the fourth book to read s the Batman chronology, following Batman: Year One, The Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper, and Batman and the Monster Men.

I recommend it for Batman fans (of course), Mike Mignola-files, anyone looking for a cool first Joker story, and readers looking for a deconstructed Batman story from the 1990s that holds up better than 21st century Grant Morrison deconstructions.

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman: Dark Legends is a collection of six issues from the original run of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. It mainly features a collection of stories that are independently standalones that ranges in various lengths. Batman: Dark Legends collect six issues (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #39–40, 50, and 52–54) from the 1989 series run and collect four stories: "Mask", "Images", "Tao" and "Sanctum".

"Mask" is a two-issue storyline (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #39–40), which has Bruce Wayne as Batman waking up in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors who tell him that he is an alcoholic tramp who dresses in a batsuit made of garbage. Bruce Wayne struggles to wake from this hallucination or confront this as reality. "Tao" is also a two-issue storyline (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #52–53) has Bruce Wayne as Batman confronting his past from a man he once knew who comes to Gotham City seeking vengeance.

"Image" is a one-issue storyline (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50), which retells the first encounter between a young Bruce Wayne as Batman and the murderous villain known as the Joker. "Sanctum" is also a one-issue storyline (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #54) has Bruce Wayne as Batman discovering an undead man who attempts to kill him in order to live again.

Bryan Talbot (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #39–40), Alan Grant (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #52–53), Dennis O'Neil (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50), Dan Raspier and Mike Mignola (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #54) penned the trade paperback. For the most part, it is written moderately well. Individually, these stories ranges the gauntlet in rating values and could somewhat stand on their own. However, collected into one trade paperback has a off-putting effect, as it has no center or direction, but a hodgepodge group of stories.

Bryan Talbot (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #39–40), Arthur Ranson (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #52–53), Bret Blevins (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50), and Mike Mignola (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #54) penciled the trade paperback. For the most part, the penciling styles of each penciler are rather distinct, which makes the artistic flow of the trade paperback rather problematic. Individually, each penciler has their different strengths and weakness, but together it is a huge mess.

All in all, Batman: Dark Legends is a mediocre collection that centers on the earlier career of Bruce Wayne as Batman.

[Dan Hensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a whole, this book is nothing special. I am a completionist and need this for my Legends of the Dark Knight run, however there is one story in here that stands out. Tao Pt. 1 & 2 are so amazing they could be made into a feature film in my opinion. The art is hyper-realistic looking, the writing is great, and it really adds more mythos to Bruce Wayne's early training before he became Batman and his (not-so) religious beliefs. While I think Tao (which is only a third of this book) make this worth picking up, it might not appeal to everyone.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strangely collected book featured some completely unrelated stories. Mike Mignola does Batman so that alone is fantastic. The other two stories were pretty bland. An Asian-inspired Batman tale that was considerably lacking and another look at Batman going insane. Overall, the book was just an average look at some early Batman tales.

[RoseBlight · Rating 3 out of 5]

#39-40 - Mask - ★★★★ (Fun nightmarish horror story. Really Nightmare on Elm Street-esque visuals.)

#50 - Images - ★★ (Bland Joker Story.)

#52-53 - Tao - ★★★ (Decent Spiritual story with Kung-Fu action. Great art.)

#54 -Sanctum - ★★★★★ (Mike Mignola issue, one of my favorite Batman stories of all time.)

[Melissa Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT...

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of four different Legends of the Dark Knight stories, this book includes:

Mask, by Bryan Talbot. Fittingly, from a man who did some truly mind-bending drug comics in the 70s and the world-bending epics The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire: the Legacy of Luther Arkwright (both recommended), this story is a mind-warping trip. Batman stops a run of the mill break-in, but he collapses as soon as he leaves the scene.
When he wakes up, he's in a hospital and Dr. Mike Clayton explains to him, in vivid detail, how he has created this "Batman" persona in his mind to get back at the world for taking his parents away. But Batman is only in his mind. It's an interesting idea, and I can't imagine that anybody would've handled the story better than Talbot. His art moves effortlessly between square-jawed heroism and frail, messy reality, which gives Dr. Mike's claims some sense of legitimacy. It's a story that challenges Batman's notion of who he really is and what reality is, and Talbot delivers it masterfully.

Images, by Dennis O'Neil & Bret Blevins, is less successful. Although O'Neil is a legendary Batman writer, this story comes up short on a few counts. I continue to enjoy O'Neil's take on Batman's personality - the small touches of sardonic humor go a long way toward humanizing Bruce, balancing the relentlessness of his image. Unfortunately, the plot is thin. Batman's first meeting with the Joker was highlighted by a few interesting murders by the Joker, but overall, it lacked drama. It felt like any of too many Joker stories to stand out when put against the other stories in this book. Blevins art was mediocre. I found it to be blocky, and his figures slightly distorted (which others do use for effect, but I didn't get that from Blevins' work here).

Tao, by Alan Grant and Arthur Ransom, was quite enjoyable, however. Ransom's art is gorgeous, lush and detailed. It appears that he used plenty of photo reference, but he doesn't use it as a crutch. Unlike most photo-referenced artwork, his characters aren't trapped in time- they move naturally, creating a very powerful illusion of reality. And, just as importantly, Ransom's storytelling is strong, moving the reader's eye around the page very effectively. Grant's script is one of his better ones, focusing on Bruce's early training in the East and the different schools of Taoist philosophy. As Taoism fascinates me, I was pulled right in and intrigued by the way that Grant used philosophy to underscore the story in different ways. Good work.

Sanctum, by Dan Raspler and Mike Mignola, is pretty much what you'd expect from Mike Mignola. Gothic and creepy, Batman in a haunted house of sorts, and lots of blocky, black shadows.
This particular story draws more on Poe than Hellboy's Lovecraftian influence (it's a fine line in some places, but it's a distinction worth making). If you enjoy Mignola, you'll appreciate this tale.

Overall, the book is worth the price of entry.
+++++++++++++++++++++=
Rereading this again, many years later, I think the three-star rating remains valid. It's a mixed bag - I enjoy the Talbot piece again. I liked Blevins' art more than I remember, and part of me likes O'Neil's detective-oriented script, but the end result can't overcome my boredom with the overused Joker. Grant's piece is intriguing and Ransom's art striking, but it doesn't quite stick with me, and Mignola's artwork is nice, but the story rambled.

[JD Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just reread this and, for the most part, enjoyed it. Batman: Dark Legends contains four stories from the Legends of the Dark Knight series.

Masks - I like how Brian Talbot wrote and drew this story. This is a two-part psychological story wherein Bruce Wayne questions whether he really is a crime fighter or is Batman just a byproduct of his imagination caused by his trauma. There is even a reference to Miller’s The Dark Knight in this story.

Images - The second story tells of Batman’s first Joker encounter. This story was a good read that was eventually retold, in a more superior way, in Brubaker’s The Man Who Laughs.

Tao - This two-part story makes reference to Batman’s early training in China. I did not reread this because I was not too fond of the story. Also, I was not too fond of Arthur Ranson’s art.

Sanctuary - This is an occult story written by Dan Raspler and Mike Mignola. This is a good story made even better by Mignola’s art. I also want to point out that Batman killed someone in this story, albeit in self-defense.

[Ian Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another book I was a little hesitant about, not really knowing what I was going to get. What I did get was some amazing writers teaming up with some quality artists to tell a plethora of different stories, psychological, supernatural and mystical. The stories like many collections by different writers do vary, but they are all entertaining and worth reading. Particularly an early meeting with the Joker from Dennis O'Neill who arguably brought batman back from the slapstick parody he was becoming. The artwork works well in most part and adds extra depth to some of the stories, though a big fan of Mike Mignola personally don't think the Hellboy style translates perfectly with Batman.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A compendium of stories set in the early years of Batman's career, including a tale from Bruce's training in the Orient, a Dennis O'Neil imagining of the Dark Knight's first encounter with the Joker, a ghost story of sorts, and the requisite psychological wrangling of Bruce's childhood trauma. It's this last story that works the best, with Bruce projecting his own fears and assumptions onto those close to him (Alfred, Catwoman, etc.); just try not to over-think how contrived the set-up is. All in all, a very average collection, and the O'Neil contribution is particularly disappointing.

[Julian Munds · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a mishmash. The first story "Masks" is not my cup of tea. It goes into surrealism and feels empty and I hated reading it. Images is a standard Joker, post Man Who Laughs origin story. It packs none of the punch of that first encounter and of the three Joker origins I've read it is the least memorable. Tao looks like a 70s kung fu flick but has none of the style. Mignola's Sanctum is a more engrossing tale that I wish was a two parter so it could be clearer. This collection is not great and has really no need to be a collection.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three stories. Images is based on Batman #1, the first appearance of the Joker. Tao is a look at some of Bruce Wayne's early training. Both are good tales. Mask, the third story is the real treasure here though.