Detective Comics #500 Request "To Kill a Legend"

[pyrotwilight]

Now this is one of my most favorite Batman stories of all time, probably my fave if you ever asked me even. Alternate universes and Batman can often feel forced but as it was setup here it was just plain beautiful.

I beg you to wonder. Could even Batman stop the murder of the Waynes?



The cover could be more inspired, but at least it shows off all the character in the book, being an anniversary issue it was essentially an 80 page giant with multiple stories including the headline story which was 19 pages (To Kill a Legend) Oddly Robin is on the cover twice.as is Batman

I'll say from now by posting only a third of this story much of its awesomeness will be lost so I urge you all to track it down if you ever get a chance, a great issue.

Our story begins on E-1. It's the day of the 20th anniversary of the day Bruce's parents were killed, Bruce awakens in the middle of the night from a nightmare he had, reliving the day his parents died. Getting dressed he chases down two crooks robing a helpless old lady when during the chase Batman realizes he's passing through Crime alley, despite it being on the other side of town! Robin shows up to help a hand as well to Bruce's confusion.



Interesting to see that they reference E-2 almost explicitly here. The Stranger goes on to say he's offering it since he's friends with Bats and knows despite all the good he does he still blames himself for his parents death.

Bruce accepts to go telling Dick to stay behind, not that Dick listens. At first skeptical the two quickly realize the Stranger wasn't just a bad dream...



After fleeing the cops the two decide to start looking up info on how to catch Joe Chill the man who murdered the Waynes on their Earth, since he's the likely one to do it here as well.



I love this page for a few reasons, we get to meet Barbara Gordon's mom, of is it aunt? I hear depending on the continuity she was either Jim's daughter or her parents who were related to Jim and after the died took Barbara in. But also made a good point that Bruce looks like his father.

Regardless the idea of a world with no heroic stories is amazingly shocking. Bats and Robin come to a ethical problem about this. That perhaps the Wayne's must die to inspire little Bruce to become a hero or the world will never know any heroes. Particularly since young Bruce here is a spoiled brat. The two go a bit back and forth on the subject but Bruce quickly makes it clear no matter what he'll save the Wayne's as it wouldn't be right to let anyone die when they could stop it.

Not finding any info on where Chill lives Bruce and Dick decide to go after Lew Moxon who on their Earth had hired Joe Chill to kill the Waynes. Beating him up they find out Moxon doesn't know who Chill is as he hadn't met up with Moxon yet.

This makes Moxon antsy as nobody should know Moxon was trying to kill the Waynes so he steps up the order to kill them and gets someone else to do the hit. Chill moments after Bats leaves tries to go get the job from Moxon. Chill gets thrown out but later also gets targeted since Bruce asked for him to Moxon.



Part of the reason Bats wasn't prepared was also due to the dates being screwed up thanks to leap years and presumably taking the whole exactly 20 years has passed saying by the Stranger too lightly.

Bats manages just in time to arrive and save the day.



Stopping the new killer who was the one who also killed Chill.



And so the duo are transported back to E-1 never learning what affect they hand on the Bruce Wayne of this Earth.

But of course while a lovely ending we do indeed learn what happened to the Bruce Wayne of this Earth (Earth-5 for those wondering) though Bats and Dick don't.



And so our tale ends with a Bruce Wayne who will one day become Batman. But a very different kind of Batman and if this isn't one hell of an awesome ending then I don't think their can ever be one.

Comments

[thokstar]

B:TAS had an episode based off of this story, right?

[pyrotwilight]

Not the cartoon they had a similar story in Gotham Adventures 33 with the Phantom Stranger simply showing Bats what would've happened had his parents not died which was more cataclysmic for everyone there. It's posted on the comm somewhere.

[xammax]

So this just backs what we all knew; Bruce will always become Batman come hell or high water.

[aaron_bourque]

Well . . . not the Batman we know. He wouldn't have all that angst, guilt, and self-loathing. He would be pure hope, rather than something meant to terrify the criminal populace.

And he wouldn't necessarily become Batman, despite the shadow.

And is Batman Batman without "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!!!"?

IMO, yes. But I'm kooky.

[pyrotwilight]

He'd be a bit more akin to the current lighter hearted BatDick. But even more so since even Dick has had tragedy in his life.

[bewareofgeek]

"MY PARENTS ARE RETIRED!" just doesn't have the same oomph.

[freddylloyd]

As far as I can tell, this story was one of the first uses of the "Robin keeps Batman sane" meme that came to the foreground with Tim Drake's introduction. It's a rare and unusual situation, but Dick/Robin accompanies Bruce/Batman to that parallel world because he's not sure how rationally his mentor will react to what he finds there.

[mas]

Maybe the upcoming Brave and Bold episode will be an adaptation of this in some way?

[pyrotwilight]

I can only hope, that'd be badassity to the extreme.

[leikomgwtfbbq]

Seconded. :D

Anybody know when that episode's supposed to air? I so look forward to it. X3

[jlroberson]

No "heroic mythology" or literature, but there IS detective fiction, as evinced by the Sherlock Holmes volume on young Bruce's shelf.

[cricharddavies]

"No heroic literature".

That's the one part about this story that bothers me. It's absurd to think that a culture without the concept of "the hero" would resemble our own. The Superman tale with a similar conceit wasn't anywhere nearly as good as this, but it got that right at least.

[cricharddavies]

And also "Les Miserables" is there? Hell, what is that if not the story of a hero?

[foxhack]

If anyone is interested, this story is reprinted in the The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told" TPB.

I own this book. It's very, very good.

[thehefner]

Second this, and I will additionally recommend BATMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD (the one with the Alex Ross cover). Those books are a one-two punch of Batman awesomeness over the century.

[khaosworks]

And once again, ladies and gentlemen... Alan Brennert makes everything awesome.

[robogeek]

THIS.

[aaron_bourque]

BEST.

BATMAN STORY.

EVER.

[pyrotwilight]

I endorse this!

[thehefner]

I'm still rather tempted to put "Night of the Stalker" narrowly above this, but it's close.

[icon_uk]

Magnificent story and gorgeous art. This takes me back!

(Damn interfering Phantom Stranger though, we were THIS close to getting Dick Grayson in Europe and he goes and modifies reality so he was never there)

[psychopathicus_rex]

Not necessarily - he modifies things so that he shifts off the plane to join Batman, but we never see what happens when the two of them go back. For all we know, when the mist fades and they're back in their own world, Dick is back in his seat on the plane, and Bruce is on his way home, or at home in bed where the story started.

[tahngarth.livejournal.com]

Alan Brennert has written only a handful of Batman stories and -all- of them are of a really high quality. The bittersweet one about the life of the golden age Batman always made me feel misty. And of course, this one is really good.

[mullon]

So he still becomes as obssesive as he did when his parents were killed? How sad.

[halloweenjack]

I'd like to think that he'd become the Batman that we see at the end of Ellis and Cassaday's Batman/Planetary one-shot. That would be super-cool.

[freddylloyd]

But perhaps not as sadly obsessive. I read this story as suggesting that certain personality traits are innate, modified by circumstance but not avoidable. This little Bruce Wayne doesn't see his parents killed, but he does get enough of a scare/inspiration to stop being a whiny, spoiled brat and find a purpose in life. If he sticks to his training regimen, he might even grow into a happier and more successful Batman than the one on Earth One.

[joysweeper]

Huh. That is an awesome ending. A Batman driven by awe and mystery and gratitude, and presumably the desire to pay it forward... huh.

[jelly_ace]

That's a really really nice story. And beautiful art!
Maybe I'll pick up one of those best stories collections as my Xmas gift to myself.

[salamangkiero]

That's one of the best stories I've read that qualifies as an Elseworlds of sorts. It's good to know that Emo Batman is not a certainty.