LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #44-45: "Turf"

[starwolf_oakley]

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #44 has quite a cover. Batman could grit his teeth like that, but only in the 1990s. This was Steven Grant and Sean McManus's first Batman story.





LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT issues were a little longer than usual. They were 25 pages per story.





Somehow, this murder is caught on tape and a rather sleazy TV journalist wants to show it. Also, Batman knows Wood wasn't "packing" as he had just saved him from a random drive-by.



This is a weird way to draw Jim Gordon, not counting his red-brown hair. Of course, Gordon with red-brown hair is now standard in post-FLASHPOINT NuDC. LotDK was head of its time.

The sleazy reporter is killed by the cops and the tape is stolen.




Batman wants to investigate the shooting, and tracks down one of the cops named Rogers. But Rogers is killed by his fellow cops.





The racist cops (in masks) go to the film editor to get the original tape. Batman is there is save her. One cop freaks and decides to blow up the house so he won't go to jail.

LOTDK #45:



Turf = Hood? I'm still surprised how "Hood" became a term. Thanks N.W.A.!



Merkling is actually dead. Batman talks various ethnic gangs from attacking the cops. Also, he captures one of the cops that killed Wood.





It turns out it is Knox who is the bad guy, who wants Chief Yeats to become mayor so the "savages will be put where they belong." Knox kills Huss and Batman pursues him. (Batman kind of sucks at stopping people from getting killed in this story. Twice it happens right in front of him.)



Wow. Knox hit Batman. Once.





Yeats snaps at reporters that "My office is the only thing stopping Gotham from falling into chaos." He even calls Gordon a race-traitor.





Ah, the early days. Before Batman hated other crime-fighters most of all.

Comments

[drtechnobabel]

Those guys on the first panel should really know better than to shoot at Sinestro while he's on his evening jog.

On another note about the art, I love Batman's face in the panel where he breaks Knox's arm. He looks like he's going, "Holy crap! Man, I am SO sorry! I didn't mean to bend it that far!"

[alicemacher]

...Wow. I like McManus's art, normally, but he wasn't a good choice for a Batman story. His forte is fantasy, not gritty urban realism.

[halloweenjack]

Arguably, Frank Miller made it OK to do a less realistic version of Batman with The Dark Knight Returns, in which he shows a Bruce Wayne who, despite being fifty and having been retired for at least a decade, has the physique of a bear. (David Mazzuchelli's version of Batman in Year One looked much more like a real guy in a leotard.) Think of it as a sort of hyper-realism here, where things are exaggerated a step or two beyond gritty, the Constantine-esque reporter is smiling like you-know-who, etc.

[espanolbot]

John Constantine: Gritty urban reporter!

[icon_uk]

Never just you....

[thatnickguy]

Good lord, the muscle anatomy of Batman in this is all over the place. It's like Batman played by the new Ms. Marvel. His shoulders, traps, and lats in that first page are exploding like a balloon. And then his triceps are massive - not to mention his arm missing an elbow - when he catches the guy's punch near the end.

I know muscles are greatly exaggerated in superhero comics, but this is ridiculous.

[icon_uk]

Showing Jim Gordon with reddish brown hair as a younger man has been the norm since at least "Batman: Year One"

[starwolf_oakley]

I meant Jim Gordon in the present as a not-so-young man. Since FLASHPOINT, present day Commissioner Jim Gordon has reddish brown hair. BATMAN ETERNAL is a good example.

Basically, LOTDK took YEAR ONE Gordon's hair color and made it standard for the series, which usually took place early in Batman's career. And now that YEAR ONE look is standard in post-FLASHPOINT DCU.

[mastermahan]

"Legends of the Dark Knight" is an interesting series. When it's bad, it's truly horrid. When it's good, though, it's amazing. There's just so much possibility with a novice Batman still willing to try new things, versus the perfect Batman we so often get. Venom, Faith, Faces - there's some great stories in there.