Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #103 - DC Comics

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT No. 103, February 1998

Following closely upon the shoulders of the titular character as he investigates the disconcertingly bizarre happenings inside a suddenly deserted, snow-surrounded mansion, James Robinson’s narrative for Issue One Hundred and Three of “Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight” definitely starts with a ‘bump in the night’ as the World’s Greatest Detective discovers that the entire house staff of servants and maids who earlier greeted his alter-ego’s guests, have all been savagely slaughtered. Indeed, this truly gruesome unearthing deep down inside the building’s cellar sets so disquietingly dark a tone for the rest of the twenty-three page periodical’s plot, that when the Caped Crusader later reveals that Bruce Wayne has purportedly been killed by the Spook whilst “off exploring” on his own, the odd reader will arguably momentarily believe him before the realisation that such a demise is an impossibility dawns upon them; “I found Wayne. His body at least. He’s dead. The killer got to him.”

Equally as well-penned as this comic’s all-pervading atmosphere of death and doom, is Robinson’s excellent technique to provide plenty of background as to the mass-murderer’s identity via the costumed crime-fighter reading the maniac’s journals. Interspersed with the vigilante’s own thoughts as to both the misguided ex-government operative’s motivation for setting up such an elaborate death-trap, as well as the mysterious assassin’s impressive military background, this four-page sequence debatably makes tremendously compelling reading despite its panels literally consisting of little more than numerous word-heavy, text boxes.

Likewise, artist Paul Johnson does an excellent job of depicting the sheer terror being experienced by the Spook’s hapless victims as they’re mercilessly murdered one by one. This ability to depict the open-mouthed fear being felt by the sizeable cast is especially well done when Wayne convinces the group of super-rich billionaires to tear the isolated stately home apart looking for a “high-powered radio transmitter”, and then later when Batman uses of the aforementioned ruse of Wayne’s death to cover the absence of his other self. In addition, the highlight of this book is surely the illustrator’s marvellous pencilling of Batman pummelling the Spook’s illiterate henchman with just his ‘hammers of justice’, and the Dark Knight’s subsequent unsuccessful tussle with spectral “the Ghost Man” himself.

Writer: James Robinson, Artist: Paul Johnson, and Colorist: Dan Brown