THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN

In 1980, concurrent with the end of his run on BATMAN, Len Wein wrote a limited series called THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN. Its framing sequence was a mystery set in the ongoing continuity, but the true purpose of the series was to sort through the then-nearly fifty years of Batman's history and hammer all the bits and pieces into a single solidified backstory.

At the end of 2017, with some time to kill (ahh, those were the days), I decided to read UNTOLD LEGEND and write about it here. And since it fits in perfectly with the "Batman in the Seventies" retrospective I've been running here all year, I figure now is a good time to "reprint" the post for your enjoyment:

THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN #1 - #3

Give it a whirl (and while doing so, remember that it was written more than a year before I even decided to read the full Wein run over these past months), and next week we'll look at one more "reprint" post before jumping back into the ongoing Batman saga.

DETECTIVE COMICS #444 - 448

"BAT-MURDERER" | "BREAK-IN AT THE BIG HOUSE" | "SLAUGHTER IN SILVER"
"ENTER: THE CREEPER" | "BEDLAM BENEATH THE BIG TOP!"
Writer: Len Wein
Art: Jim Aparo (Chapters 1 - 3); Ernie Chua & Dick Giordano (Chapters 4 & 5)
Editor: Julius Schwartz

I believe DC's first intentional attempt to "Marvelize" their line came in 1977, when Steve Englehart was hired to bring his AVENGERS-honed sensibilities to the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (and as part of that deal, he also scripted several issues of DETECTIVE COMICS, which we'll begin to examine here in just a couple weeks). But in 1975, an earlier, "under the radar" Marvelization occurred. It only lasted a few months, but it's clear that DETECTIVE COMICS' new writer, Len Wein, was intent on bringing some of that Marvel flavor to DC's Caped Crusader.

The opening chapter of this five-part serial sees Batman working to thwart a crime ring whose leader turns out to be Talia. Batman, who happens to be holding a gun he lifted from the Daughter of the Demon, shoots her dead. The police attempt to arrest him, but the Masked Manhunter flees to clear his name. Chapter two finds our hero breaking into Gotham's new state-of-the-art prison to question an incarcerated Ra's al Ghul about the incident. But after al Ghul boasts that he did indeed engineer Tali'a death and Batman's frame-up, the Demon's Head kills himself, framing Batman for a second murder and sending the Caped Crusader on the lam once more.

Aside from the fact that it seems incredibly odd that an international terrorist like Ra's al Ghul is being held in jail in Gotham City of all places, these opening chapters are pretty good. Commissioner Gordon goes a bit overboard in accusing Batman of murder and not even considering, even after all their years of working together, than he could be innocent -- and Batman flies off the handle in the same scene, grabbing Gordon's lapels like a madman and raving about his innocence.

DETECTIVE COMICS #437 & #438

"DEATHMASK!" | "A MONSTER WALKS WAYNE MANOR!"
Writer/Editor: Archie Goodwin | Art: Jim Aparo

And now begins the brief Archie Goodwin era on DETECTIVE COMICS. As I understand it, sales on the series had been flagging for some time, so DC decided to try and reinvigorate the title by yanking it from the editorial purview of Julius Schwartz and turning it over to Archie Goodwin (Schwartz would remain editor on BATMAN, however, and eventually retake DETECTIVE as well when the Goodwin experiment eventually reached its end). The result is a year's worth of bi-monthly issues featuring Goodwin as the writer/editor of the series, and a parade of talented artists to help him tell his stories. The first of these artists is one who many consider the definitive Batman storyteller, the great Jim Aparo.

In THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD, "Deathmask!" came immediately after "Ghost of the Killer Skies" -- as a result, child-me came to assume that Batman spent the entire decade of the seventies embroiled in solving moody murder mysteries. That's not the case by any means, but the fact remains -- this is a chilling and masterfully crafted mystery. Concerned with the opening of an exhibit at the Gotham Museum dedicated to a South American Indian tribe's god of death, it sees three men killed when the "god" seemingly comes alive and begins committing murders while wearing a ceremonial mask and robes.

THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN #1 - 3

If it's not too presumptuous, I'd like to dedicate this post to the memory of Len Wein.

"IN THE BEGINNING" | "WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE..." | "THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK!"
Writer: Len Wein
Artists: John Byrne & Jim Aparo (issue 1) & Jim Aparo (issues 2-3)
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterers: John Costanza (issue 1) & Jim Aparo (issues 2-3)
Editor: Paul Levitz

As discussed briefly when I unboxed TALES OF THE BATMAN: LEN WEIN about three years ago (!!), I owned THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN as a child, in the form of a black-and-white, paperback novel-sized reprint which collected all three issues, edited together into a single story. I don't recall how many times I read it, but it must have been more than once, because the story is still crystal clear in my head even after all these years. Though it helps that many of the key moments this tale covers via flashback are perennial Batman classics, nearly all of them appearing in some form or another in THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD, which I also had as a youngster (and which I know for a fact that I read, re-read, and read again many times over until it was on the verge of falling apart).

UNTOLD LEGEND presents itself as a mystery story in three issues, but the mystery itself is really merely a vehicle for Len Wein, at the time the writer of the monthly BATMAN series, to tie together and codify numerous bits and pieces of the Batman's past which had been trickled out over the character's then-forty year history.

(Also, being a Marvel kid, and knowing that the Marvel Universe was less than twenty years old when I was born in late 1978, it's kind of crazy for me to realize that Batman and Superman were already forty at this point! Spider-Man didn't have his fortieth anniversary until after I finished college!)

The story begins when Batman receives, in the mail, the mangled remains of the costume his father wore as the "original" Batman, along with a note from some mysterious party threatening a long-term plot to destroy him. The Darknight Detective then sets out into a relentless search for his mystery foe. Along the way he reminisces about several of the key moments in his life and career, visits with Alfred, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon, and eventually makes his way to Wayne Manor, where it's revealed that the man out to get him is... himself! Thanks to a recent explosion in the pages of Wein's contemporaneous BATMAN issues, our hero has become schizophrenic and, as Bruce Wayne, blames Batman for robbing him of a normal life. Of course he snaps out of it in the end (with Robin's help), returns to his old self, and that's that.

AQUAMAN #57, 58, 59, & 60

”A LIFE FOR A LIFE”
Writer: David Michelinie | Artist: Jim Aparo | Colorist: Liz Berube

His son dead, Aquaman has gone out in search of the boy’s killer, Black Manta — in a rather cavalier fashion. I'm not sure David Michelinie’s script quite fits the gravity of this situation. Aquaman’s child has been murdered in cold blood, but he's going about his business here like any other mission, even tossing out a wisecrack or two along the way. It seems to me that, based on what happened, Aquaman should be functioning like a latter-day Batman at this point, speaking little, dishing out brutal beatings to anyone who gets in his way, and so forth. But instead, for the most part, it's just business as usual. I guess it's possible Michelinie is trying to show us a hero in denial, but if that's what he's going for, he doesn't explain it at all.

Quickly before I move along, I should mention something I didn't note last time. The prior story in ADVENTURE COMICS 452 featured Black Manta dramatically removing his helmet to reveal to Aquaman that he is, in fact, a — black guy! And that, folks, from his own mouth, is the reason he decided to call himself Black Manta. Not because he wears a black costume or, I dunno, has a black heart, but because he himself is black.

Yikes! Weren't we a little more enlightened about stuff like this by 1977?

ADVENTURE COMICS #449, 450, 451, & 452

”THE MENACE OF THE MARINE MARAUDER”
Reuniting the twin titans of Aquaman’s past:
Writer: Steve Skeates | Artist: Jim Aparo
Aided and abetted by: Colorist: Liz Berube

It occurs to me that in two posts covering several issues so far, I haven't once said anything about Jim Aparo’s artwork! I know I've seen “Aparo’s Aquaman run” referenced here and there on the internet over the years, and I must assume those references are to this run of issues specifically. And since most of those references have held the work up as excellent, I must concur with them. This is really good stuff!

Mind you, I have no real baseline to go off of; I've never read any other Aquaman comics. But Aparo has a great handle on the character (I love the wavy locks he gives him; all the better to float about in the seawater as he swims), and his grasp of the supporting cast and environments is just as good. His Mera in particular is very fun to look at, with her massive mane of flowing red hair.

It's interesting to me that Aparo is working on Aquaman here just after his brief run with the Spectre, and he has adapted his style accordingly. Where the Spectre stories featured glorious use of heavy, overwhelming blacks, Aquaman is much more open for traditional superhero coloring. It's quite a remarkable adjustment in the span of only a couple months.

Oh, and Aquaman fights some guy named the Marine Marauder in this issue.

ADVENTURE COMICS #444, 445, 446, 447, & 448

”AND DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR”
Plot: Paul Levitz | Script: Gerry Conway | Art: Jim Aparo
Editor: Joe Orlando

Beginning here, the Aquaman serial truly ramps up, and it's in a style that I enjoy. See, I have maybe an odd take on serialized fiction: I believe that “filler” is necessary. Not “fill-ins”, mind you, but filler. One of my favorite examples of this in the field of comics is Roger Stern’s final year-ish on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The Hobgoblin was the overarching story of that entire run, accounting for seven out of fourteen issues from #238 – 251. In the meantime, Spider-Man had other adventures unrelated to that villain, even as his presence lurked in the background, informing some of the wall-crawler’s choices in that time (such as his actively searching for the goblin in #246 and 247).

Most all the stories in that run of issues are fun adventures, but only about half of them relate to the overarching story. I really like this approach. It makes the “main” story feel more important when it’s touched upon if you have unrelated adventures interspersed among those that advance the main plot.

Side note: This is one area where I believe pretty much all of the Marvel NetFlix series fail dramatically. They have thirteen episodes per season, and they tend to devote every one of those thirteen to the main plot with no divergences or side-stories. Wouldn’t the Purple Man’s machinations be a lot more meaningful if he only appeared in about half of JESSICA JONES’ episodes, with Jessica taking on “case-of-the-week” style adventures in between? Wouldn’t DAREDEVIL be more fun if Murdock & Nelson spent a few episodes per season on some court case that had nothing to do with the Kingpin or the Punisher or whoever else? I think so, at least -- and this would also help to alleviate the Netflix shows' universally recognized flaw of treading water during the back half of every season.

But I digress; we're here to talk DC comics, not Marvel TV. As of this issue, Aquaman is voted out as kind of Atlantis, replaced by a usurper named Karshon while he was off fighting his villainous half-brother, the Ocean Master, and from this point, the Aquaman serial will feature a mixture of stories dedicated wholeheartedly to the “king in exile” saga, interspersed with others which have nothing to do with it.

ADVENTURE COMICS #435, 436, 437, 441, 442, & 443

”AS THE UNDERSEA CITY SLEEPS” | “THE KING IS DEAD; LONG LIVE THE KING!”
Story: Steve Skeates | Art: Mike Grell | Editor: Joe Orlando

“A QUIET DAY IN ATLANTIS”
Script: Paul Levitz | Art: Mike Grell | Editor: Joe Orlando

Déjà vu! I already wrote about these three issues of ADVENTURE COMICS a few years ago when I covered The Spectre by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo! But, even while the Spectre was the lead feature in the bimonthly series, Aquaman served for a time as his backup serial before eventually — as well see below — graduating to top billing.

Unfortunately these early Aquaman tales are nothing to get too excited about. I've known for years that Black Manta is Aquaman’s main villain; his Joker or Lex Luthor, of you will. But to read these stories, one would get the impression that he's the Sea King’s only antagonist! He appears in all three stories, and unfortunately they're all pretty pedestrian. And, mind you, this is partly Aquaman’s fault, as it’s established in the first story that when he captures Black Manta, he just tosses him back out into the sea rather than incarcerate him anywhere.

Anyway, I can only assume things will pick up moving forward; otherwise what's the point of collecting this stuff in a trade paperback?

THE NEW TEEN TITANS #37 & BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #5

"LIGHT'S OUT, EVERYONE!" | "PSIMON SAYS..."
Writers: Marv Wolfman (NTT #37) & Mike W. BARR (B&TO #5)
Artists: George Pérez & Romeo Tanghal (NTT #37) & Jim Aparo (B&TO #5)
Letterers: John Costanza (NTT #37) & Jim Aparo (B&TO #5)
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: (NTT #37) At the order of Psimon, Gizmo breaks Shimmer and Mammoth out of prison. Dr. Light convinces them to spring him as well. At the suggestion of Shimmer and Mammoth, Psimon leads the Fearsome Five to kidnap Dr. Jace, a woman with a technique for imbuing normal humans with superpowers.

Later, Terra leaves a Titans' meeting when she receives an emergency signal from Dr. Jace, who gave her and her brother their abilities. Terra heads for Jace's lab, where she finds the Outsiders -- Metamorpho, Katana, Halo, and Black Lightning -- investigating the demolished facility. The Titans catch up and a fight breaks out, but when the Outsiders' fifth member -- Terra's brother, Geo-Force -- reveals himself, both sides make amends.

The teams' respective leaders, Robin and Batman, are summoned from Gotham City while Psimon mentally coerces Dr. Jace into working with the Fearsome Five. When the heroes investigate several recently transformed half-mud vagrants, their path leads them to Psimon's lab outside Gotham City. There, Dr. Jace's procedure has been perfected and the Fearsome Five have an army of mud monsters under their control.

After a brief skirmish, Psimon triggers explosives on his island lair which sink it into the sea with the Titans and Outsiders aboard, while the villains and their monsters escape.

WRATH OF THE SPECTRE: ADVENTURE COMICS #437, 438, 439, 440, WRATH OF THE SPECTRE #4

"THE HUMAN BOMBS AND...THE SPECTRE"
"THE SPECTRE HAUNTS THE MUSEUM OF FEAR"
Script: Michael Fleisher | Art: Ernie Chan & Jim Aparo
Art Continuity: Russell Carley | Letters: Jim Aparo | Colors: Adrienne Roy
Editor: Joe Orlando

Ernie Chan (credited as Ernie Chua) provides guest pencils for two consecutive stories, and the work is excellent. A few years ago I read the majority of the BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS issues published in the seventies, and Chan had a long run on the character around that time. He was inked most frequently, as I recall, by Frank McLaughlin during that run, and while the work was good, it can't even begin to compare with Jim Aparo over Chan. Aparo's heavy blacks maintain the visual continuity from previous Spectre chapters, while Chan's layouts lose nothing from the previous all-Aparo chapters.

The stories are more of Fleisher's usual, featuring a gang who turns people into human bombs (and poor Gwen just happens to be one of them), and then a deranged taxidermist who kills people in order to stuff them and add them to his "exhibits". All villains meet suitably grisly ends.

WRATH OF THE SPECTRE: ADVENTURE COMICS #431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436

The Spectre, created in 1940 by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, was revived in 1974 to headline DC's ADVENTURE COMICS anthology series. The Spectre's alter ego, NYPD homicide detective Jim Corrigan, was murdered by gangsters and returned to Earth by God's hand as an avenging ghost, on a mission to rid the world of all evil.

Legend has it that DC editor Joe Orlando was mugged, and decided afterward that he wanted a superhero who could operate outside the law and bring brutal vengeance down on criminals who had otherwise escaped justice. The dormant character of the Spectre was re-tooled to become the vehicle for Orlando's revenge fantasies, in a series written by Michael Fleisher and illustrated masterfully by Jim Aparo.

WRATH OF THE SPECTRE

Art: Jim Aparo

"In the world of mortal men he is Jim Corrigan, had-boiled police detective -- but to the vermin of the underworld he is the Spectre, awesome avenger of evil, an earthbound ghost who punishes evil with a fearsome vengeance from beyond the grave."

A couple years ago, I watched the DC SHOWCASE DVD, which highlighted three short films from the Warner Bros. animation department. Among those cartoons was WRATH OF THE SPECTRE, and I instantly fell in love with it. The short starred Gary Cole as Jim Corrigan/the Spectre, and the story was crafted to resemble a hard-boiled seventies exploitation film -- a genre I happen to love, even if don't go out of my way to seek such movies out. There was a great funky score, and the plot featured the Spectre tracking down a group of criminals one by one, and killing them in gruesome fashion.