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Legends of the Dark Knight #4

DC Comics

By Steven LeitmanPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Legends of the Dark Knight #4

DC Comics 2021

Written by Stephanie Phillips

Illustrated by Max Dunbar

Coloured by Tamra Bonvillain

Lettered by ALW’s Troy Peteri

HAUNTED PART 1!

Rising creative team Stephanie Phillips and Max Dunbar spin the tale of a cold case in Gotham City. The West End Wrath, a killer who was never caught who ended the lives of many affluent businessmen in the city. Bruce Wayne bids on a mysterious box that holds the answer to the century-old West End Wrath killings, but the Penguin wants that box for himself. Will Batman solve this case before the Penguin interferes!?

So the digital first positioning of the issue is different from the printed versions so don’t get too confused by what you see visually on the cover versus what I’ve got written down. I adore stories like this one because it takes us back to Gotham’s early years and we see how the prominent families that are still prominent in the present day. Oh and can I add without the Court of Owls which just makes this all the better. Sometimes we forget that the Cobblepots were once one of the city’s elite names and that Oswald and his Penguin persona have ended that so that Stephanie is bringing that reminder to us is something that attracted me to this story.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interactions as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter do wonders in fleshing these characters out beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story really grabs the reader in a sensational way.

I like the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge, grow and strengthen. It is within these layers where we see the characterisation and how well the writing creates the flow of the story. All the things we see add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story and it’s just superb. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is really rather quite marvellous.

I am an absolute fan of the way that we see the interiors here. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level of detail work throughout the book is astonishingly well rendered. That we see backgrounds being integral to the story as well as how they enhance and expand the moments makes me such a happy camper. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is magnificent. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination we see throughout the book is incredible! More so the way that we see the hologram and how that’s utilised as a way to tell the story is beautifully rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a sensational eye for how colour works.

I’m not always a Batman fan but this series has done it’s darndest to make me enjoy his exploits and adventures. It is different and it shows us more dimensions to Bruce and Batman than we are seeing these days so the throwback feel that this brings us, to his days when he was the Dark Knight Detective, is priceless. There is some stupendous writing and excellent characterisation that works beautifully with these interiors to create a story that is strong, interesting and just enjoyable.

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About the Creator

Steven Leitman

Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.

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