Legends of the Dark Knight #5

Legends of the Dark Knight #5

DC Comics 2021

Written by Brandon Thomas

Illustrated by Giannis Milogiannis

Coloured by Jordie Bellaire

Lettered by Deron Bennett

THE CONSULTANT PART 1!

A seemingly disparate collection of crimes have been committed across Gotham City all connected by the use of strange alien symbols. Martian symbols. In order to get to the bottom of the link and meaning behind the crimes Batman will need to call in his Justice League teammate the MARTIAN MANHUNTER!

For this feels a lot like an old Brave and the Bold issue, from it’s early original run. I have to say that right from the get-go we’re treated to one hell of a story. I also have to give impressive kudos to Brandon for the villain du jour here because it takes him from sill costumed bad guy to bone fide threat bad guy and I hadn’t thought we’d be able to see this with this person. Add in the connection with the Martian Manhunter and suddenly this takes us on a wild ride on the crazy train, and I love every single moment of it! What is going on with Batman all of a sudden that DC is conspiring to make me a fan of his? This series has been fantastic and this one as well really takes us to a place where Bats wasn’t so dark and cynical.

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 extremely well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter and this really shines a great spotlight on their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see.

I think that the way this is being structured and how the layers within the story emerge, grow and strengthen is phenomenal to see. The layers open up these avenues to explore and as we see things progress the more we see this delicious depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.

The interiors here are utterly delightful. The linework that we see is clean, crisp and strong and with its varying weights and techniques we see the detail within the work really takes this to a great place. We see some backgrounds being utilised, though I’d really like to see more of them, and they do help expand and enhance the moments as well as 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. 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 various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

​

This is a great team-up and a superb look at a minor villain who gets a major upgrade. With a feel that is somewhere between the classic, see first run of the Brave and the Bold, and modern comics and a much more relaxed and open Batman makes for some incredible reading and storytelling. This is a pure joy to read and this is thanks to the amazing writing, strong interesting characterisation and dynamic interiors.