The ISB: “The Untold, Retold, Ignored, and then Retconned Legend of the Batman”

Chris Sims at The ISB has a post on The Untold Legend of the Batman, a miniseries in which someone who knew all of Batman’s deepest, darkest secrets had set out to destroy him.

I had a small black and white copy of this book, which I think I got from a grade school book order. It came with a cassette tape, I guess in case you felt the few words that did make there way into the comic picture books were just too much to handle. I don’t know, maybe I was young enough that I was closer to the pre-literate age than I realize, but this would have most likely been the first comic book I owned.

I had been thinking about this book recently for the same reason Sims mentions — elements of “Batman R.I.P.” seem awfully reminiscent of this story, but I couldn’t remember the name of the book. Procrastination led me to browse the sites over in our links section, and I was very excited to see this write-up.

One of the things I remember most about the book was the art. Jim Aparo’s Batman was amazing. His use of blacks, particularly noticeable as I had only a black-and-white version, was stunning. I remember wearing out ball-point pens trying to recreate his art from this book.

Years later, when I actually started buying comics on a monthly basis (this is right around the time of Knightfall) I remember noticing how his work had lost much of that awesome, dramatic quality. I don’t know if this was a product of age or different inkers, but his work in “The Untold Legend of the Batman” was fantastic.

I have no idea where my copy is anymore, and I probably haven’t had my hands on it since about 1990, but the ISB treatment captures the drama and absurdity I remember about the series. I dug up this Amazon link because I’m tempted to re-order myself a copy.