The Untold Legend of the Batman: Amazon.ca: Len Wein: Books

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To the fear-filled eyes of criminals everywhere, he is a man without a past&mdasha Darknight Defender of the helpless and oppressed, a towering symbol of swift and vengeful justice, a wraith-like guardian of Gotham City's asphalt corridors. But to comic book fans throughout the world he is...Batman and he is a man with a mission. Now, for the first time in paperback, readers can discover the deepest secrets of the masked crimefighter, from his own origin to his first meeting with Robin, his partner in the war on crime. This spectacular re-telling of The Batman legend includes his initial encounters with his most menacing foes, as well as a fact filled tour through the Darknight Detective's secret headquarters, The Batcave. A veritable encyclopedia of the Cowled Crimefighter's past, The Untold Legend of the Batman will delight comic adventure fans everywhere!

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A retelling of the Batman legend covers the Caped Crusader's initial encounters with his most famous foes, his first meeting with Robin, a tour of the Batcave, and much more. Reissue.

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First Sentence
DEEP WITHIN THE BOWELS OF THE CITY, A SOLITARY DARK-CLAD FIGURE SITS NESTLED IN THE SHADOWS OF A VAST SPRAWLING CAVERN... Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting look at the origins of Gotham City's most famous citizens, Sep 5 2006

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Untold Legend of the Batman, The (Mass Market Paperback)

The Untold Legend of the Batman is a three-issue series, issued in 1980, that retold the origins of the Batman, his allies, and some of his enemies. The first issue really just tells the story of Batman's origins, and it provides some surprising information: the first Batman was actually Bruce Wayne's father, and the first Robin was actually Bruce Wayne. Don't take this too literally, though. Bruce's father wore a bat-man-ish suit to a charity fundraiser not long before he was gunned down; at this special event, he was kidnapped and ordered to tend to a criminal's wounds. He refused, sent the guy to the Big House with his testimony, and was gunned down in retribution. Bruce Wayne dedicated his life to finding his parents' killer and fighting criminals of all kinds; in order to do this, he needed a teacher, and he chose Gotham's most gifted detective. Since he didn't want the detective to recognize him, he donned a costume - the Robin costume. The detective, Harvey Harris, actually came up with the name Robin because young Bruce looked "as brilliant as a robin redbreast" in the outfit. Oh, it is to laugh.

Bruce Wayne holds his father's Batman outfit in almost sacred regard, so naturally he's highly ticked off when someone steals it, cuts it up, and mails it back to him. That's what starts this whole series off. Someone knows Batman's secrets and is out to get him. At the end of the second issue, the Batmobile itself blows up right there inside the Batcave, sending Batman into a frenzy. We finally learn the identity of the person behind the attacks in the third and last issue - and you may be surprised by the revelation.

There are a number of interesting little Batman tidbits spread throughout the course of this little series - and you'll also get a special look at some of Batman's crime-fighting tools. After looking back upon the origins of both Batman and Robin, you'll meet the Joker when he was just the Red Hood, see how Harvey Dent became Two-Face, cast your eyes upon Barbara Gordon before and after she dons the BatGirl costume, and even learn who among Batman's enemies knows his true identity. You'll also see how Commissioner Gordon wasn't Batman's biggest fan early on, as Batman's success made the police department look pretty bad in comparison. You'll even get a gander at the man who designs and makes the Batmobile for the caped crusaders. I was most interested in Alfred's story, though; you'll see him helping refugees escape the Germans in World War II, discover that he was a successful stage actor after the war, and see just how he came to serve as Bruce Wayne's butler, confidante, and friend.

I daresay some won't find the revelation at the end of the story all that satisfactory, but it does provide us with a revealing window into the mind of Batman. It also would have been nice to cram a few more bad guy origin tales into the series, but I guess that would be asking too much. I suppose it's just as well, since all of these origin stories tend to drift and change over time. The Untold Legend of the Batman isn't a great series by any means, but it is one that all Batman fans should enjoy to some degree - and you might even learn something you didn't already know about this most famous of comic book heroes.

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3.0 out of 5 stars An okay read...some interesting stuff, Jun 27 2004

By	s2h131985 (Clymer, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Saw this in Wal-Mart and picked it up. It's a pretty good story and re-telling of the Batman origin. I have always loved the post-crisis Batman, but reading the pre-crisis origin for Batman was pretty fascinating. The only downside was the black and white art, and the dialogue was very out of date. But for a story that cost a little over three dollars, I'm not complaining.

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3.0 out of 5 stars A nifty little part of comic book history., Feb 25 2002

By	K. Bergman "berggonecrazy" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those interested in the history of Batman you probably find this story an entertaining, though not great, story about the Pre-Crisis Batman. This is a consolidation of all the history, origin, and first meetings of the character before Crisis and Year One. I liked the story but I have say to that I'm glad they don't write Batman this way anymore (the dialogue's pretty bad even for an exposition story) and I very much prefer the scaled back origin that they character has now. On the art Jim Aparo is in top form in this black and white story, being inked by John Byrne. I found this to be the perfect companion piece to Batman: Strange Apparitions.

For those interested in the post-Crisis retelling of these stories: Year Two retells Batman's confrontation w/ Joe Chill (Chill's role was thrown into doubt after the Zero Hour tie-in of DETECTIVE; a LOTDK story from 2000 called "Siege" retells the story of the 1st Bat-costume and the penthouse; and Lew Moxon was retold last year (2001) as part of the Brubaker/Mcdaniel run in BATMAN, with Thomas Wayne dressed as Zorro instead.

Also the shipping cost for this will be more than the actual price of the book.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite an interesting read
This nice little story of early-modern age Batman is not so much a story in its own right but more something of a clip show. Read more

Published on Jun 28 2001 by Itamar Katz

5.0 out of 5 stars What about the tapes?
Over a decade ago all 3 issues from this series came with some cassettes. I'd kept the comics, but I'd lent all 3 of the half hourly tapes to a boy named Jeff. Read more

Published on Jun 21 2001 by ERIC DAVID KATZ

5.0 out of 5 stars The origins of the dark detective.
Growing up, I'd always enjoyed watching Adam West and Burt Ward on the television show Batman. So, one day at the school book fair many moons ago, I picked up this book. Read more