During a time when DC appeared to be constantly launching more and more new titles, there were only a few which really stood out. Titles such as The Man of Steel and Shadow of the Bat were, with all due respect to writers like John Byrne and Alan Grant, just another outlet for heroes like Superman and Batman and they lacked much uniquity. Legends of the Dark Knight was different. It was memorable because it was designed to add continuity to the early days of Batman’s adventures. It provided the chance for new stories featuring a much less experienced and younger Dark Knight to materialise and fill in some of the gaps between Batman: Year One and the main continuity of the Bat-titles. While tales such as Shaman discover the origins of Batman’s masked persona, and Prey depicts the Dark Knight’s first tussle with Professor Hugo Strange, Venom explores something different. It adds a new, even more tragic layer to Batman’s past. It’s a story about failure, deceit, and addiction. Next to A Death in the Family, Venom sells itself as a chapter representing one of Batman’s greatest and most titanic failures…
Legends of the Dark Knight (vol 1) 16-20 was published from March to July 1991. The story was written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Trevor Von Eeden, Russell Braun, and
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. I’ve read this story in the Batman: Venom trade paperback.
As editor of the Batman titles, Dennis O’Neil really knew what he was doing. The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One had fundamentally changed Batman as a character and an idea. This new late-eighties gothic vigilante of Gotham City had a past darker than ever envisioned before and beginning with Legends of the Dark Knight (vol 1) 16, a youthful and brash Dark Knight finally learns the true effect of failure. On one dark stormy night years gone by, Batman heads into the flooding sewers to rescue a child named Sissy Porter. In a matter of just eight pages, Batman fails to save Sissy and she drowns because he isn’t strong enough. Now, Dennis O’Neil has never been a writer of slow or sluggish stories. To his eternal credit, he wrote comics which had brilliant pacing and managed to hook the reader pretty much constantly. With Venon, it becomes immediately apparent that slowness is not the problem. Already, it is too fast. Batman heads back to Wayne Manor hugely depressed and angry at himself for his failure, but by that point, we’re only halfway through the first part. It may be fashionable for modern comics to pad things out a bit too much, but I think that was crucial here. Sissy’s death is too fast to really digest, even if it is a significant and chilling moment. Either way, Batman’s failure leads him to Sissy’s father, Randolph Porter, a scientist who his daughter’s kidnappers tried to steal from. Randolph doesn’t seem at all bothered with the death of his daughter, caring more about his new trial drug he has created. Essentially, as you’d probably expect by the title, the drug is an early form of venom, the drug later used by Bane. It basically provides the human body with unnatural physical strength to the extreme, but at a huge cost. Naturally, Batman refuses the drug and heads on his way to find Sissy’s kidnappers, but for some reason doesn’t really care about how suspicious Randolph is. Either way, Batman encounters more failure as he is haunted by Sissy’s death, causing him to become sloppy and weak. He fails to take out the kidnappers, and his guilt and failure leads him back to Randolph. The Dark Knight takes the venom, and effectively destroys the gangsters. O’Neil perfectly ends the first part with Batman laughing manically; it is a chilling moment that is hugely impactful as we know that Batman is heading down a dark path…
With Legends of the Dark Knight (vol 1) 17, we’re thrown three months into the future and exactly what you’d expect has happened. Batman is a complete addict to venom, and he no longer reads books or uses his detective skills. He also has stopped wearing his Batman costume, just heading out into the night as a crazed hooded vigilante. Part of me thinks that this would have been a brilliant starting point for Venom. O’Neil could have shocked us even more as the story begins with a very different Bruce Wayne. Throughout the story, details would have leaked out and we would witness random hallucinations and flashbacks to Sissy’s death. O’Neil could have revealed the cause a bit later on. Hey, maybe that’s not such a bad idea at all. Anyway, O’Neil instead explores Alfred brilliantly here as we slowly see him distance himself from his master as the addiction grows stronger. Batman’s whole personality changes: he becomes arrogant and delusional. The way that famous relationship between the two characters fluctuates here is great and very interesting. Fortunes continue to dive for Batman as he constantly asks for more venom from Randolph, who is working closely with a General Slaycroft on a mysterious project. However, Batman couldn’t give a damn about that as venom is his only thought. By now, the venom may have given Batman unbelievable strength, but he is losing his grip on reality as his relationship with Lieutenant James Gordon begins to collapse and Alfred leaves his company. The Dark Knight is now truly on his own, and Randolph and Slaycroft are the ones now in control of Batman’s extremely malleable mind. Essentially, Randolph is working with Slaycroft in some strange military organisation that wants to rid America of his drug problem. They’ve effectively used Batman as a test hamster, but they give him another task: kill James Gordon.
Without thinking about it, Batman accepts the task. However, something inside stops him from carrying out the deed. Batman tells Gordon about Randolph and Slaycroft, who Batman heads after just as the two of them leave America for a mysterious island. Batman misses his chance to truly defeat the villains as Randolph taunts him with venom; Batman cannot resist. With the enemies gone, Batman finally realises the cost of his addiction on his mission. He asks for Alfred’s help as Batman plans to lock himself away in the Bat-Cave for a month to cleanse himself. The scene where Batman finally leaves the cave is probably one of the most famous moments from Venom, mainly because of Bruce’s beardy look. However, all the venom has now left his body. I know that Venom is only five issues long, meaning that O’Neil needs to pace this story very quickly, but I do feel like that Batman’s addiction is a bit basic and bland at times. Sure, something is definitely not right with him as we see Batman as a totally different character to how he usually is, but I would have liked to have seen him break down a bit more as the past continually haunts him. The moment where he finally realises that venom is hindering him is very good, but his recovery isn’t shown in any detail at all. Much of Legends of the Dark Knight (vol 1) 18 focuses on Randolph and Slaycroft, who have gone to Santa Prisca, an island in the Caribbean. The two of them are basically using Slaycroft’s beta-male son, Timothy, as a test subject for venom. They use their advanced science on him to make him into an indestructible Bane-like brute, but with little intelligence. It becomes apparent here that the two villains have slightly differing goals. Randolph is a twisted scientist with little compassion, while Slaycroft is a militaristic loon who has basically been planning this life for his son since day one. O’Neil writes them to be hugely unlikable and uncaringly evil.
Legends of the Dark Knight (vol 1) 19 is when Batman finally starts to get his act together. However, the story’s timing becoming slightly odd. It’s mentioned by Gordon that it’s been six months since he last saw Batman. Surely that doesn’t make too much
sense as Batman was only in the cave for a month, and he saw Gordon just before then. Does that mean that Batman has basically been sleeping for five months? Because in all of that time Batman has just discovered Randolph and Slaycroft’s whereabouts. In all of this time, the villains have been using hypnosis on people to use in their war against drugs, with Timothy only growing stronger by the day. Maybe O’Neil made a mistake with the dates, but it just stands out. Either way, Batman heads to Santa Prisca with Alfred, but Slaycroft senses that Batman is coming, and he shoots down their plane. Luckily, Batman and Alfred escape seconds before death, but the purpose of Alfred’s presence becomes quickly clear. Although the Dark Knight is in the clear, his butler isn’t as Randolph and Slaycroft take him prisoner and threaten to feed him to the sharks. Despite the temptation of venom, Batman rescues Alfred and prevents them both from becoming a shark’s diner. Obviously, from the minute you see the cover to this issue, you know that O’Neil is going to mention the good old Batman 1966 shark repellent gag. He does and it is still somehow funny after all these years. But more seriously, O’Neil proves how much Batman has changed as he punches Randolph square in the face when he offers him more venom. However, Batman’s biggest challenge yet then appears in the form of Timothy.
For those who have read the Knightfall storyline which took place in all the main Batman titles during 1993, you realise just how dangerous and destructive venom can be. When Bane used it, he nearly killed Batman by breaking his back, leaving him wheelchair bound for a year. With Legends of the Dark Knight (vol 1) 20, Batman faces his first venom brute, but the stakes don’t exactly feel huge. Venom is certainly a prelude to Knightfall and Bane’s story, but the brute strength of venom isn’t on show here. Instead, O’Neil opts for a far more personal take, and I think it works very well indeed. So, Batman gets beaten fairly badly by Timothy, but during their fight Batman tries to reason with him and it makes for an enjoyable monologue of sorts. The Dark Knight tries to tell Timothy about his father’s domineering plans and that he killed his mother just to ensure that Timothy would turn out like this, but it fails to get through the venom. This plays a big part in the story towards the end more, but it is interesting as we finally learn more about the main villain, even if he is slightly two-dimensional. Anyway, Batman is locked in prison after Randolph intervenes and believes that Batman must be challenged further. Essentially, Batman is placed in a flooding cell, and he can only get out if he takes extremely addictive venom. Just to show that the Dark Knight has learnt the error of his ways, Batman breaks free without the need of any drugs. I suppose it proves that Batman has developed since the start of the story. Meanwhile, Alfred manages to inform Gordon, who informs the army, while Slaycroft finally loses it with Randolph as the former wants to use his scientific knowledge for his own evil needs. Just as Slaycroft tortures Randolph for his information, Batman appears and is thrown into another fight with Timothy. Unfortunately, the ending here is somewhat confusing, mainly due to the artwork. Although Timothy finally realises that he has been used, it isn’t clear whether he kills his father or not. Either way, he cradles his body crying, while Randolph Porter is arrested and ends up dying in prison from a drug overdose. The villains get what they deserve, but Batman can hardly claim this to be a victory. That is why Venom is a very memorable story. Batman does not win. Nobody does. O’Neil presents Batman differently here from many other stories as we witness his weaknesses and the hero at his very worst. All the villains meet dreadful ends, and Timothy is left scarred and traumatised. To me, this is what a good Legends of the Dark Knight story should be. It’s about Batman learning a lesson or developing his knowledge. Batman is an amateur here just as he should be. The trained hardcore Batman of the 1980s and 1990s is years away. While I think O’Neil could have actually played around with Batman’s addiction to venom a bit more, his transformation is brilliantly told. My only main gripe to be honest is the pacing. I mentioned this earlier, and it sticks around as a problem for the rest of the story. Venom really does go too quickly. Maybe it is because I’m reading this story in a collected edition, meaning I’m able to digest all five parts back-to-back rather than waiting for a month for another issue. But O’Neil provides very little time to actually digest some really key moments. For instance, Sissy’s death is not only quick, but she is barely mentioned again. It is suggested that her father was behind her death basically to ensure that they win over Batman, but I think that could have been explored more. The same applies to Batman’s addiction, which may take up all of the second issue, but it feels like such a titanic and jarring event that deserves more time. Venom is never dull, meaning that it is highly enjoyable, and O’Neil provides some strong, if somewhat flat, characters, and a fast plot, but some moments certainly require more focus.
Trevor Von Eeden and Russell Braun may provide the correct mood and tone for a story as grim and dark as Venom, but the layouts are often confusing. Like I mentioned with the conclusion, it wasn’t exactly clear who died, and there are other moments where the storytelling just isn’t as sharp as it really could be. However, all plaudits definitely must go to Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, who provides some outstanding inks which really save this whole project. He radically improves the pencils and builds on some pretty basic outlines. The detail is exceptional, the storytelling is much more defined, and Garcia-Lopez certainly makes Venom into the chilling and grim tale that it deserves to be.
VERDICT
Overall, Batman: Venom does have its inconsistencies and problems. However, it explores the Dark Knight uniquely and it breaks some new ground by depicting Batman as an amateur who turns to drugs in a time of failure. The main plot does slightly get lost in the concluding two issues, but the story flies along (often too fast) and is aided spectacularly by the inks of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.
Story: 8/10
Art: 8.5/10
Next Week: Justice League International: The Global Guardians (Justice League International (vol 1) 14-21, Annual 2). Written by Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis with art by Steve Leialoha, Al Gordon, Bill Willingham, Joe Rubinstein, Kevin Maguire, and Ty Templeton.
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