Right, this will probably end up being one of my last Grant Morrison reviews for the foreseeable future, since I’ve covered his runs on JLA, Animal Man and Doom Patrol since the blog started nearly a year and a half ago. I haven’t yet got to his extensive run on Batman/Batman and Robin/Batman Incorporated during the 2000s. However, his experience writing Batman had started long before the Batman and Son storyline (Batman (vol 1) 655-658). In 1989, Morrison had struck gold with his critically acclaimed graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth. His popularity massively increased from this, becoming a household name for DC, up there with writers like Frank Miller and Alan Moore. During that time, DC had launched a new ongoing Batman title, named Legends of the Dark Knight. The title featured stories written by talents like Dennis O’Neil, Doug Moench and Morrison himself, with the help of artists such as Ed Hannigan, Klaus Janson and Paul Gulacy. After a popular and promising first story by O’Neil and Hannigan (Shaman, issues 1-5), Morrison found a home on the title for five issues, writing a darker title with art by Klaus Janson. Was the story as popular as Arkham Asylum, or any other works written by Morrison?
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 6-10 was published monthly from April to August 1990. It was written by Grant Morrison with art by Klaus Janson. I have read the story
in the Batman: Gothic trade paperback.
THE STORY
In a warehouse in Gotham, two men torture a man and begin pouring gasoline on him. Then, the torturers hear music nearby, causing one of them to investigate. But he doesn’t return and when the other torturer finds a music player with a cryptic note on it, he is killed by a mysterious person. That mysterious person that burns the captive man alive. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne wakes up from a nightmare about his father coming back to life. Elsewhere, two people leave their apartment and head into the lift, which then collapses and kills them. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce decides to head out onto the streets as Batman. At the same time, a mobster named Jack Kane speaks to another mobster named Ottavio about how murders have been occurring by the hands of Mr Whisper, who has returned to Gotham. Despite Ottavio not believing Mr Whisper has returned, Jack is killed, and Mr Whisper speaks to Ottavio, telling him that he will die soon. While a time capsule is discovered at Gotham Cathedral, Batman easily stops a mugging in the back alleys. Meanwhile, a rich man named Mr Graziano is given a surprising gift of chocolates by somebody on the others of Mr Whisper. When Graziano’s wife eats one of the chocolates, they are killed in an explosion. At the same time, Ottavio’s gangsters set up and light an inverted bat-signal into the sky. Batman responds…
Batman surprises Ottavio’s men when he appears, ordering them to switch off the inverted bat-signal. When they do so, the gangsters explain that they need Batman’s help with a person who won’t stay dead. Although they try to bargain with Batman, telling him that the mobsters will keep the streets clean until Mr Whisper is found, Batman leaves, telling the criminals to rot in the hell they have created. Meanwhile, a young girl claiming to be the Bride of Christ is thrown out of Gotham Cathedral, where Mr Whisper hides out. After experiencing another nightmare about his father and his school days, Bruce speaks to Alfred about them. He explains to Alfred that when his parents sent him to a private upstate school, he hated it due to the bullying. He once had a friend there named Robert, who also hated the school, but one day disappeared. Bruce then tried to investigate his disappearance, but he was caught by Mr Winchester, the headmaster, who then beat him. Bruce then finishes his story to Alfred, before heading out as Batman. Meanwhile, in Ottavio’s penthouse, he receives another cryptic note from Mr Whisper. Suddenly, he notices Mr Whisper outside and begins firing at him, believing that he is dead. However, Mr Whisper then appears, frightening Ottavio further. Luckily, Batman then arrives and chases Mr Whisper, leaving Ottavio alone, who has just realised the wine he has been drinking is poisoned. Outside, Mr Whisper punches Batman off a building, but he manages to get back up. When he does, he recognises Mr Whisper as Mr Winchester, who also recognises Batman, before he falls off the building to his apparent death. When Batman returns to Ottavio, he finds that he too is dead…
Returning to the Batcave, Batman tells Alfred that Mr Whisper is actually Mr Winchester from his old private school, but he doesn't appeared to have aged at all. Some time later, Bruce visits his old school and learns that Mr Winchester left under mysterious circumstances. After bribing the headmaster, Bruce receives a tape of Mr Winchester reading poetry. Later in the cave, Bruce learns from the tape that Winchester was in Austria, yet questions why he is in Gotham. Then, the tape begins playing a conversation years ago between Bruce and his father, which mentions Lake Dess in Austria. Batman then decides to head to Austria in his Batgyro. Meanwhile, the girl calling herself the Bride of Christ is given a rose by Whisper. In Austria, Batman visits a monastery to get some directions. He speaks with the Abbot, who tells him a tale from 300 years ago about a monk named Manfred who transformed a nearby monastery into a sinful place where he and the monks would torture nuns, one of whom he burnt to death as a sacrifice. Not long after, Manfred caught the plague and apparently gave his soul to the devil in exchange for 300 years of life and immunity to death. However, not long after, Manfred and his monks were killed by the rising waters of Lake Dess. The Abbot then gives Batman directions to the lake, before he heads on his way. Entering the monastery by swimming, Batman investigates and witnesses a ghost, before realising that it was a mirror trick. However, Batman then finds a blueprint for a cathedral, which resembles the one in Gotham…
Arriving back in Gotham, Batman stops a man named Hooper from shooting a child he has captured. Afterwards, Batman visits a mobster named Morgenstein, who is hiding in fear of Whisper. Demanding to know about Whisper, Morgenstein explains that 20 years ago, he, Ottavio, Graziano and the Kane brothers hunted for Whisper after discovering that he had killed 7 children. When they discovered Whisper, they shot him. However, he wasn’t dead. They then beat him with an axe, but he still lived, before they just threw him in the river with an anchor tied around his neck. Morgenstein then gives Batman a clue from Whisper. Later in the Batcave, Batman examines the blueprint he found in Austria, discovering that it is a perfect match to Gotham Cathedral. Batman then finishes his story from earlier about Winchester, telling Alfred that after he was beaten, he called his father, who confronted Winchester and took Bruce away from the school. The first night Bruce was at home, he and his parents decided to go to the cinema (I think you know what happens next). Meanwhile at the Cathedral, Whisper kills a man who catches him sneaking around in the basement. At the same time, Batman visits a warehouse looking for Morgenstein. Instead, he finds his corpse among many others, before Whisper appears. Quickly, Whisper manages to knock Batman out by pushing him off a walkway and onto another two storeys down. Later, Batman wakes up tied up. Whisper is surprised that Bruce went down this path and reveals to him that he was going to be his next murder victim. Whisper then explains that after he made his deal with the devil, he decided to come up with a plan to trick him. Over the next 300 years, Whisper studied science and the occult, before managing to trap his soul inside a cord, removing his shadow. He then experimented with plague victims, using their cells to create another strain and a deadly formula inserted in glass. To complete his goal, he explains that he must finish the construction of Gotham Cathedral by May Day in order to ensure the bell will shatter the glass and release the plague on Gotham, which he believes he can barter the devil with to give him immortality. Whisper then leaves Batman, before blowing out a candle and causing a chain reaction, which will end with Batman being crushed…
In just enough time, Batman manages to escape from Whisper’s death trap. Meanwhile in the Cathedral, Whisper captures the girl calling herself the Bride of Christ, telling her that she will be the plague’s first victim. Suddenly, Batman appears as the time grows closer to midnight. Batman chases Whisper and the two fight viciously. The floor they fight on then collapses onto the subway and Whisper is (continued)
suddenly hit by a train. Batman then witnesses Whisper get back to life and continuing to fight against Batman, who then fires a spray in Whisper’s eyes. Batman then throws Whisper into another train, giving Batman enough time to deactivate the bell and prevent Whisper from succeeding. Meanwhile, Whisper enters his apartment when he is confronted by the girl calling herself the Bride of Christ, who tells him that they made a deal together 300 years ago and that she is the devil. When the clocks strike midnight, the devil kills Whisper. The next day, Bruce receives a parcel and opens it, finding that it is Whisper’s heart. Later at night, Batman heads to the monastery in Austria, where he throws the heart deep into the lake.
MY THOUGHTS
Before getting into this, it’s worth mentioning that Gothic isn’t your rudimentary or standard Batman story. in fact, it features a range of ideas and elements which hadn’t really been present in the character before 1990. Unsurprisingly, Gothic is considered to be an excellent story by fans and is thought to be a gem in the Legends of the Dark Knight series. In my opinion, I think the first half of this story is flawless, mainly due to Morrison’s fantastic and suspenseful plot and the characterisation of Batman. Starting with Batman’s character, with is pretty consistent through all five issues, Morrison writes him like he is a gothic legend who is feared by criminals, while also being depicted as human in private. This works perfectly and its clear that Morrison is a fan of Frank Miller’s and David Mazzucchelli’s Year One story (Batman (vol 1) 404-407), since when he is fighting criminals, not only is Batman a threatening figure, but he is also very mysterious and feared by the underworld, which very much reminds me of the original golden age Batman from 1939. However, in private, we learn that Bruce is still getting to grips with being a vigilante, since he is testing out new gear and elements of his costume, one of which is a neck brace, which saves his life when he is fighting Mr Whisper. This aspect of the character not only makes it clear that the story takes place in the early days of Batman, but also that he isn’t as prepared for battle as he is in later stories, making the character human. By far, Batman is my favourite aspect of the story, but the plot itself starts off incredibly well and feels very much like an old-fashioned detective story which not only is gothic, but very complex and complicated, occasionally too much so. Anyway, the build up of Mr Whisper as a character and the main villain is excellent, since he is rarely shown or seen in the first part of the story, but it is made clear that he is a killer. This is mysterious and Morrison builds that aspect of the story up incredibly well. In fact, the first issue perfectly sets both the tone of the story and the threat of the villain, with his murderous acts making the underworld increasingly more paranoid, to the point where they have to ask Batman for help. In fact, this is another favourite moment of mine in the story. When Batman confronts the mobsters at the start of part two, any old writer would probably make the scene feel quite long and end it with Batman reluctantly agreeing to help the mob. However, with Morrison, he takes the more realistic approach, which is better. Essentially, Batman tells the gangsters to go and f*ck themselves and that Mr Whisper is their own problem. This is a brilliant scene (continued)
not just because of Batman’s bluntness, but also because they are criminals and Batman would just refuse to help them. Of course, Batman does become more involved in the story as it progresses since he realises that Mr Whisper is Winchester, his old headmaster at school. There are some hard-hitting flashbacks which make Winchester into more of an evil character and Batman becomes more involved with the story because of his presence. The third part of the story is where things get weaker for me, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Apart from the first two issues, I think the story behind Mr Whisper comes to a great conclusion, as not is his plan defeated, but the devil, who he made a deal with, comes back in the form of a young girl and kills Mr Whisper, before giving Bruce Wayne his heart (literally). This conclusion to the story is certainly uneasy, but it works well as the further you progress through the story it becomes clearer that Mr Whisper couldn’t have survived to the last page…
When I first read this story a few years ago now, I really didn’t like it that much. My main problem with it was that I wasn’t a fan of the more supernatural elements of the story. For instance, Mr Whisper’s gimmick of simply not dying is effective, but I thought the presence of the devil and the importance of the church just came across as rubbish. Not only that, but I also thought that this story could have worked much better on its own without Batman and in some ways, I still sort of believe that. The aspects to do with Mr Whisper and the devil don’t really feel suited to a Batman story and while this aspect of the character has been explored further since, here it just feels a little bit too far-fetched to be a story featuring Batman. However, after reading this story a few times since, I have become far more neutral (not strictly against) to those aspects of the story, mainly because I’ve realised that a Batman story can be far broader than your average story. Gothic, along with the other Batman stories by Morrison, do take a lot of risks and on most occasions, that can work in his favour. This story here is very similar to Morrison’s The Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries, as they both take a lot of risks in storytelling which I personally don’t think pay off. I’m also not a fan of when Batman spends a substantial part of the story in Austria. Sure, it adds detail and much needed background to the story, but I’ve never been a fan of Batman being out of Gotham for one of his own stories, mainly because he pledges to protect Gotham. I wouldn’t mind it if it was with the Justice League, but on his own, I don’t think it works particularly well, but it doesn’t bother me that much. Apart from that, I think the pacing of the story towards the end could have been slightly better, since part four feels jammed with background information and revelations, while the concluding part is simply a long drawn out fight scene. Also looking back, I didn’t really see the intended purpose of Bruce’s dreams about his father. Sure, it makes a link back to his school days, but in terms of the overall story, it doesn’t really add anything.
I want to say that the artwork fits the mood of the story and Morrison’s gritty storytelling and it does, but to me, the art is just trash. I think of Klaus Janson as an inker of artists like Gil Kane and most famously Frank Miller and while I’m not a huge fan of his inks anyway, his pencils and inks together are just awful. Some panel and pages look incredibly confusing and overly complicated, with dozens of tiny lines being planted everywhere. In fact, that’s one recurring element of both Janson’s inks over himself and anybody else. When a background may not look right, he will just cover it in tiny unorganised lines which end up looking disgusting, reminding me of Bill Sienkiewicz, another artist I’m not a fan of. With Janson, people often look deformed and while some page layouts look interesting and dramatic, I often question if Janson had the ability to draw them. I’ll certainly gave the art the merit that it fits the tone of the story, but in terms of everything else, its horrible.
VERDICT
Overall, Batman: Gothic is… a mixed story? A good one? An intriguing one? Its difficult. I actually find it quite hard to rate this one, mainly because my views on it change quite often. Two years ago, I would have told you that I didn’t like and in two years from now, I might possibly tell you that its great. This story certainly isn’t afraid to experiment, and it shows that Morrison is a great risk-taker when writing these stories. It features a great characterisation of the Dark Knight along with a compelling detective story with a good villain. However, not all the risks involving the supernatural necessarily pay off, yet, there are some great ideas in there. But I have to say that I enjoyed the story and that’s what matters in the end, right? Shame the art is sh*t.
Story: 7/10
Art: 2/10
Next Week: Superman: Red Son (Superman: Red Son 1-3). Written by Mark Millar with art by Dave Johnson, Andrew Robinson, Kilian Plunkett and Walden Wong. Expected by 31/05/2020.
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