Book Review: Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight 100-Page Super Spectacular #3

Book: Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight 100 page Super Spectacular #3 cover art by Jason Shawn Alexander

(This book can also be found in the trade edition Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight volume #4)

Edition: Print

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I enjoyed reading this, there are four very different yet interesting stories in this book. Although these stories were dark and sometimes grime, the third story Elements of Crime had a bit of humor injected into it.


Story #1: "The Beautiful Ugly" by Derek Fridolfs and Kenneth Elliott Jones, illustrations by Jason Shawn Alexander, colors by Sherard Jackson and letters by Deron Bennett

This story is three parts chaos with one part heartbreak with Gotham City in chaos over the latest incident of someone gassing subway stations. In the middle of all that, Two-Face has taken it upon himself to bring to "trial" a thief who he would have gotten convicted when he was still District Attorney Harvey Dent. This is a story that will leave you wondering if people really can change. However, what about the crimes they once committed in the past, how should they and their crimes be dealt with?



Story #2: "Break the Mold” by Shane Davis and Brandon Montclare, illustrations by Shane Davis, inks by Sandra Hope with Michelle Delecki (on one page), colors by Wendy Broome and letters by Saida Temofonte

Time seems to be running out for Batman as he tries to track down Clayface but are things what they appear to be in this story. I noticed that as Batman goes from one lead to another his tactics and approach became more violent. It didn't really seem like his usual style which is why I found the twist to this story be very interesting.



Story #3: "Elements of Crime” by Mike W. Barr, illustrations by Tom Lyle, colors by Sebastien Lamirand and letters by Saida Temofonte

Batman and Robin (Tim Drake) go up against their newest villain, Element Queen and she's way more deadlier than their old foe Element King. As the dynamic duo try to stop the new villain can they piece together her plan before it's too late.

This story had the feel of the old 1960s Batman TV series with the way Batman and Robin were written but with a more intense yet at times humorous story.   



Story #4: "The Echo of Pearls” by Jim Krueger, illustrations by Tom Raney, color by Wendy Broome and letters by Saida Temofonte

Okay this last story, is told from a very different and unique point of view, believe it or not it's told from the cave that would eventually become the Bat Cave. Yeah, I know but stay with me, the story begins with Bruce as a child falling threw a hole into a cave. At that moment the cave seemed to have come alive as it saw both the excitement and curiosity that Bruce expressed.

He was in awe of his new discovery unfortunately his experience was cut short with him leaving which left the cave with the distinct feeling of being disappointed by his departure. Bruce did return, however, his second visit to the cave was not a happy occasion, it was right after his parents were murdered. The traumatic experience coupled with the cave setting put into place for Bruce to one day become the person who will protect Gotham City. But that wasn't the end of the cave's involvement, it gave Bruce that one last push which helped him find a symbol and image important to his cause.

You would think this would be a strange read but the cave narrating the story surprisingly worked well.


I like reading these Legend of The Dark Knight 100-Page Super Spectaculars because you get a wide range of stories that expand the Batman universe that don't necessary fit into the main continuity.