Legends of the Dark Knight: Alan Davis

I enjoyed this volume. I confess this is my first read of Batman issues from this period, which covers mostly the late 80s. Alan Davis's artwork on the Batman is faithful to the dark knight image of the Batman. His style is close to Don Newton's, which I also liked very much. Davis teamed up with Mike Barr, who is also one of the best Batman writers for the eighties. His entire oeuvre on the Batman is included in this volume: his run on Detective Comics, his Batman graphic novel Full Circle, and an issue from Batman Black and White (it doesn't include his "Outsiders" material). In this volume Batman and his second Robin (Jason Todd) face the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, and the Reaper. And this volume includes what is in my opinion one of the best Batman stories ever written "My Beginning... And My Probable End," where Batman reflects on his crime-fighting career while Robin's life is hanging by a thread. Davis also shows a modern Leslie Thompson. Great story. Also a great volume in this Batman collection.

Wonderful book, but would it have killed them to just include the entire Batman Year 2 story instead of only the first part?!! I realize Davis didn’t draw the other parts, but it’s not like there were too many pages already.

I place the Alan Davies/Mike Barr duo along with that of Brian Bolland/Alan Moore, or Frank Miller/David Mazzuchelli. You know, it just clicks - a great story paired with great artwork.Barr's stories are not only your commom hack and slash hero-type-beats-a-criminal. There is depth, absolute great character interaction when Gotham comes to life in the shape of Gothamites, bar owners and prostitutes.The artwork does it for me too: from facial expressions to body movement and sequencing skills, Davis' art has it all.My gripes:The one star coloring follows what seems to be a trend in Comics industry these days: the use of flashy colors, from only about half a dozen colors' palette!It has been badly redone. There is no more blood in some panels, the bat-signal is distorted in the clouds (when it wasn't) and colors once natural, for instance yellow lamp light, turned into unrealistic blues or greys and what else. Reflected light from lamp posts on characters exist no more (see pictures)."Year Two" is not complete (as expected, I guess), for only 1/3 of the artwork is by Alan Davies and 2/3 by Todd Mcfarlane, so the whole Batman/Joe Chill team up part is missing."Full Circle" is blessedly reprinted just like the original 90's TP.These terrific stories were published in ordinary monthly titles, and such quality arc in a regular series was never to be seen again (IMHO). Despite the lousy job (lazy job?) done in this collection, I look forward to purchasing the second volume, another set of stories to be cherished I'm sure.

I knew before purchasing this there was going to be story parts missing due to Todd McFarlane taking over pencil duties after Part 1 of Year 2. Nonetheless, it's an unfortunate decision by DC and I can't see giving an incomplete story a full 5 stars. DC could easily have retitled this Legends of the Dark Knight Alan Davis & Mike Barr given that he is the writer of every story anyway. Alan Davis does not even pencil the entire Sherlock Holmes tribute story, but that appears in full. Having said that, Year 2 (which I read the remainder of digitally) isn't really all that great... Mike Barr is not my favorite Batman writer, and he tends to be at his worst trying to write consequential stories (see: Son of the Demon *not bad* and Bride of the Demon *yuck*), which is probably why they always got booted from continuity. I had trouble buying Batman's motives in the Demon stories, and I couldn't figure out what he was thinking in Year 2 when he teamed up with Joe Chill and Gotham's underworld in order to take down the Reaper (a Phantasm-like vigilante who kills). I guess he just wasn't enough of a badass at the time. My point is: the first 6 issues in this book, decidedly inconsequential, campy Batman & Robin stories at their funnest, really make this book worthwhile. Perhaps it would have been most sensible to collect these 6 issues on their own in trade paperback, but I'm not going to further fantasize about a would-be graphic novel.But these first 6 stories really are a lot of fun. It's a hell of a lot easier to forgive Mike Barr's contrived plot decisions in comics that are this entertaining. I wasn't familiar with Alan Davis' art before this book and I really couldn't get enough of it. His art style is all his own. For fans looking for a good Jason Todd read prior to A Death in the Family, this is it. Although when the first issues in this book were released Jason's origin story was still a copycat of Dick Grayson's, and so by the time he's in Leslie's care in the 6th story, his past had been retconned and although Barr made light of this, Jason's portrayal in this book is certainly not as he is remembered today (but the flashbacks in Under the Red Hood movie do seem to give young Jason the Barr/Davis treatment). Anyway continuity is always shifting, so who really cares about canon. I maintain this fills a nice gap in collections that don't feature much Jason Todd Robin.Recommended to fans of Morrison's Batman & Son, or Batman & Robin.

Loved the old stories, brought back memories of when I collected the original, I have a greater appreciation of the art work this time around. it seems that some of the dialogue in the issue word balloons were missing don't know if it was me or not.

See other reviews for the track listing before you buy....but, if you are a fan these are his formative years with superb inking by Paul Neary.

A great book by a great artist. A must have for any Batman fan.

The one star rating is in no way a reflection of the brilliant stories collected here.This book was released last October with two entire pages missing. Those versions were supposed to have been recalled. A corrected version -- with the additional pages -- was released in February. I waited until then, placed my order, and guess what? Got the misprinted version. I asked for a replacement. Got one. Guess what? Misprinted version. Still waiting for my refund...If ordering from Canada, do yourself a favor and find another online retailer. Orr just go straight to Amazon.com

This is one of the best Batman runs ever written.I love the Alan Davis art, one of the most talented artists of the comic-book industry.I recommend this book mostly to those who wish to start to read the Batman stories for the first time.

les dessins d'Alan Davis sont classiques mais tres bons, les scenarios n'ont pas encore le niveau des Batman suivants de la fin des annees 90. Cela fait plus 'superheros' que 'film noir'