Summary: <br><br> I revisit the first graphic novel I read, “The Untold Legend of the Batman” as well as Len Wein’s other later Batman work including Batman meets Grizzly Adams (sort of).<br> Affiliate link included.<br> Transcript below:<br> Graham: We take a look at the first graphic novel I ever read and a few more of Len Wein’s Batman tales as we conclude our look at Tales of the Batman: Len Wein. Straight ahead.<br><br> <br> [Into Music]<br> Announcer: Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham. <br> Graham: Concurrently with Wein’s run on Batman the last three months, there was a mini-series released called Untold Legends of the Batman. It was actually only the second mini-series that D.C. Comics had created. The first was 1979’s mini-series, World of Krypton. This Untold Legends of the Batman, kind of serve to really cement what Batman’s origin story had been because there has been a lot of conflicting tales, imaginary tales. There was information in various books and this becomes kind of a definitive Batman origin story which takes existing information on what had happened with Batman and also goes ahead and adds in a new information, new little spins and touches on Batman’s origin story and right there, Untold Legends of the Batman became the definitive Batman origin story for about six years until Crisis on Infinite Earths but for a while it was and it’s actually a pretty good story. It was the first graphic novel that I ever picked up. I got it from a thrift store, must have done it was because the edition I read was from 1982 and it was published in a pocket paperback format in black and white. When I read it, I liked it but I was a bit confused because the only Batman I had ever experienced was the 1960’s Batman T.V. series with Adam West. So, this seemed kind of rough edged. Reading it as an adult, it’s not really that problematic. Batman is rough-edged, but there’s a reason for that that’s revealed as the story goes on. Of course, Batman’s origin story isn’t told directly. It’s actually told through a framing device that there had been some strange attacks on Batman. His father’s Batman costume, his father was the first Batman in this origin story, wearing it as a costume for a party, it’s destroyed and there are other strange goings on leading up to the destruction of the Bat-mobile at the end of Issue 2 and the story follows Batman as he tries to find who’s behind this and keeps running into moments where people are recalling parts of his origin, of his relationship with Robin and Commissioner Gordon and I think that this is actually a really solid origin story. It’s a shame that it was wiped from continuity but it’s still a good read for fans who want to have a handle on the way Batman was pre-crisis or just want to read a really good Batman story. This holds up and is as good if not better than when I remember reading it is a kid.<br> As a recent writer on Batman, Wein wrote a backup story for Detective Comics #500, which much like the Action Comics #1000 that we reviewed a few weeks ago, was a baby anniversary issue with a lot of stories. Wein got a two-page story where he decided to tell the classic, it was a dark and stormy night tale in the narration with the pictures telling a Batman story. It was one of those things OK. It’s not the greatest thing in the world but I guess it’s an interesting little story.<br> Then we have a guest story from Action Comics [Detective Comics] #514, Haven, in which Batman is chasing the gangster Maxie Zeus, who thinks he’s a greek god through some tough terrain on winter road and both Zeus and the Bat-mobile crash and Batman is rescued by a bearded mountain man who is friends with the animals. Reading the story, this character Haven,
