Welcome to the thirty-seventh episode of The Overlooked Dark Knight. The is a non-index index show where the hosts, Andrew Leyland and Michael Bailey, look at Batman comics that rarely, if ever, get talked about. In one episode they will talk about Bat books from the late seventies and early eighties. In another episode they will talk about the animated Adventures titles that DC published in the nineties. Sometimes they talk about whatever strikes their fancy.
Andy and Mike are celebrating Batman’s 80th Birthday for the next year. It’s going to be fun. They are doing this by covering stories outside of their normal mandate.
Not that they have a mandate. But they do. It’s complicated.
This time out Andy and Mike talk about the three part story line Blades, which originally appeared in issues 32-34 of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. They start the episode with a lengthy, but fun conversation about the history and the significance of Legends of the Dark Knight as a series. What was good, what was bad, and why the series was special. Then they get into the James Robinson/Tim Sale story Blades, which is a tragically romantic (or is it romantically tragic) new take on the Cavalier as a character. It features moody art, moody writing, and was a story that Andy and Mike had very few bad things to say about.
There’s also a short tangent about Highlander, where Mike makes the same mistake three times.
Below are the covers and select pages from the stories discussed in this episode.
Andy and Mike want your feedback on this episode so they can read it on an upcoming show! You even have options in how you leave your feedback. The most direct way is to leave a comment right here on the site. You can also send all questions, concerns, fears and trepidations to overlookeddarkknight@gmail.com. Then there’ the Facebook page, where you can also leave a Batman related question for Andy and Mike to answer at the beginning of the show. If you talk about this show on the social medias please include a #overlookeddk so the guys know where to find it.
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Next Time: Another Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight story arc. Andy and Mike take a look at the five part story Grimm.
Another great episode, guys!
I loved your discussion of LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT as it pretty much mirrored my own feelings about the series. The five-issue story arc treatment felt unique and exciting at the time. I think the first five arcs were collected in trade paperbacks relatively soon after they were published. Is this the first time something like that ever happened in the big mainstream comic books?
As I recall, I came into the series with the trade collection of “Venom” and then filled in most of the back issues while collecting the new ones as they came out. I finally stopped around issue #60, but I recall some of my favorite arcs were “Faces” by Matt Wagner, and this storyline “Blades”.
I loved the redesign of the Cavalier in this story, although at the time I didn’t know it was a redesign. I wouldn’t find out there was a pre-existing Cavalier who dated back decades earlier until later. Such a great, visually capturing look. It reminded me of Elwes’ character from THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but with bolder colors, especially that blood red mask. I thought that if this story had gone differently, this Cavalier would’ve been a cool antihero to spin out of this book.
Lastly, I agree with everything you two said about Tim Sale’s art. I always appreciated his style, but weirdly one of my favorite things about him is the way he draws women. I think his Selina Kyle and his Lois Lane are freaking gorgeous and among the best, sexiest depictions of those characters ever.
Keep up the good work, guys!