Loeb instead uses these villains to show us the flawed and tortured soul of Batman himself. The story is written to the tune of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol.Īlthough these stories feature some really well-drawn villains they are hardly the focal point. Haunted Knight: Ghosts features our first canon look of Poison Ivy (who is drawn wonderfully by Sale) and a supplementary appearance by the Joker. He has kidnapped several children to participate in his twisted fantasy. Mad Hatter is a villain who has convinced himself he is the Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Barbara is the daughter of Jim Gordon and we see how he struggles with raising a child in a harsh environment like Gotham. Haunted Knight: Madness introduces us to two major characters: Barbara Gordon and the Mad Hatter. Bruce Wayne also meets a woman in these issues and struggles with the choices he has to make between his desires and his goals. Both intend to instill fear into the souls of their victims but one does so for bad and the other for good.
We are given a proper introduction to Jonathan Crane and we learn of the similarities that he has with the man, Batman, himself. Haunted Knight: Fear is the longest (and best) story of the three. Batman, Alfred, Jim Gordon, his daughter Barbara, Scarecrow, and the Mad Hatter make significant appearances throughout these issues. The story takes place in Gotham City during the first three Halloweens of Batman’s crime fighting career. That being said, certain elements should be taken lightly… for instance, Two-Face is mentioned but is still Harvey Dent within the canon. Haunted Knight isn’t often considered to be canon but I personally feel that it works as the perfect introduction to the villains who make their first appearances (according to this chronology). Sale is a genius at work and you really need to see his work to fully appreciate what he has done in these issues. Gotham and Wayne Manor are sinister and eery at times. His villains are drawn colourful in personality and character but designed with enough darkness to capture their evil nature.
Batman is drawn exactly how he should be. The drawings are dark, detailed, realistic and complimented very well by colourist Gregory Wright. Tim Sale is a phenomenal illustrator and his style seems to blend perfectly with the themes and tales that Loeb tells. This collection truly broke the trend of the ‘Legends’ titles having poor to mediocre artwork. Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale in 1996, Haunted Knight contains three self-contained stories (Fear, Madness, and Ghosts) originally printed as Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #1-3. As we continue to work through The Ultimate Batman Chronology, this week I will be reviewing Batman: Haunted Knight.
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