ALLYSON'S ATTIC


/\ /\ /\ /\ Splash Page from Green Lantern #55 Pencils Doug Mahnke /\ /\ /\

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

BATMAN: THE DESTROYER: Batman 474 Legends of the Dark Knight 27 Detective 641


RATING 3.5 out 5

I was doing a little research into Solomon Wayne, and pulled these three issues out of my boxes.  Some interesting points are in these issues to be made about Solomon Wayne AND the buildings of Gotham City, so I decided to share my findings.  They were written by Alan Grant and Dennis O'Nell, who made a entertaining and interesting story.

Grant Morrison may have gotten the ideal for the panels on the right from these issues. These panels are part of the RIP storyline where Batman fights the devil.
Batman 679 (Batman/Zur-en-arrh hallucinating and seeing Gotham City as a grid that created Batman, the talking gargoyles were a nice touch)



This is not a review as munch pointing out some interesting points in the story.

There are SPOILERS for the story "The Destroyer"

PART 1: Batman 474: Title: A Tale of Two Cities
This first issue is setup for the rest of the story, with Batman's, Bruce Wayne's, detective work on what is happening.

After solving the crime of a Art forgery, Batman finds the answers to another crime in which someone is expertly demolishing whole buildings.  He sees that the old architecture of older buildings are revealed after the more modern yet run down buildings are demolished. He comes to the improbable conclusion that the crime was being done for Art.

Looking at the background of the overs you can see some of the architecture that was revealed.


Batman goes to the Wayne Foundation to look up the architectural histories that are too old to be in any computer records. 


PART  2: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 27: Title: Solomon
This issue is where most of the background information on Solomon and the buildings of Gotham is contained.

At the Wayne Foundation, Batman finds files that show the beginnings of  Gotham into a City, back during the Civil War Era.

Batman says;
"Judge Solomon Z Wayne, my great great grandfather...with a Harvard degree, and appointment of the judgeship and a reputation for cussedness."

Judge Solomon Wayne carried a Law book in one hand and a Bible in another. See the page below, and you can get a taste of  Solomon's nature.

Solomon was a true ...Bible Thumper... and a Whumper.
Solomon said,  "The bible and the Laws of the land--Between them, they leave no problem unsolved."  

Solomon  meets Cyrus Pinkney, the guy in glasses.  Cyrus is a architect and Solomon asks him about his sketches.  After seeing the sketches, Solomon sees them as his life's calling to bring Gotham up to parallel other great cities.

Solomon  makes a speech to the property holder's association;
"For what is a city, gentlemen? A Sanctuary! A stronghold! A fortress! A bulwark against the godlessness of the wilds..."

Most of others who looked at the sketches saw the architecture as ugly, and once it was built, the world agreed that they were ugly.


After returning to the Batcave, Bruce uses the Bat-computer to access private military records, while commenting that "Solomon Wayne would have me Hung" for doing something illegal.
Batman finds a ex- navy seal, Andre Sinclair, to be the likely suspect.

This issue shows Andre Sinclair looking at a modern building.   Captions  read; "Evil. A Devil's Building,"  because it is blocking one of Pinkney's designs.

Bruce visits Dean Freeberg of the Gotham State institute of Architecture and asks him about Sinclair.
Dean Freeberg said, "...he had some kind of mystical experience while he was with the military in asia. Says he realized that, the buildings, are what keep the demons at bay..."


There is an extra chapter in the back of part 2:Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 27:
Handcarts and Hellholes: A Brief History of Gotham City by Dennis O'Nell.
This mentions that Judge Solomon Zebediah Wayne started a dozen businesses including Gotham Buggy Whip Works. He became Gotham's leading citizen and its most Prosperous, and died at 104 years old.


He writes to a uncle in Boston,  "...Indeed, at times I feel that Evil seeps into our precincts from the areas of Godless Nature which surround us, That the Dark One rides the winds that waft through our lanes from the corruption of the woodlands, depositing lodes of Malice in our eaves and crannies."

On his death bed Solomon said, "I wished to lock evil out of men's neighborhoods and hearts. I fear that instead I have given it the means to be locked in."



 Part 3: Detective 641: Title: A Dream Is Forever

The building that Sinclair was looking at was the Gotham Police Department. It is not a abandoned building like the others that were demolished.  It is packed with people. Who can save the day?!

Anyway... back to Pinkney.
Sinclair finds Pinkney's original notes.
Sinclair says;
"Pinkney was inspired by his religious beliefs. He saw Gotham as a organic whole-- Almost as a living being that would itself fight against Evil" 


 Below is the splash page at the end of the issue.
The captions read:
Cyrus Pinkney's Gotham... Gargolyes to frighten people onto the path of righteousness.  Rounded Edges to Confuse the malevolent beings. Thick walls to lock in virtue.




BATMAN : THE DESTROYER
I don't believe that these are collected  in a TPB, as yet.


Part 1: Batman 474: Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Script: Alan Grant
Art:Norm Breyfogle
Colors:Adriene Roy
Leters: Todd Klein
Editor: Dennis O'Neal
Published: Feb 1992

Part 2: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 27: Title: Solomon
Writer: Denny O'Neil
Pencils: Chris Sprouse
Inks: Bruce Patterson
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Steve Oliff
Editor: Archie Goodwin
Pinkey Buildings Design: Anton Furst
Published: Feb 1992

Part 3: Detective 641: Title: A Dream Is Forever
Writter: Alan Grant
Pencils: Jim Aparo
Inks: Mike Decarlo
Colors: Adrienne Roy
Letters: John Costanza
Editor: Dennis O'Nell
Published: Feb 1992


Publisher: DC Comics

12 comments:

  1. The whole point was to incorporate Anton Furst's designs for Gotham from the Tim Burton films into the comic book in an interesting way - before that, Gotham always had a generic skyline. Now if only Grant Morrison could explain his ideas in a way that doesn't feel like a DVD easter egg...

    ReplyDelete
  2. My spouse and I stumbled over here by a different web address
    and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I
    see so now i am following you. Look forward to going over your web page again.


    Here is my weblog ... fake ray ban sunglasses

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but great
    topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more.

    Thanks for fantastic information I was looking for this information for my mission.



    Also visit my blog; Louis Vuitton Bags

    ReplyDelete
  4. fantastic points altogether, you just received a emblem new reader.
    What might you recommend in regards to your post that you
    simply made a few days in the past? Any sure?

    Also visit my weblog Cheap Nike Jerseys

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good article. I will be experiencing a few of these issues as well.
    .

    My blog: http://www.wheelhousebikes.com/airmax.cfm

    ReplyDelete
  6. Remarkable things here. I am very glad to peer your article.
    Thanks so much and I'm looking ahead to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?

    my blog; NFL Jerseys Cheap

    ReplyDelete
  7. Excellent article. I will be experiencing many of these issues as well.
    .

    Also visit my weblog - gucci ufficiale

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good day! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be okay. I'm undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.



    Also visit my blog post ... Converse Pas Cher

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent post. I certainly appreciate this website. Thanks!


    Here is my weblog - Abercrombie & Fitch

    ReplyDelete
  10. I absolutely love your website.. Very nice colors
    & theme. Did you build this website yourself? Please reply back as I'm wanting to create my own personal website and want to find out where you got this from or just what the theme is named. Appreciate it!

    My blog ... Sac Louis Vuitton

    ReplyDelete
  11. Unquestionably imagine that that you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the
    web the simplest thing to understand of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed at the
    same time as folks think about concerns that they just
    don't recognize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top as well as outlined out the whole thing without having side-effects , folks could take a signal. Will likely be again to get more. Thanks

    Have a look at my page ... Louis Vuitton Handbags

    ReplyDelete
  12. What you posted was actually very reasonable. But, what about this?
    what if you composed a catchier title? I am not
    saying your information is not good, however suppose
    you added something to possibly get folk's attention? I mean "BATMAN: THE DESTROYER: Batman 474 Legends of the Dark Knight 27 Detective 641" is a little plain. You might look at Yahoo's home page and watch how they create news headlines to grab viewers to
    open the links. You might add a related video or a picture or two
    to get readers excited about everything've written. In my opinion, it might bring your posts a little bit more interesting.

    Feel free to surf to my weblog: Louis Vuitton Bags

    ReplyDelete