Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty

Batman

by Mike W. Barr, Scott Hampton (Illustrator), Gary Frank (Illustrator)

Three heroes, centuries apart, pick up the mantle of the Dark Knight to battle the immortal menace of Vandal Savage. This sweeping epic moves from the 14th century to the far future in three distinctively illustrated chapters.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Dc Comics, Fantasy, Superheroes, Fiction

124 pages, Hardcover

First published January 23, 1998

About the author

Mike W. Barr is an American writer of comic books, and mystery, and science fiction novels. Barr's debut as a comics professional came in DC Comics' Detective Comics #444 (Dec. 1974-Jan. 1975), for which he wrote an 8-page back-up mystery feature starring the Elongated Man. Another Elongated Man story followed in Detective Comics #453 (November 1975). He wrote text articles and editorial replies in letter columns for the next few years. By mid-1980 he was writing regularly for both DC and Marvel, including stories for Marvel Team-Up, Mystery in Space, Green Lantern, and various Batman titles.

Legion of Super-Heroes #277 (July 1981) saw him take on editorial duties at DC, while writing issues of DC's Star Trek comic, for whom he created the native American character Ensign Bearclaw and a pacifist Klingon named Konom. In December 1982, he and artist Brian Bolland began Camelot 3000, a 12 issue limited series that was one of DC Comics' first direct market projects. In August 1983, Barr created what may well be his most enduring work, the monthly title Batman and the Outsiders with art by Jim Aparo. Barr wrote every issue of the original series, and its Baxter paper spinoff, The Outsiders.

His other comics work includes Mantra and Maze Agency as well as the 1987 OGN hardcover book Batman: Son of the Demon (with art by Jerry Bingham), proceeds from which reputedly "restored DC Comics to first place in sales after fifteen years." This title, and Barr's work on Batman with artist Alan Davis have been cited by Grant Morrison as key inspirations for his recent (2006) run on the Batman title.

In 2007, he wrote a two-part story for the pages of DC's JLA: Classified (#47-48, Jan-Feb 2008), returned to the Outsiders with Outsiders: Five of a Kind—Katana/Shazam #1 (Oct 2007), contributed to Tokyopop's Star Trek: The Manga, and relaunched Maze Agency at IDW Publishing. He has also scripted many of Bongo Comics' Simpsons titles, including a Christmas story for 2010.

In May 2010, the Invisible College Press published Barr's science fiction/fantasy novel, Majician/51, about the discoveries of a scientist working at Area 51.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a Mike Barr Batman book, Dark Knight Dynasty surprisingly isn’t bad!

It’s an Elseworlds story (non-canon, What If…?-type tales) split into three parts: Dark Past/Present/Future. The quality is quite high to begin with but unfortunately gets worse as the book goes on.

Dark Past is the best story. Set in 13th century England, Knight Templar and ancestor of Bruce Wayne, Joshua of Wainwright, is lured to a cursed castle by the ghost of his dead (or is she?) wife to battle the evil sorcerer, Vandal Savage - in a medieval Batman outfit of course!

The story is exciting by turns as Batman infiltrates Vandal’s fortress and fights through his monster army. The fantasy element works quite well with Batman - I’ve noticed that Batman stories set in the past tend to work while the ones set in the future don’t. Scott Hampton’s painted art is pretty decent and a nice change of pace from how Batman comics usually look, if a bit static-looking (like most painted art). This observation is neither here nor there but his Batman helmet design looks like it heavily influenced the Batman helmet in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman movie.

Dark Present is about Bruce Wayne’s dad (this is an Elseworlds alternate-timeline remember) creating a space-laser to destroy a meteor hurtling towards Earth. Shit goes down and directionless Bruce is thrown into the role of masked avenging vigilante!

The story is very silly but likeable for being so. The problem is that it’s very rushed. Suddenly Bruce decides to come up with a Bat-costume and somehow instantly knows how to be Batman?! And then the finale - no, it definitely needed more pages to fully flesh-out. Kudos to Barr for his imaginative, ambitious story but it hangs together poorly. Gary Frank and Cam Smith’s art though is very good.

Dark Future rounds out the book and it’s easily the worst part. Set in the 26th century, mankind has for some reason chosen to give apes the ability to speak and think and they’re now a part of our society! Batwoman takes on Vandal Savage and a meteor’s involved again.

We finally find out Vandal Savage’s goal that he’s been pursuing this entire time and it’s pretty damn flimsy and underwhelming. It also doesn’t really explain his motivation for specifically killing descendants of the Wayne family. I’m not much of a fan of Scott McDaniel and Bill Sienkiewicz’s scratchy, busy artwork though it appropriately complements Barr’s messy plot. Ape Robin was kinda cool, I suppose.

It has its moments, particularly at the start, but Dark Knight Dynasty is just a so-so Batman/Elseworlds book - nothing anyone except fans needing a Batman fix should bother checking out.

[Ill D · Rating 1 out of 5]

Batman Dynasties is actually 3 dynasties in one. From the Crusaders though the Modern Era all the way to the post-apocalyptic era of 2500, each section is punctuated with its own time-appropriate take on our beloved Wayne. With its present, past and future embodied in our current expectations, ancestral predecessor, and futuristic great-granddaughter (x7) three dynasties of inevitable convolution illustrate each and every page.

As repetitive as the series is there is nothing really cool or important for its internal arc to surprisingly coalesce around. Besides our Batman (in one male or female way or another) the enemy of du jour is Vandal Savage (sometimes with daughter in tote). Playing host to schemes that range from between the mystic and the scientific, the cosmic rules over all here. Yet, for all the minding warping promises within, little ends up explained nor expounded upon in a matter than could make the least bit of sense. Not that I’m expecting something brilliant from a comic, but there was some serious thematic promise to connect it all. Ultimately, just jazzed up conflicts of the never ending ouroboros between yin and yang are the results here.

I found few positives here and I’m sure you’ll agree with me too.

[cloverina · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
I get what the goal was, but it was honestly just boring. Normally the addition of Batman to anything gets me a lot more excited, but truthfully, this isn't much of a Batman story. It could be written about any JLA superhero to the same effect. The only thing worth mentioning here is Scott Hampton's art in the first story, "Dark Past." It's reminiscent of artists like Alex Ross and Dave McKean, (although much more comprehensible than McKean's work) and I thought it was not only great but fit very well for the first story. Sadly, the art only gets worse as the story progresses. The second story has art that I didn't mind, but don't prefer. The third had art that's not bad, but it's a lot less detailed than the previous two, when I feel details are most important. It's set in the future so there are many new ideas of the future, but it's hard to tell what's going on because there's no clarity to any of it. Also, how did a whole batcave with gear, batsuits, and a Robin costume appear for all of them? None of them even lived long enough for this to be built, much less for a Robin to appear. And the back cover mentions a Catwoman, was I just really not invested in this or does anybody else not have a clue which Catwoman it's referring to? Overall it's just a very forgettable elseworlds adventure that you should probably skip, because it won't contribute anything to your day, night, or life.

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty is a graphic novel published by DC Comics under the Elseworlds banner. The story follows a feud between the Wayne family and the immortal Vandal Savage, a feud which starts in the 13th century and ends in the 24th Century.

The story is split into three parts: Dark Past, Dark Present, and Dark Future.

Sir Joshua Wainwright, a crusader for the Knights Templar in the year 1222, battles the evil Vandal Savage, who steals a shipment of gold and tries to bring a mysterious meteor crashing to Earth. Savage, an immortal, gained his immortality from the meteor is trying to bring it back so he may gain even more power. After stopping Savage in this time period by hurling him into the sphere he was using to draw the meteor to Earth, Joshua swears an oath that he and his family will now and forevermore be sworn enemies of Savage and will prevent his mad schemes to protect the future.

Bruce Wayne, the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne in the 20th Century, is shaken as his parents are killed on his wedding day – the gunman who would have killed them beforehand was scared away by Valentin Sinclair, Vandal Savage's modern alias. Discovering that they were murdered after analyzing camera footage of the deaths, but unwilling to risk his wife's life by investigating himself, Bruce, influenced by a painting of his ancestor Joshua Wainwright, creates a costume bearing a bat emblem and becomes the Dark Knight, the Batman, in order to avenge his parents' death dying in the process. Fortunately, Bruce's new wife, Julie, is left widowed and pregnant with his child.

In the year 2500, humanity now lives side-by-side with intelligent apes, and a vast floating city – New Gotham. Wayne Enterprises Vice-President Brenna Wayne, having discovered evidence of an elaborate conspiracy against her family on a disk recorded by Alfred in the last few pages of the last story – thirteen generations of Waynes have all died young in a violent manner after spending their last few days dressed in a bat-like costume – takes up the mantle of Batwoman and faces off against Vandal Savage in one final battle, which she survives.

Mike W. Barr penned the entire trade paperback. For the most part, it was written moderately well. Barr tires to pen an epic story about Vandal Savage and his vendetta against the Wayne Family throughout time. A piece of a meteor made Vandal Savage an immortal and since then he has tried to get his hands on the meteor to gain more power, but is stopped by a Wayne in three timelines Joshua Wainwright, Bruce Wayne, and Brenna Wayne, who took the mantle of the Bat to stop him each time.

Scott Hampton (Dark Past), Gary Frank (Dark Present), and Scott McDaniel (Dark Future) penciled the trade paperback. For the most part the pencilers are rather distinct with each other, which made the artistic flow rather abrupt. However, the change in pencilers wasn't too bad as each penciler took a certain part of the story and had a logical pause.

All in all, Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty is a moderately written and constructed Elseworld story depicting the generational feud between Vandal Savage and the Waynes, who has stopped him at every turn.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was amusing, fresh, and interesting!

[Adam Šilhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jsem asi smířlivější, protože se mi líbila malba v prvním příběhu. A vlastně i ten příběh byl nejméně debilní.

[Gabriell Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

DiCKK zážitek, který fyzicky bolel.
Máme tu tři "What If" příběhy, kdy sledujeme Batmana v různých časových obdobích, od různých autorů a různých kreslířů. A v každém historickém období škodí Vandal Savage.
O poznání víc škodí i fakt, že ty příběhy jsou dost špatné a nezajímavé. Jediné, co mě aspoň trošku zaujalo byl středověký Batman a i tam musím říct, že to byla spíš kresba, co mě bavilo než příběh samotný.
Bohužel DiCKKa bylo potřeba něčím naplnit, aby byl obrázek na hřbetu dostatečně dlouhý.

Mohlo by se vám líbit, pokud:
- vám ke štěstí stačí doslova jakýkoliv příběh s Batmanem

Spíš vás zklame, pokud:
- hledáte kvalitní příběh
- hledáte kvalitního cokoliv

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

An Elseworlds story telling the tales of three different generations of the Wayne family; in the 13th Century, the present day and the future of the 26th Century. In each time period a member of the family, wearing the mantle of the Bat, attempts to thwart the plans of the immortal Vandal Savage.

This book's biggest problem is that it didn't pick one of the featured timeframes and tell a more developed story in it.
There's the Templar Knight version of Batman or the alternate present day Bruce Wayne whose parents are alive but worried about his lack of focus. Personally, my favourite was the Batwoman of 2500AD, who wears high-tech armour and has a genetically enhanced ape sidekick in the Robin outfit.
Any one of these could've made for an intriguing Elseworlds take on Batman but, by splitting the book into thirds between them, none of them actually get chance to really develop their potential.

This failure to capitalise on some genuinely interesting ideas spoiled the whole book for me. Well, that and the fact that the generations-long feud with Vandal Savage doesn't actually have any sort of resolution at the end.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elseworlds are among my favorite lines of old DC: different takes on known heroes, fitting themes that could not be squeezed in modern superhero tales and just about every wacky idea any talented writer or artist had about the DC roster.

This one is no different, though it is quite imbalanced, with the first, medieval story being the best, the second, modern one being OK, and the last, post-apocalyptic one being sub-par.

More than anything, what this volume lacks is any actual explanations concerning its premise mystery: the quest of Vandal Savage. Since there had already been a couple of origins for Vandal, they could just make one that fit that narrative and round off the series in an elegant way.

Fun read, but hardly unmissable.

[Jonn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great Elseworld Batman story, it gives a new look and meaning to a great villain such as the immortal Valdal Savage. Changing the artist in each number gives a unique look to each book. I would recommend this in a heartbeat although I would have loved to read more about Joshua of Wainwright.

It would definitely be nice to know more of that Bat legacy; if it weren't because of the bat that crashed into a window, why do the Waynes have such a fixation on bats? More than a millennium of Bat-Waynes. I think only Mike W. Barr would know.

[Gustavo · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿Un Batman templario, el Batman de siempre (pero con sus padres vivos y recientemente casado y ¿Feliz?), y una Batman del futuro con un Robin que es un mono que habla? Suena un poco ridiculo, pero en el contexto de varias gfeneraciones de una dinastía, enfrentandose a un enemigo formidable e inmortal, sorprendentemente funciona. Cada historia tiene su estilo gráfico propio, lo cual es bastante interesante y, otra vez: funciona. Probablemente no sea una de las mejores historias de Batman, pero si que fue memorable.

[Will Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of the Wayne family fighting Vandal Savage through the ages is a fun read...at first. I actually liked the art style changing as time shifted forward to the next surviving generation, but the story got repetitive very quickly. You can only give Batman a fiery demise so many times before it starts to get boring. I wouldn't go to all the trouble to seek this one out.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun Elseworlds set of tales featuring the Dark Knight. And Vandal Savage as his normal, twisted self.

[Ondra Král · Rating 1 out of 5]

Velký špatný. Banální zápletky, idiotský záporák téměř bez motivace, ošklivá a nepřehledná kresba v poslední části. Konec měl všechno spojit, ale nepovedlo se.

[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Resultó un Batelseworld bastante entretenido, en especial el primer issue ilustrado por Scott Hampton, con el caballero de las cruzadas. Está dentro de los elseworlds aceptables

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one contains three stories, one in the past, one in the present and one in the future and it's part of the Elseworlds tales. The first story is superb but the other two...not so much.

[Diego Eis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Li a versão brasileira pela Eaglemoss Collections.
Muito, muito, muito boa. A primeira parte falando do Joshua, me lembrou muito Conan e outras histórias de fantasia

[Rick Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

as per my usual, I'll start with the art. There are 3 different artists whose work is included inside and an additional one on the cover. The one one on the cover, Brom, is from right down the road from where I grew up. Brom has the painted art style that I don't think really fits superhero comics. There Have been some good painted covers through the years, but most of those were painted by Alex Ross. The style isn't necessarily bad. I just don't want to see that in a Batman comic. The same goes for Scott Hampton's painted art in story #1. Story #2 drawn by Gary Frank had the best art of the book. It isn't up to my normal standards of comic art, but is by far the best of these three. Scott McDaniel & Bill Sienkiewicz provide the art for the last story. This art reminds me of the stuff that came out in late 70's and early 80's for some reason. It is definitely not up to par with the great artists of the past 20 years. Overall I'd give the art 2.5 stars.

All 3 of the stories were written by Mike W. Barr. The writing isn't great, but it does a good job of linking all 3 stories together by using one of the often overlooked DC villains, Vandal Savage. Seeing Savage in the comic was by far the coolest thing about the book. The story would not have worked at all without him. This was good for an Elseworlds story, but unless you are an absolute die hard Batman fanatic, there is no need to read this. Writing gets 2 1/2 stars as well.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating would be a 2.5.

I have not had much contact with Elseworlds and truth be told, I didn't really pay attention to the fact that this was Elseworlds when I bought it. Or rather, traded in a bunch of crap I didn't want and used my store credit on this.

"Dark Past":
I hated this art. I almost always hate this style of art. I dislike the lack of linear lines and details, the abuse of shadowing and the overall blah-ness of it all. This is one of those times that I am glad that the entire graphic is not done by one artist, as I don't think that I would have been able to finish it. The writing was ok, but the story-line was pretty boring.

"Dark Present":
Much better art work. Not the best ever, but more to my liking. The overall story in this one wasn't terrible but again, not a favorite Bat-story.

"Dark Future":
Ok, this was a jumbled mess with some nice panels of art but for the most part, it wasn't much better than the first story in terms of art. The writing didn't feel like the other two comics either. It was hard to follow who was saying what and there was just an over-load of dialogue in this last tale. And really... monkey Robin?

Not the best choice that I have ever made when trading in books but at least I can say that I read it and experienced a bit of Elseworlds.

[Martin Štefko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kniha "DC komiksový komplet 66: Batman - Dynastie Temného rytíře" je pro mě promarněným potenciál, který sám o sobě ale měl nejistou pozici. Tohle prostě nejsou příběhy, které by mohly být skutečně výstavní. Alespoň se to tak tváří. Batman ve středověku, Batman v současnosti a Batman v budoucnosti nejsou Batmani, o nichž byste chtěli více číst. Vlastně to ani není něco, co by mělo jakkoli zajímavě rozšířit batmanovský mýtus. Prostě je to něco, co jelo vedle, autor si to zkusil, a naštěstí to s tímhle skončilo. A my jsme se ještě dověděli o záporákovi, který je snad nesmrtelný, ale v Barrově podání tak nezajímavý, že není moc o co stát. Vandal Savage patří do zlatého věku a tam mohl možná zůstat. V knize "DC komiksový komplet 66: Batman - Dynastie Temného rytíře" pak ještě najdete bonusový příběh právě s Vandalem Savagem, ale díky jeho stáří ("The Flash 137" z roku 1963) můžete počítat s tím, že to bude naivně přihlouplé. Popravdě, zas v tak velkém kontrastu s hlavním příběhem to není.

[Nicholas Grugin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This trade was ok. It has essentially three stories with a central plot thread "Vandal Savage wants to get ahold of the meteor that gave him his immortality"

The art and story for "Dark Past" is great and a treat to read, the "Dark Present" story is a little more lacking but the art-style, though different, is still pretty good...really this trade just fails in the "Dark Future" story.

The Dark Future story in the trade just tries soo hard to be Miller's DKR, and just doesn't deliver. The art-style in this story looks like Frank Miller's DKR style with even less coherence, and the story just feels all over the place.

This trade is worth a library checkout maybe but, if it's in your "bought backlog", read it, and then sell it back

[Andrew Ives · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains three stories, set a few hundred years apart - Dark Past, Dark Present, Dark Future - which have a common strand running through them. The first has pretty good art, kind of watercoloured but a crazy historical story about Knights Templar which isn't very 'Batmanny'. The middle story has better artwork and was more like a normal Batman episode, only with a crazy ending in space. The last was, for me, the worst - horrible scratchy art, and whilst imaginitive, the story was too crazy for my taste. A mixed bag, ranging from mediocre to bad, albeit in a glossy well-printed, nicely-bound book.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up in a half-price bin while I was at Wiscon. Fantastic art and an interesting rewrite of the Batman legend in a style that I almost found Whedonverse Slayer-esque. The final book in the sequence is particularly compelling, with its female lead, but the historical feel of the first is also impressive. A great book for enjoying Batman without keeping up with the worlds of continuity.

[Vivek · Rating 1 out of 5]

An interesting idea (having the mantle of the Dark Knight passed on generationally through the Wayne family) that fails miserably. None of the characters are developed any where close to enough, and the plot suffers from similar lack of effort. The art work's not bad, but not nearly enough to save it. Disappointing.

[Earl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Credit my biases.

-Could Batman have passed something down the line, considering his crimefighting career?

-There's only one immortal rival that Batman has: R'as al-Ghul. No one's going to take the old man's place.

-The ending was too brief and light, I think.

[Centauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

the whole issue seemed rushed and not fully though out. I enjoyed the concept that vandal savage had been a presence with the wayne lineage from the beginning but it could have been a much longer story arc which would have done both characters justice. just was not an enjoyable read for me

[Batsap · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice idea, but kind of boring in the realisation. It just felt flat when compared to some of the amazing Batman books there are out there.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not good. Concepts had so much potential but let down by the story.

[Kitap · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre storyline and artwork in all three stories.

[Tim]

I love me some immortal Vandal Savage.