TL;DR — A comic artist (me) reads the OG Legends of the Dark Knight run, issues 1-100, and writes about each issue on Substack Notes. 

Legends of the Dark Knight #9 has probably the best cover of the “Gothic” miniseries, and it is in this issue that we finally learn what the arc’s supernatural villain, Mr. Whisper, is trying to do.

First things first — why is he targeting the mob?

Even though this plotline launched the mini, it turns out that the mob hits are a bit of a red herring. These killings are a side quest for Mr. Whisper.

We learned last issue that Whisper is actually a medieval monk who sold his soul to the devil for a few hundred years of invulnerability.

When Bruce Wayne was still a child, Whisper was both headmaster of his boarding school as well as a prolific serial killer of children.

The mob took it upon themselves to take Whisper out, mainly to get the heat off the streets and make it easier to do crime again.

They tried killing him several times in a sequence that evokes the fate of the real-life Rasputin. Now, 20 years later, Whisper is killing them for revenge.

But again, this is mainly to tie up a loose end while he puts his true master plan in motion.

We learn about this master plan after Batman falls into Whisper’s trap.

In the classic “villain tells all” monologue, we learn a few things — one, Whisper recognizes Batman as Bruce Wayne, and reveals that Bruce was a target of his 20 years prior (he was saved when Thomas pulled him out of school).

Two, in a mere six hours, Whisper’s invoice with the devil comes due, and he will be sent to hell.

We get into a lot of interesting Morrison-y stuff here about trapping souls in magic cords the length of one’s shadow and the architecture of cathedrals as vessels for souls.

It all connects as we find that the cathedral where the final confrontation will take place was in fact commissioned by Whisper himself centuries prior, and the killing of children was part of a (regrettable, in Whisper’s words) blood rite to prepare the cathedral to catch the souls of Gothamites once Whisper releases preserved plague on the city, killing, uh, everyone.

Insert Gary Oldman gif.

We also get some interesting ruminations from Whisper as he confesses that immortality is actually the pits and he envies Batman’s mortality.

But of course, when the alternative to the curse of eternal life is guaranteed damnation, one has no choice but to keep the party going.

The art in this issue is top notch as has been the trend in this mini, but I think the writing takes center stage here as we draw to the conclusion.

Some admittedly scattered plot threads come together pretty neatly here, and Whisper turns out to be a much more complex villain than we’ve seen so far.

This is a guy who became immortal to indulge the pleasures of the flesh without consequence. The problem is, he got bored of that pretty quick, and then realized that he would be spending the vast majority of his remaining time trying to undo his deal with the devil, which would require engaging in a lot of crazy and horrible shit that he says he regrets.

Of course, he is still a villain because of pride. Because the idea that he could ask for redemption is not something to even consider. Rather, his life is a project of continuing to expand his power, even though that power doesn’t satisfy him.

One sees parallels to things happening now, but I’m not that kind of commentator.

Well, trying not to be.

In a bit of bonus connective tissue to Batman’s origins, the day Bruce was pulled out of Mr. Whisper’s boarding school by his dad, the family chose to celebrate by going out to see a movie together…

Full steam ahead into the final issue of “Gothic” and a new miniseries after.

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Credits:

Writer: Grant Morrison

Art: Klaus Janson

Letterer: John Costanza

Colorist: Steve Buccellato

Asst Editor: Kevin Dooley

Editor: Andrew Helfer