Batman: Other Realms

    (DC, 1998)
™ and ©1998 DC Comics

After the Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and directed by Tim Burton became a blockbuster in the summer of 1989, DC launched Legends of the Dark Knight, the first new solo Batman title in 40 years. Initially, this book featured stories that were supposedly set during Batman’s early years and employed a serious, somber style that portrayed Batman as a mythic figure. Indeed many of these stories depicted a Batman other than one of the many costumed heroes of the DC Universe.

Batman: Other Realms, reprints two exceptional stories from this title. “Destiny” from Legends of the Dark Knight #35-36 and “The Sleeping” from Legends of the Dark Knight #76-78. In “Destiny” by Mark Kneece and Bo Hampton Batman discovers a young man dressed as a Viking carrying a half of a medallion that matches the half that has been in Bruce Wayne’s family for centuries. The ancient artifact will lead Batman and his new ally on a mission that has roots in a story of a legendary Nordic hero known as the Bat-Man.

In “The Sleeping” by Scott Hampton, while Bruce Wayne lies in a death-like coma from an automobile accident, Batman finds himself in the realm of The Sleeping where he must journey back to consciousness before the silver thread keeping his body alive is severed. Along the way he encounters two other comatose individuals, one of whom is his twin soul, a woman who would have been his wife in another lifetime.

— George Haberberger
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