Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
Cover of Legends of the Dark Knight #2 (Dec 1989). Art by Ed Hannigan and George Pratt. Cover design and logo by Dean Motter.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly with a few bi-weekly runs.
Format	Completed ongoing series
Publication date	(Legends of the Dark Knight) November 1989 – Late August 1992 (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight) September 1992 – March 2007 (Legends of the Dark Knight (Vol. 2)) June 2012 – December 2013
Number of issues	Vol. 1: 215 (225 with annuals and specials) Vol. 2: 79 weekly digital issues
Main character(s)	Batman
Collected editions
Shaman
Gothic
Prey
Venom
Faces
Collected Legends of the Dark Knight
Other Realms
Dark Legends
KnightsEnd
The Ring, The Arrow and The Bat

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, commonly referred to as simply Legends of the Dark Knight is a DC comic book featuring Batman. It was launched in 1989 with the popularity of the Batman movie, following on from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. It differs from other Batman titles in that it has constantly rotating creative teams, and the stories are not necessarily part of the current events of the other Batman comics. Initially the title was promoted as running only stand alone self-contained five issue stories of graphic novel quality. However, after issue 20, stories of different lengths started to appear. While some stories have tied in with the other titles, generally this has not been the case

An episode of The New Batman Adventures was named after the comic.

Most of the stories featured in Legends are set in the early years of Batman's career, though a few are set in the present and even the future. Stories set at the beginning of Batman's career are referred to as taking place during Year One, meaning Bruce Wayne's first year (or first several years in some cases) of crime fighting as Batman. The title had been initially promoted as only doing stories from before Robin, but Dick Grayson, the first Robin, did appear in issue 23, though he was still a circus performer. The series, for the most part, eschewed appearances by other DC universe characters save for Batman, Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon, and Batman's rogues gallery. The title was discontinued with issue #214, in March 2007, to make way for a new Batman anthology series, Batman Confidential, which focuses on more personal events in Batman's life (first encounters, building of new technology etc.), rather than early crime-fighting tales.