Review by Ian Keogh

This second reissued volume of the ‘Legacy’ storyline contains most of the core story as found in the original Legacy paperback, with a few chapters found closing Legacy Volume One.

The major addition is ‘Bane of the Demon’, a four chapter serial previously collected within Batman Versus Bane. By Chuck Dixon and Jim Aparo, it’s Bane’s introduction to the wider events while looking back on his past. It’s Dixon’s strongest work on the ‘Legacy’ storyline, tying Bane’s past in with the secretive Order of St Dumas, while in the present introducing him to Ra’s Al Ghul and Talia. They discover their aims are similar, while Ra’s Al Ghul decides Bane provides better husband material for his daughter than Batman, so whereas he’s previously kept Batman alive, that’s no longer a concern. It zips along very nicely, although, surprisingly, Tom Palmer inking Graham Nolan’s pencils shows neither at their best (sample spread left).

Nolan draws around half the collection, the quality of his art varying according to who the inker is. He can always layout a thrilling page, but the faces change from inker to inker, with Scott Hanna the best match. Dave Taylor is once again the star turn, but only draws the single chapter, while Jim Balent’s viewpoints on the Catwoman chapters are also strong. The under-rated Rick Burchett (sample right), supplies polished art for the final story.

Ra’s is searching for an ancient stone wheel. Bane knows where it is, while Catwoman has already found it. The importance of the wheel is the information it provides about the Clench virus that’s already devastated Gotham and other ancient plagues. The threat of those plagues infesting three cities prolongs the story, enabling Robin to escape from Batman’s shadow in Paris, Alan Grant and Taylor to produce an atmospheric thriller in Edinburgh, and Batman to meet Lady Shiva in Calcutta from Doug Moench and Jim Aparo.

It’s Dixon, though, that leads the story, and because the opening Bane/Ra’s Al Ghul material is his strongest it makes this a better collection than Legacy Volume 1, although it tails off toward the end of the title sequence, with the finale not as thrilling as what came before. The book closes with Dixon and Burchett catching up with what Bane does next, again threatening Gotham, in fact. The art raises what’s otherwise a standard Batman outing. Batman’s 1990s continuity picks up in Knight Out.