The world of Batman is a large one, and even though Gotham needs Batman, it’s a massive city and he’s just one man. Most characters can manage to have one ongoing or two at the most, but with Batman there’s around two-dozen mini-series and on-goings coming out following characters from his corner of the DC Universe. Batman: Urban Legends is one of the best of these books, as it serves not just as a vehicle for Batman, but for the rest of the Bat-Family to show up as well.
Every issue is an anthology, a throwback to the era of the ’70s where the Batman Family had a self-titled comic book. It features the usual suspects like Red Hood and Barbara Gordon, characters everyone expects to be in a Bat-book, in addition to Batman’s own team, The Outsiders. There’s a lot happening in this book, and fans wanting the best Gotham experience should come here first.
10 Jason Todd Gets A New Sidekick In The Blue Hood
Urban Legends’s main story is “Cheer,” a story written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira & Julio Ferreira. It focuses on the Red Hood hunting down drug dealers giving out a new drug known as Cheer, distributed as Cheerdrops.
It’s a standard case until Jason kills a young boy’s father and is forced to find a new home for him. For now, the boy in question is hanging out with Jason Todd, the most damaged member of the Batman family, and calling himself “the Blue Hood.” There’s no way this story doesn’t end in heartbreak.
9 Grifter Has Become Lucius Fox’s Bodyguard
Grifter was once a WildStorm hero whose status in the continuity of DC has fluctuated throughout the years. Mostly, it’s because DC can’t decide whether they want them to be canon to the rest of the DC Universe or not. But now, Grifter’s origin has shifted a bit: After his group Team 6 was ambushed, Grifter was experimented on by Halo Corporation.
These days, he’s employed by Lucius Fox and works for Wayne Enterprises, though every indication is that his actual goal is to betray Fox for the sake of Halo Corporation, his real employer.
8 Batman Is Still Front & Center In This Bat-Family Comic
For people who think this comic might not have much Batman in it, they would be mistaken. Batman plays a major role in the main story in Urban Legends, the Red Hood comic “Cheer.”
Batman’s role in Jason’s life is explored both as a failed parent to him as well as his role in the streets of Gotham. He also happens to have one of the legitimately scariest moments as Batman ever in this book, so it’s something to check out even for those who are mainly Batman fans.
7 Barbara Gordon Gets A New Costume For Oracle
With Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown in the role of Batgirls now, Barbara Gordon has taken more of an advisory position to help the rest of the Bat-Family. But while she might be in Oracle mode to find out all the secrets of the DC Universe, that doesn’t mean she can’t have her own uniform.
This time around, Oracle has been outfitted with tons of hi-tech equipment to make her just as dangerous outside her HQ as she is inside. It’s the kind of change one would only make if Barbara was going back to largely being Oracle rather than being Batgirl, so hopefully that’s what’s coming.
6 Urban Legends Introduces A Dangerous New Villain For Oracle
In a brief one-shot storyline following Oracle, the character gets a new villain in the form of Vi Ross. Full name Vivienne Rossdale, she was originally an epidemiologist before deciding to use her skills to start hacking into Gotham’s systems.
In the story she first appears in, she’s still mostly just doing things that make her a minor annoyance, meaning for now she’s just practice for Oracle to deal with the eventual anti-Oracle that’s showing up soon.
5 Grifter Gets Into It With The Entire Bat-Family
Grifter has his own story in the Bat-Family anthology, even though the character’s never had a connection with them at all. However, with him in the role of Lucius Fox’s bodyguard, he is one of the most visible figures in Gotham.
This brings him into contact with various members of the Bat-Family, as well as a certain Man of Tomorrow. This helps to ground the character in the DC Universe, even though most of the time he’s just being embarrassed by everyone involved.
4 Tim Drake Gets His Own Solo Story
Tim Drake fans have been waiting for years to see the character get a solo comic again. He’s a ways off from that for now, but at least now he’s got the next best thing: The character has his own feature in Urban Legends, finally able to take on a main character role again.
The story is about him connecting with an old friend named Bernard Dowd (an actual character from the original Robin ongoing), and potentially discovering something new about himself. There’s pretty strong hints the character will be coming out as queer here, but if that’s the case, DC is being notoriously quiet about it for now.
3 The Outsiders Are Expanding Their Roster To Add More People
There hasn’t really been much in the way of development with the Outsiders since their comic ended a while back. But they had their own story in Urban Legends that centered around Black Lightning, Katana, and Metamorpho.
The group just narrowly manage to survive an encounter with Katana’s mother-in-law, and at the end of it realize that if they’re going to stick around they need to grow. Black Lightning points out his intention to invite Duke Thomas into the group, but for the fifth member he remained quiet, pointing to some sort of expansion coming in the Fall.
2 A New Villain Appears In Gotham
The storyline “Cheer” felt like a way to show Red Hood’s place in Gotham City, with him simply dealing with yet another new designer drug. But Batman: Urban Legends #4 shows there’s more to this than a bunch of faceless crooks.
After Red Hood gets captured by Mr. Freeze, Batman rushes in to save him. Though he’s almost successful, it turns out to be a trap, and Mr. Freeze appears to be working alongside a brand-new supervillain. Though the character currently doesn’t have a name, he’s obviously connected to the “Cheer’ drug, and he’ll hopefully become a well-known newer villain for the heroes.
1 The Wildcats Are Getting Back Together
This isn’t clear just yet, but it seems likely based on the last issue they showed. For much of Grifter’s back-up, the character has been talking to an unseen character who mocks him about how bad he is at his job. Though that character isn’t shown, the mention of Halo Corporation is already something worth paying attention to.
Then, in the most recent issue, Zealot makes an appearance to save Lucius Fox’s life while Grifter is busy elsewhere. It does seem like one way or another, the WildC.A.T. team is about to get back together, something that hasn’t happened in nearly a decade.
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