Batman Legacy Reading Order

[PurpleGlovez]

Jim is clearly acting as a police officer ("I am a cop"). Jim angrily quits in Batman 519 and reiterates his resignation in 520, after which he runs a fledgling mayoral campaign; even after he drops out of the race, it is not realistic for him to be acting in the capacity depicted in Chalice until after Contagion. Alfred returns in Batman 521, and appears in Chalice. In Chalice, Two-Face escapes his commitment hearing following a recent confrontation with Batman; that was probably meant to be the Two-Face story from Batman 527-528, but could also be Batman: Two-Face - Crime and Punishment, which is after Alfred's return but before the introduction of the new Batmobile in Batman 526... at any rate, the simplest, and most likely intended, placement of Chalice is between Contagion and Legacy.

[JBatmanFan05]

the simplest, and most likely intended, placement of Chalice is between Contagion and Legacy.

You're right in many ways, but actually I'd say no....and now argue the simplest, and most likely intended, placement of Chalice is simply before Batman #521 and 519 somewhere. (and thus before Knightfall)

So I may have to exclude Chalice from this bind altogether. I just very much doubt Dixon meant Batman to fight Ra's twice so close to each other. Legacy's Ra's reveal would be so undercut with Chalice too near it.

Alfred....it's possible Dixon meant Chalice to happen even before Knightfall. But after Birth of the Demon.

[PurpleGlovez]

Heh, maybe you should read it again! Jean Paul appears in his Azrael costume meaning it would be before Batman 488. Yet he tells Batman "I know you think you have reason to mistrust me" and Batman is very cold to him. Superman is alive. Penguin is in his post-Troika status quo as proprietor of the Iceberg Lounge, yet he was still incarcerated in Blackgate when Bane busted Arkham open. The coloring of Batman's suit matches post-Troika and he doesn't appear to have trunks although granted they're somewhat obscured throughout the book. Jim and Sarah "attend church when they can" yet in Batman 487 they had just gotten married. The huge number of very deliberate clues were put in place to indicate it is after Contagion and before Legacy. The line that Ra's hasn't resurfaced in years is the big clincher. With this being comics, there's nothing story-breaking about Batman and Ra's having this incidental and relatively minor confrontation before the events of Legacy.

[JBatmanFan05]

Heh, maybe you should read it again! Jean Paul appears in his Azrael costume meaning it would be before Batman 488. Yet he tells Batman "I know you think you have reason to mistrust me" and Batman is very cold to him. Superman is alive. Penguin is in his post-Troika status quo as proprietor of the Iceberg Lounge, yet he was still incarcerated in Blackgate when Bane busted Arkham open. The coloring of Batman's suit matches post-Troika and he doesn't appear to have trunks although granted they're somewhat obscured throughout the book. Jim and Sarah "attend church when they can" yet in Batman 487 they had just gotten married. The huge number of very deliberate clues were put in place to indicate it is after Contagion and before Legacy. The line that Ra's hasn't resurfaced in years is the big clincher. With this being comics, there's really nothing story-breaking about Batman and Ra's having this incidental and relatively minor confrontation before the events of Legacy.

Maybe you're right. Forgot about the Azrael part. Anyway, I think Dixon didn't think about the continuity and proximity enough. We might have to live with and accept the proximity with Legacy, but that's a mistake then IMHO that falls on Dixon.

There's just no way I can twist out of saying Chalice doesn't undercut Ra's Legacy reveal, it just does. "Oh, it's Ra's again" is what that feels like.


If Dixon did Gordon differently in it, him not at his desk, we could put Chalice more before Contagion. Get it away from Legacy.

[Wrestler]

2 years later and this topic resurfaces.

I've just finished reading Batman Legacy Vol.1 and one thing left me wondering a bit. How did Azrael find the cure for the filovirus the first time in Contagion?

In Azrael #10, Jean Paul Valley, Lilhy and Brian discovered the cure (not the definitive one like we learn in Legacy) through a book they had stolen while they were in the St. Dumas lab in Africa, Lilhy translated the ingredients and procedures and Azrael delivered the translation going to Gothan and getting past the blockade of the city, Brian faxed all the information too, the day was saved.

Now, the Legacy part, in Shadow of the Bat #53, Azrael tells Bruce he found the antitoxin in ancient ruins beneath the African desert (showing an image of Brian holding a jar), I found it odd, but figured he was talking about the books they had stolen, but then on Batman #533, when Batman, Nightwing and Robin go to the African desert looking for the cure, they stumble upon a chamber in which Bruce says "Here - a chamber like the one Azrael described...and there..those jars with strange cabalistic markings...like the vial which contained the false cure."

What is this vial he was talking about? Azrael didn't deliver any vial he found in the desert with the antitoxin in Contagion, he just delivered the list of ingredients which were described on a book translated by Lilhy.

Was this some sort of confusion between the writers about how the events really happened or am I missing something?

[JBatmanFan05]

. . . Batman #533, when Batman, Nightwing and Robin go to the African desert looking for the cure, they stumble upon a chamber in which Bruce says "Here - a chamber like the one Azrael described...and there..those jars with strange cabalistic markings...like the vial which contained the false cure."

What is this vial he was talking about? Azrael didn't deliver any vial he found in the desert with the antitoxin in Contagion, he just delivered the list of ingredients which were described on a book translated by Lilhy.

Was this some sort of confusion between the writers about how the events really happened or am I missing something?

I spent more time looking into this than I should have, but I figure it's one of two things:

a) a reference to an unseen off-panel portion of Bruce's perhaps abridged but perhaps longer talk with Azrael in Shadow of the Bat #53

b) sort of confusion between the writers about how the events really happened....because yea, I filpped thru my Contagion/Legacy custom HC and cannot explain that "false cure vial" reference


Definitely either poor writing (referring to something imagined to have been said off panel) or a downright mistake. Feels like some attempt to explain why Batman recognizes the symbols.

[Wrestler]

I spent more time looking into this than I should have, but I figure it's one of two things:

a) a reference to an unseen off-panel portion of Bruce's perhaps abridged but perhaps longer talk with Azrael in Shadow of the Bat #53

b) sort of confusion between the writers about how the events really happened....because yea, I filpped thru my Contagion/Legacy custom HC and cannot explain that "false cure vial" reference


Definitely either poor writing (referring to something imagined to have been said off panel) or a downright mistake. Feels like some attempt to explain why Batman recognizes the symbols.

I think it's the "b", they've probably retconned the events to suit their intentions on Legacy, to make things more exciting on it or, like you said, to make Batman recognize the symbols, but I don't really like these change of events to make a better story.

About "a", a longer talk off-panel between Bruce and Azrael, I can't really imagine a scenario where both of the situations described (The way the cure was made on Contagion and how Azrael tells Bruce how the cure was found in Legacy) could happen and be logically linked with each other to explain how the cure was found, can you do that?

[JBatmanFan05]

About "a", a longer talk off-panel between Bruce and Azrael, I can't really imagine a scenario where both of the situations described (The way the cure was made on Contagion and how Azrael tells Bruce how the cure was found in Legacy) could happen and be logically linked with each other to explain how the cure was found, can you do that?

I was a bit unclear if maybe the "false cure" referred to was regarding undetailed false cures for the older more virulent dormant version of the virus in Legacy. But I don't believe there was even an old pre-Contagion outbreak of that more ancient strain, so maybe that makes no sense.

Does feel more like confusion overall by Doug Moench.

[Wrestler]

I was a bit unclear if maybe the "false cure" referred to was regarding undetailed false cures for the older more virulent dormant version of the virus in Legacy. But I don't believe there was even an old pre-Contagion outbreak of that more ancient strain, so maybe that makes no sense.

Does feel more like confusion overall by Doug Moench.

There was an older outbreak of this virus in Greenland actually, but Alan Grant (not Doug Moench) made sure his mess was complete when he shows Bruce saying "The antitoxin you provided didn't work, I need to know everything you can tell about the antitoxin, where did you come across it?" It would make absolutely no sense he talking about some cure he tried to find to save the people of a city in Greenland back then.

That was retconned to suit his purposes I guess, which is very stupid of his part in my opinion, not the first time I come across errors from Alan Grant, but at least the one I found after that was a minor one.

[JBatmanFan05]

There was an older outbreak of this virus in Greenland actually, but Alan Grant (not Doug Moench) made sure his mess was complete when he shows Bruce saying "The antitoxin you provided didn't work, I need to know everything you can tell about the antitoxin, where did you come across it?"

Doesn't appear that Alan Grant explicitly mentions a symbol-marked vial though, that's on Moench. I figure he shares some serious blame. Grant's antitoxin talk is rather vague or ambiguous even.

[Wrestler]

Doesn't appear that Alan Grant explicitly mentions a symbol-marked vial though, that's on Moench. I figure he shares some serious blame. Grant's antitoxin talk is rather vague or ambiguous even.

Yes, maybe they should share the blame, I just feel Grant caused the trouble when he decided to tell the story in a different way, but okay, Legacy is a great story in my opinion, and this is an error we should just ignore, just like the plot error I've found in Shaman when I started my chronological reading order, you have to move on, it's very few major errors (story and continuity) in hundreds of editions so far.