Reliving Favorite Dark Knight Arcs With Fanhome’s ‘Legend Of Batman’ Subscription Service

Welcome to the table,

I was in a grim place at one point in my life. I had gone through a breakup, I had moved across multiple states, and I was generally at a point where it felt like all the progress I had made as an adult was reset to zero. It was a very strange time and I felt a bit rudderless.

I found myself in a a place I had found myself many times over the years, at my local comic shop. In this case, this was not a royal “my local comic shop,” this was the shop I had at one point worked in, had played Dungeons & Dragons in when it was closed to the public. I had spent countless hours perched atop the counter in this place. Here, I had learned about “Lost in the Supermarket” by The Clash . This was the mythical place I spent my time. In moving and all the chaos of life, it was a place I had drifted away from. So I was some kind of wayward child returning.

The owner was happy to see me. We talked. I was in a really dark place, and expressed I did not know if I was even able to read comics anymore, or if that was a thing I was supposed to do. I had been facing a bunch of really harsh realities in my life due to the shifting sands of the whims of other people.

In the downward spiral, I had concluded that anything I liked or enjoyed may in some way be wrong or foolish. I’m not sure what I was supposed to do, but at the time I was thinking I had to studying investment banking and roman history or something. I’m sure I looked broken as I sat there just kind of drifting in a rambling recap conversation.

Once I had finished babbling the owner of the shop, Rich, one of the most wonderful people this species has ever produced, handed me a stack of books. He said a new Batman had come out, he knew I really liked Batman, and he thought I would dig the title.

He pulled the first three issues of New 52 Batman from his personal collection as the books had been sold out and gave them to me. I’m pretty sure he sent me along my way with a bunch of comics and told me to get some rest.

I thanked him and returned to my new home and as I sat there reading these Batman books they filled my cup in a way I had been missing, a way I would find again a decade or so later when I returned to the pages of B.P.R.D.

I read New 52 Batman for its full run. Superheavy, Court of Owls, Death of the Family, Zero Year, Endgame, Bloom. It became this kind of stability in my life as I rebuilt … and rebuilt I did. That rocky time was hard, some of the hardest years of my life, but I think they were necessary for me to find my way to my spouse, my home, my life, and my place in the world.

It’s not secret that the world has been in a rocky place the last few years. It seems every day some fresh “once in a life time event” is rearing it’s head. So It seems almost poetic, or heroic, or maybe just the nature of the secret magic that makes the world go round that when I was feeling at my lowest, our pals at Fanhome released their Legend of Batman Graphic Novels Collection.

For those who may not know what Fanhome is, they are a brand that focuses on crafting experiences out of the stories and fandoms from across the pop culture space. What I know them most for are their really detailed build-up models, and their exclusive collections of fan merch. They have a lot of partnerships and collaborations with publishers and various IPs covering brands like Marvel Studios, Star Wars, DC Comics, and Capcom Games.

Depending on what subscription and experience you are getting, you could get pieces of a star ship with a detailed magazine each month and as they show up in the mail. In the case of why we are here today, you get a bound Batman graphic novel collection.

This Batman collection is nothing short of a collector’s dream. In the span of my life, I have moved a multitude of times. Between roommates’ pets with weak bladders, moving companies losing things, not being able to physically carry things with me as I moved out of one place to travel to another, floods, storms, and a slew of other things not all of the brightly colored bits of paper survived the trip from then until now.

This makes the Fanhome Legend of Batman feel even more special to me. You not only are getting really durable bound books of the stories that were once printed in the comics but you there are stories present in this collection that I have not seen in ages and that I am almost certain I could not track down in the limited back issue bins at the local shops in my area.

The collection is massive, consisting of 136 volumes that start at Year Zero and bounce through the various major Batman stories including Hush, Batman and Son, and Batman Year 100. When lined up on a book shelf, the spines of all these books also create a large mural image, adding to their shelf appeal and collectability.

This kind of thing makes the perfect gift for fans new and old. I have a handful in hand and will be diving into to each and giving you a bit of nostalgia along with the review as the new volumes Fanhome sends me arrive.

In a world where things feel very turbulent and unsure, it’s very cool to know at least once a month something really cool is going to show up in the mail and give a bit of an escape and a slice of joy that can be treasured and passed down.

Until next time, I’m really looking forward to seeing if they cover Knightfall and Dark Knight. So excited about this collection.