Comic Title: Batman:Gothic TPB
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: 1992
On Sale Date: June 9, 1992 Shipping Date June 9, 1992
Source: Previews, Vol. 2 #3 (#39)

Direct Market Date June 10, 1992
Source: Usenet, Capital City : MISC: New Books-6/10/92

Shipping Date June 9, 1992
Source: Direct Currents, #52

Direct Market Date June 11, 1992
Source: Comic Shop News, #258, #261

Cover Price: $12.95
Page Count: 128
Editor: Michael Charles Hill

See Also: The Guide to Graphic Novels and Collected Editions

Title: "The Hangman's Tale"
Pages: 23

Feature(s):
Batman (Post-Crisis)

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Klaus Janson
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Steven J. Buccellato

Reprinted From:
Legends of the Dark Knight #9 (1990)

Feature Character(s)

• Batman (last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #8; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #10)

Supporting Character(s)

• Alfred Pennyworth (last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #8; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #10)

Villain(s)

• Mr. Whisper (last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #8; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #10)
• Morgenstern (last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #8; no further appearances)
• Murray (Morgenstern's henchman; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Hooper (a hostage taker; no further appearances)
• Ottavio (in flashback to the attempt to kill Whisper; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #6)
• Leo Graziano (in flashback to the attempt to kill Whisper; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #6)
• Jack Kane and his brother (in flashback to the attempt to kill Whisper; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #6)

Other Character(s)

• Mr. Trimble (dies in this story; last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #7; no further appearances)
• An unnamed hostage (no further appearances)
• Victims of Mr. Whisper (no further appearances)
• Thomas Wayne (in flashback to Bruce's childhood; no further appearances)
• Martha Wayne (in flashback to Bruce's childhood; no further appearances)

Flashback Appearance(s)

• Bruce Wayne (Bruce is removed from private school; last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #7; next appearance in Batman #430)
• Mr. Whisper (Whisper arrives in the New World; last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #8; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #7)
• Mr. Whisper (Whisper argues with Thomas Wayne; last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #7; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #9)
• Mr. Whisper (gangsters attempt to kill Whisper; last appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #9; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #6)
• Morgenstern (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Legends of the Dark Knight #6)

Comments:
Gothic Volume Four

This story is continued from Legends of the Dark Knight #8 and continues in Legends of the Dark Knight #10.

This story contains multiple flashbacks.
Flashback 1: 20 years ago, Morgenstern and other young crime bosses tried to kill Mr. Whisper by drowning him at sea.
Flashback 2: Bruce as a young boy is removed from private school. The next day his parents die.
Flashback 3: Whisper collects plague germs, spends time in England, then arrives in America in 1760.

Synopsis:
Batman meets with Morgenstern, the last of the gangsters targeted by Mr. Whisper. The crime boss gives Batman information concerning a meeting later that night at a chemical factory. Batman continues his research on Mr. Whisker and connects him to Gotham Cathedral. When Batman finally arrives at the factory, he finds bodies hanging from the rafters. Mr. Whisker then captures him.

Batman awakens tied to a contraption which will kill him. Whisker explains that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for 300 years of life. Now the debt must be paid. He has been killing children and harnassing souls using Gothic architecture. He intends to offer those captured souls in exchange for his own. He then leaves Batman to die.