Batman: Urban Legends is an ongoing Anthology Comic containing stories about Batman and various Batman affiliated characters. It was published from 2021 to 2023 and many of the stories are published in several parts across subsequent issues. Writers and artists contributing include Chip Zdarsky, Stephanie Phillips, Brandon Thomas, Matthew Rosenberg, Cecil Castellucci, Che Grayson, Meghan Fitzmartin, Marguerite Bennett, Jamal Campbell, Anthony Falcone, Michael Cho, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Marcus To, Laura Braga, Max Dunbar, Ryan Benjamin, Marguerite Sauvage, Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque, and Belén Ortega. Issue 9 is a tie in to the Fear State storyline/event.
Four of the Tim Drake stories relating to his relationship with Bernard Dowd were later reprinted in the DC Pride: Tim Drake Special.
Tropes in this Anthology
- Ascended Extra: Bernard played a fairly small role as one of Tim's high school friends in Robin (1993) and mostly disappeared from canon after Tim changed schools, appearing only once. Since being reintroduced in Urban Legends, he's become Tim's love interest and a regularly occurring supporting character.
- The Bus Came Back:
- After not being seen since the 2017 Batwoman series, Beth Kane reappears in issue 8, still struggling with her Red Alice Split Personality.
- Enigma reappears since her (assumed) death at the end of Batman's Post-Crisis run in Batman: Eye of the Beholder in the Arkham Academy three-parter.
- Juxtaposed Halves Shot: The cover for issue 9 has half of Duke Thomas/Signal matched to half of another split down the middle by lightning.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The "Memory Lane" story features the odd team up of Katana, Lady Shiva, Miracle Molly and newcomer Ghost.
- Symbol Swearing: The drug dealer Jason shoots on the first page responds to the injury with "#$@%" before getting back to his feet and running.
- Variant Cover: Each of the issues has two variant covers in addition to the main cover.
Tim Drake: Sum of Our Parts
- Back-to-Back Badasses: After Tim frees Bernard he expects him to run, but Bernard instead joins the fight standing at his back revealing he's been taking lessons since he was attacked by Darla in High School.
- Captured on Purpose: Tim gets himself caught by the chaos cult to find where they've been taking their abducted victims.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Bernard's parents have disapproved of Tim since high school when they were just friends, and are not at all happy to learn that Bernard is now dating him.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Tim steals the chaos monster mask and robes from one of the Children of Dionysus cultists in order to infiltrate their ceremony and rescue Bernard and the other kidnapped victims.
- Instant Sedation: The chaos cult member that abducts Bernard uses chloroform powder to quickly knock out Tim after managing to catch his attempt to punch him. As the cult isn't too concerned about killing bystanders when abducting victims to sacrifice the potential of causing Tim serious damage wasn't something they were worried about.
- Just in Time: Tim arrives and throws a batarang and disarms the lead cultist just as he is are swinging the knife down to sacrifice Bernard.
- Punch Catch: When Tim tries to punch the cultist attacking the restaurant where he and Bernard were having a date the masked man manages to easily catch his punch and use the resulting hold to slam Tim into the ground while tossing chloroform powder in his face.
- Religion of Evil: The Children of Dionysus are a Gotham based cult that is enamored with Dionysus' chaos aspect and kidnaps teenagers to beat them and then cut out their hearts in human sacrifices. They notably only kidnap teens who are caught asking questions about them.
- Secret Relationship: Tim masks what he's doing when he goes on his first date with Bernard, as it's his first non-het romantic relationship and he's still figuring out his own bisexuality. He does come out to his friends and family later.
- Stood Up: Tim and Bernard have an ice-skating date planned which Tim thought he'd be able to slip away to, but he ends up in Bludhaven as Robin and unable to make it. He calls Bernard and explains it as a family emergency coming up and talks to him on the phone for a while as Bernard skates, calling just in time for Bernard to not feel entirely stood up and forgotten.
- Targeted Human Sacrifice: The Children of Dionysus are kidnapping teenagers who are at odds with or distant from their parents and who are questioning themselves and their place in the world with the intent to sacrifice them on an altar. Not only does this mean that there is a push to label their victims runaways the "chaos" of their minds as they are not settled in what they are and want to be is attractive to the cult which worships chaos.
