DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest comic book publishers in America. Their breadth of superheroes and villains from the DC Universe continues to serve as a cultural touchstone. As a big name publisher, DC Comics caters to a diverse readership through a variety of imprints. Vertigo Comics was the company’s most successful imprint, geared towards mature readers with famous publications such as Hellblazer, V for Vendetta, and The Sandman. The label was discontinued, but its stories went under the new name DC Black Label, which presented a darker take on its traditional characters. One imprint that reinvented the DCU was Elseworlds.
Elseworlds gives this preface for its comic book worlds: “In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places - some that have existed, or might have existed. And others that can’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow.” With the recently animated, Lovecraftian Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, these equally extraordinary Batman Elseworlds comics should have their turn onscreen.
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8 Batman & Dracula Trilogy (1991 – 1998)
DC Comics
Composed of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain (1991), Bloodstorm (1994), and Crimson Mist (1998), the vampirized Batman trilogy sees the Dark Knight grow darker. Writer Doug Moench and artist Kelley Jones were inspired to make a Bram Stoker alternate universe for Batman. He finds vampires infecting Gotham City’s homeless population, but he cannot defeat them alone or as a mortal. Batman decides to transform himself into a bloodsucker to defeat Count Dracula and his henchmen. The gothic art and bloodlust of a vampire Batman was an Elseworlds bestseller, a reputation worth seeing in action.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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7 Batman: Gotham Noir (2001)
Set in 1949, Batman: Gotham Noir presents James Gordon and Bruce Wayne as post-World War II veterans. Gordon becomes an alcoholic and is estranged from his wife Sarah and daughter Barbara. He is later entrusted to escort his girlfriend. Selina Kyle’s friend, to a party. En route, Selina’s friend is murdered and Gordon gets framed for it. Due to his drunken stupor, he doesn’t remember how she died, making him the prime suspect. Batman tracks down Gordon and the organized crime of Gotham City in this seedy film noir detective story written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sean Phillips.
6 Batman: Holy Terror (1991)
Writer Alan Brennert and artist Norm Breyfogle give Batman a test of faith in Batman: Holy Terror. Reverend Bruce Wayne serves under an oppressive theocracy far in the future. His parents’ murder haunts him, but asking the wrong questions is an act of heresy. Inquisitor James Gordon helps him find the truth and fight a corrupt government that uses religion to mask their cruel intentions against dissenters. Compared to Batman: The Cult, this Elseworlds story takes religious radicalism and conspiracy to foreboding places.
5 Batman: In Darkest Knight (1994)
Batman: In Darkest Knight is a retelling of the Batman mythos, namely Batman: Year One and The Killing Joke, by writer Mike W. Barr and artist Jerry Bingham. Bruce Wayne becomes the Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan. This alternate history is reminiscent of the Flashpoint story arc, both of which cause a chain reaction in the DCU. Bruce arrests Red Hood, preventing the Joker’s origin story. He also fights Sinestro, who mind controls his parents’ killer, Joe Chill, and other familiar villains.
4 Batman: Nine Lives (2002)
Batman: Nine Lives is another noir story by writer Dean Motter and artist Michael Lark. Often compared to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy for its realism, the Elseworlds tale humanizes Batman’s rogues’ gallery in 1940s Gotham. Rather than a high-tech and deformed cast of criminals, the Batman villains are human in appearance with clever backstories. The story follows a murder case, leading Batman into a sewer and a tied-up Selina Kyle alias Catwoman. Before the deceased was killed, a string of racketeering and blackmail revealed secrets about the city’s underworld. The baddies retaliate and Batman must solve the crime before any more people involved die.
3 Batman: Thrillkiller (1997 – 1998)
Batman: Thrillkiller follows the hero’s sidekicks Batgirl and Robin during the 1960s counterculture. It was a time of sexual awakening, personal identity, and peaceful protests. The young allies are challenged by an evil that manipulates their newfound freedom and self-expression for unlawful gain. The artwork by Dan Brereton is a groovy, psychedelic trip that Andy Warhol must dream of. Howard Chaykin also writes a story aware of the historical significance and puts that timeline’s movements to great use.
2 Batman: Two Faces (1998)
Based on Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, writers Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett with artist Anthony Tollin pits Victorian-era criminologist Bruce Wayne and vigilante Batman against their dark side. Bruce attempts to cure his friend, District Attorney Harvey Dent, of his criminal insanity with the adaptive plant known as the Twilight Orchid. The flower also gives Bruce superhuman strength, which motivates him to fight crime as Batman. Meanwhile, a laughing, grinning killer called Joker, bearing a similar modus operandi to Jack the Ripper, leaves a trail of dead victims with carved smiles on their faces.
1 Batman: Year 100 (2006)
Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope pits Batman in the year 2039, one century since his crime -ighting debut. Gotham has become a ruthless police state, even under the leadership of James Gordon’s grandson. The GCPD runs into an anomaly, the living legend of the Batman, still protecting his city from injustice. He is implicated in the murder of a federal agent, but he learns who the real culprits and conspirators are, creating a controversy for the GCPD and breathing new life into his crusade. The story won two Eisner Awards for “Best Limited Series” and “Best Writer/Artist” and its trade paperback collected another Elseworlds comic, “The Berlin Batman,” in which a Jewish Caped Crusader lives in Germany and stops crimes on the eve of World War II.
