| Batman & Draculatrilogy | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the hardcover edition ofBatman & Dracula: Red Rain, art byKelley Jones andMalcolm Jones III. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Publication date | 1991—1998 |
| Main characters | |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Doug Moench |
| Penciller | Kelley Jones |
| Inker(s) | Malcolm Jones III John Beatty (Bloodstorm andCrimson Mist) |
| Letterer | Todd Klein |
| Colorist(s) | Les Dorscheid,Gregory Wright (Crimson Mist) |
| Collected editions | |
| Red Rain | ISBN 1563890364 |
| Bloodstorm | ISBN 1563891859 |
| Crimson Mist | ISBN 1563894955 |
TheBatman & Dracula trilogy consists of three Americangraphic novels—Batman & Dracula: Red Rain (1991),Bloodstorm (1994), andCrimson Mist (1998)—written byDoug Moench andpenciled byKelley Jones. The books were published by the comic book publishing companyDC Comics as a part of itsElseworlds line of comics. Moench created the concept for the first installment and convinced Jones, of whom he was a fan, to join the project.Red Rain's eventual popularity resulted in DC commissioning sequels.
Set outside theDC Universe andBram Stoker'sliterarycanons, the trilogy begins with a parallel universe counterpart ofBatman discoveringCount Dracula and his minions feeding off the homeless ofGotham City. This Batman becomes avampire to gain the necessary strength to defeat Dracula, in which his disguise as a strange dark creature of the night has become a horrific reality after saving the city. Batman also meets Selina Kyle, commonly known asCatwoman, who in this universe is a werecat creature who transforms by night. The two soon team up after they realise that they are not enemies. Struggling to use his black powers for good, Batman finds himself increasingly driven insane by his bloodlust and eventually kills theJoker before forcingAlfred Pennyworth andCommissioner Gordon to stake him. The stake is later removed by Alfred during a crime wave and Batman slaughters most of hisold enemies and other criminals, after which survivorsTwo-Face andKiller Croc attempt to get rid of him once and for all.
TheBatman & Dracula books were among the earliest and most popular titles of theElseworlds line, with each listed on theDiamond Comic Distributors bestsellers list. Journalists have praised the books for their story and artwork. Since the trilogy's conclusion, several other DC print releases have featured stories set withinBatman & Dracula's world, and the vampire Batman has appeared in some non-comic book media.
TheBatman & Dracula trilogy was written byDoug Moench andpenciled byKelley Jones.[1] Moench previously wroteBatman andDetective Comics from 1983 to 1986,[2] while Jones was known for redesigningDeadman for thelimited seriesDeadman: Love After Death (1989—1990)[3] and illustrating seven issues ofNeil Gaiman'sThe Sandman (1989—1996).[4] The books were published byDC Comics under itsElseworldsimprint, which was designated for comics that took place outside theDC Universecanon.[1] The initial installment,Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, was an earlyElseworlds book;[5] the first,Batman: Holy Terror, had only been released a few months earlier.[1] TheBatman & Dracula stories pay homage to the oldUniversal Pictures andHammer Film Productions horror films.[6]
According to Jones,Red Rain was produced after he finishedLove After Death. EditorArchie Goodwin had been impressed by Jones' work on the series and wanted him to draw aDetective Comics cover to see his take onBatman. The image Jones produced—which depicted Batman diving down with a "weird cape" and surrounded by bats—impressed Goodwin andDennis O'Neil, the editor of the Batman family of comics. O'Neil wanted to use Jones' art for a Batman book and had been talking to Moench, who was also a fan of Jones. Moench contacted Jones and told him about the concept he had made for an Elseworlds story in which Batman fightsCount Dracula. Jones initially thought it was "the dumbest thing [he] ever heard", but changed his mind after Moench sent him the outline for it, which Jones called "out of the park wonderful".[7] The original title wasGlory in Scarlet before being changed toRed Rain.[7] It took Moench and Jones five months to produceRed Rain. They used an approach somewhat similar to theMarvel method: Moench provided Jones a plot description of each page, with a few lines of dialogue scattered about.Malcolm Jones IIIinked the art.[6]
Red Rain was released in December 1991.[1] It was first available as a 90-page[7]hardcovergraphic novel that retailed forUS$4.95.[8] Moench and Jones did not envision it as the beginning of a trilogy, instead as aone-shot similar toBatman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham andArkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, but after it sold well above expectations, DC commissioned the two to produce a sequel.[6] Jones said that they were offered the sequel alongside another Elseworlds story,Batman/Dark Joker: The Wild.[9] The sequel,Batman: Bloodstorm, was published in January 1994;[10] Jones said the gap was caused by his responsibilities onDark Joker. When he started illustrating, he was also hired to become the cover artist ofBatman andDetective Comics.John Beatty had to inkBloodstorm because Malcolm Jones III was having personal issues.[6]
Moench and Jones thoughtBloodstorm would be the lastBatman & Dracula story because both were now going to work on the monthly Batman titles, but it also sold above expectations. Les Dorscheid had colored Jones' art in the first two books, but he was replaced byGregory Wright. Unlike Dorscheid, Wright colored the art digitally.[6]Batman: Crimson Mist was released in December 1998.[11] Moench knew thatCrimson Mist was the conclusion, as he felt it was going to be the hardest and needed to end on an unsettling note.[6] A collected edition comprising all three books,Tales of the Multiverse: Batman – Vampire, was released in December 2007.[12] A second collection of the trilogy,Elseworlds: Batman Volume 2, was released on October 5, 2016.[13]
Batman investigates a series of murders of homeless people ofGotham City whose throats have been slashed. He discovers that a family ofvampires led byCount Dracula are behind the murders. A rogue vampire, Tanya, chooses to help Batman, visiting him in his sleep and biting him to infuse him with vampiric strength, allowing him to stand up to Dracula's minions while retaining his humanity. Tanya informs Batman that vampires created by Dracula are powerless against his abilities.
Determined to destroy Dracula's minions, Batman lures them into theBatcave. Tanya and her followers distract them while Batman detonates multiple explosive charges, destroyingWayne Manor and killing the vampires. Batman then confronts Dracula in aerial combat and impales him on a woodenutility pole. This act costs Batman his humanity, as Dracula drains the last of his blood before his death. Batman tellsAlfred Pennyworth that while Bruce Wayne is now physically dead, the Batman will go on forever now that he is a full vampire.
According to North American comic distributorDiamond Comic Distributors (DCD),Red Rain was the fourth most-ordered graphic novel of 1991 and the year's 17th bestselling graphic novel overall.[8]
TheJoker tracks down and commandeers the remaining vampires of Dracula's horde. Although they manage to take control of most of Gotham's major crime families under the Joker's guidance, a team consisting of Batman,Catwoman (now a were-cat after a confrontation with awerewolf),Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, and their team of vampire hunters from theGotham City Police Department eventually destroy the horde. Gordon, Alfred and their team stake the former crime lords during the day while Batman and Catwoman confront the last vampires in a warehouse.
Catwoman is killed by the Joker, taking acrossbow bolt for Batman, after defeating the werewolf who made her what she had become. Enraged at the loss of the only person who was able to help him control his bloodlust, Batman subsequently drains the Joker of his blood and thus succumbs to his murderous impulse. Horrified by what he has done, Batman stakes the Joker to ensure that he cannot return as a vampire. He then convinces Gordon and Alfred to stake him so that he cannot commit any further murders.
DCD estimated thatBloodstorm was the fourth most-ordered and fourth bestselling graphic novel of 1994.[14] By May 1995, it was still among the top 15 most preordered graphic novels.[15]
With Gotham in the grip of a crime wave in Batman's absence, Commissioner Gordon asks Alfred to remove the stake in an attempt to bring back the city's hero. Driven mad by the decay of his body and his longing for blood, Batman begins draining and killing the city's criminals, especially hisrogues gallery (Penguin,Riddler,Scarecrow,Poison Ivy andBlack Mask, among others imprisoned atArkham Asylum), creating chaos as the body count escalates.Two-Face andKiller Croc form an alliance with Gordon and Alfred to stop Batman's rampage, as both acknowledge that the man that Batman once was would not wish to go on killing his opponents in this manner. Having tracked Batman to his new lair in the old Batcave, Alfred lures him into the main part of the cavern. The group trigger explosives to expose Batman to the sun.
During the struggle, Two-Face and Killer Croc betray and attempt to kill Alfred and Gordon after Batman is nearly fatally injured. Alfred sacrifices his life, giving his blood to Batman and grant him the strength needed to save Gordon. Having killed Killer Croc and Two-Face by impaling Croc on astalagmite and sticking arrows into both sides of Two-Face's head, respectively, Batman convinces Gordon to trigger the trap and the roof of the Batcave is destroyed. Gordon is crushed by falling rubble. Deeming that his mission is over after ridding Gotham of both vampires and criminals at the cost of his soul, Batman walks into the sunlight and disintegrates into dust, hoping in his last moments that he can destroy the monster within him and finally find peace.
According to DCD,Crimson Mist was the third most-ordered and third bestselling graphic novel of November 1998, with sales estimated at 7,694 copies.[16] It also charted as the fifth most preordered graphic novel of September 2001, with estimated sales of 6,009.[17]
TheBatman & Dracula books were among the most popularElseworlds titles.[1][18]Nerdist's Rosie Knight described the series as a cult classic.[19]Eric Van Lustbader wrote that, whileRed Rain featured an unusual version of Batman, it still managed to retain the feel of his world and somehow showed a more human side of Batman. Lustbader found the story engaging and innovative, and felt it set a new high for "cross-referencing characters from different milieus".[20]
ReviewingRed Rain,IGN's Hilary Goldstein found that no otherElseworlds story featuring Batman was able to top it. He praised its unexpected plot twists and Jones' art style (which he said made the story feel like "a horrible living nightmare") and encouraged readers to buy it. Goldstein's only criticism was of the cover: he thought the illustration of Batman crawling from a grave was superb, but noted that it took up less than a fourth of the cover. He also wrote thatBloodstorm andCrimson Mist were inferior toRed Rain; he said that they were enjoyable but felt like they were "clogg[ed] up" with existing Batman enemies.[21]
Goldstein and fellowIGN writer Joshua Yehl went on to rankRed Rain the sixth greatest Batman graphic novel, offering particular praise for Jones' powerful art.[22] Similarly,Screen Rant's Danijel Striga called the trilogy the eighth best DC story set in analternate reality. He found its concept of turning Batman into a vampire simple yet clever, and described it as "tak[ing] Batman's already dark world and mak[ing] it pitch black".[18]
Since the trilogy's conclusion, theBatman & Dracula trilogy's world has been explored in other DC print releases.[23] Jones illustrated a story by Peter Johnson set in the trilogy's universe inInfinite Halloween Special #1 (December 2007). Titled "Red Rain: Blood Lust", it tells the story of the vampiric Batman brutally murderingDick Grayson's parents and is narrated by theMad Hatter.[24] InCountdown to Final Crisis (2007—2008), the series' events are described as taking place on the 43rd alternate version of Earth in the DC ComicsMultiverse. For this series, Johnson and Jones produced another story that features a team of superheroes traveling to Earth-43 during a search forRay Palmer. There, they encounter the trilogy's characters.[23][25]
ForConvergence (2015),Len Wein and Jones produced a storyline in which theSwamp Thing arrives in the world of theBatman & Dracula trilogy[26] and meets the vampire Batman. The story explores the emotional cost being a vampire has on Batman,[27] depicting him as horrified of what he has become. He and the Swamp Thing team up to fight destroy as many of the remaining vampires as possible and manage to kill the vampire queen; after the queen's destruction, every vampire becomes human again except Batman, who cannot revert since he was bitten by Dracula. Batman and the Swamp Thing watch the sunrise together and Batman expresses with awe how beautiful he thinks it is before disintegrating into dust.[28]
The 2005 animated filmThe Batman vs. Dracula draws inspiration from theBatman & Dracula trilogy, specifically the first two booksRed Rain andBloodstorm.[29] Knight andComicsAlliance's Elle Collins both thought adaptingBatman & Dracula into a film was a good idea,[19][30] with Collins listing actors she thought should play the roles of each character.[30] The vampire Batman is playable in the 2013 video gameInfinite Crisis.[31] Also in 2013,Mattel released anaction figure of the trilogy's version of Batman.[32] In addition, in 2017Mondo released a statue of a vampire Batman called "Batman Red Rain". The figure depicts Batman looming over a graveyard and has an interchangeable arm holding a stake. It is not directly modeled after Jones' artwork, but rather is based on a Mondo poster byFrancesco Francavilla that was inspired byRed Rain.[5]
| Title | Material collected | Published date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batman & Dracula: Red Rain | Original graphic novel | February 1992 | 978-1563890123 |
| Batman: Bloodstorm | Original graphic novel | July 1995 | 978-1563891779 |
| Batman: Crimson Mist | Original graphic novel | March 1999 | 978-1840230703 |
| Elseworlds: Batman Vol. 2 | Batman & Dracula: Red Rain,Batman: Bloodstorm,Batman: Crimson Mist | October 2016 | 978-1401269821 |
Written by Batman alumnus Doug Moench, and illustrated with the shadowy pencils of Kelley Jones,Red Rain chronicled the clash between Batman and the legendary Dracula.
When Gerry Conway parted ways with the Caped Crusader, a new regular writer was needed for both titles. That honor fell to Doug Moench.
Where all previous artists had shown the character looking exactly the same as he had in life as Boston Brand, Jones' depiction took a distinct turn at Albuquerque as his Deadman looked like a human skeleton wrapped in the familiar costume.
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