Since the release of the popular and critically acclaimed Batman & Dracula: Red Rain in 1991, DC Elseworlds stories fired out of DC’s creative team like a cannon. Batman was no longer the only character getting the label of Elseworlds attached to themselves, with other mighty heroes getting singular giant size graphic novels or miniseries. Although most Elseworlds stories coming out before 1994 were Batman, there were some notable releases. For instance, The Golden Age (1993) by James Robinson and Paul Smith, which focuses primarily on the golden age heroes of the 1940s, the Justice Society of America. While I could go on for quite some time about why I believe The Golden Age to be one of my favourites, this isn’t the place for it. Instead, I’ll mention Batman/Dark Joker: The Wild (also 1993), something much more relevant to this review, even if I’ll speak about it only briefly. This Elseworlds tale focuses on a darker version of the Joker in a much stranger world, where Batman is a beast instead of a man. However, the noticeable aspect about this story is its creative team, who are Doug Moench (writer), Kelley Jones (penciller) and John Beatty (inker), a trio which will endure a decade of storytelling together. This takes us to 1994, when the sequel to Red Rain was released, named Bloodstorm. But the question is, does it compare to its incredibly successful predecessor… or is it rubbish?
Batman: Bloodstorm, the second in the trilogy of the Batman Vampire Trilogy is (just like the first in the series) about one-hundred pages long and was published three years after Red Rain (1994). Like before, Bloodstorm is written by Doug Moench and pencils by Kelley Jones. However, Malcolm Jones III wasn’t available to ink this story (for some unknown reason and it was only a few years later in 1996 when he unfortunately killed himself), resulting in John Beatty inking Jones. As mentioned previously, this story was printed under the Elseworlds imprint (in-case the simpletons didn’t work that one out) and lastly, I have read the Bloodstorm tale in the Batman: Vampire trade paperback, collecting all three stories.
THE PLOT
In Gotham, a man is mugged by two criminals. However, they are stopped when Batman flies down on them, attacking them using his fists, while showing them his vampiric teeth. Once they have been defeated, Batman then notices the body of a naked woman, who has vampire teeth marks on her neck. This makes Batman realise that the vampire threat isn’t over, and he kills the woman for good using his wooden stake through by heart, while also saying “To Death… In Peace”. Meanwhile a mysterious pale man in purple heads into the sewers, where he finds a large group of rogue vampires in the dark. Although one tries to attack him, he is prevented when the pale man squirts him with holy water, along with a cross. The pale man then begins laughing and reveals himself to be the Joker. Although the vampires want to take Joker for his blood, he tells them that he will help them by becoming their new leader. He reinforces his decision by telling the vampires that they will need help in taking out Batman and once Joker shows his normal teeth to the vampires, they accept him as their leader. The next morning, Commissioner Gordon and the police find a third body which has a stake through its heart and without a head, making Gordon realise that the vampire attacks have returned. He remembers the vampires, such as Tanya, Dracula and now his ally, Batman, who he is thankful isn’t an evil vampire. At the same time, Batman heads to his new home, where he meets Alfred, who gives his master the potion that removes his bloodlust. After Batman desperately drinks the potion, he is given a wooden and silver throwing dagger by Alfred, which he shall use to kill the vampires. Meanwhile, Joker speaks with the vampires, one of whom is named Creach, about how he will help the vampires feast on blood richer than the homeless or poor. At the same time, Bruce is woken up from his sleep when he is visited by the ghost of Tanya. Bruce tells her that he needs her strength, leading him to bite her throat to take her blood. However, this was just a dream and Batman wakes up. He then heads out on patrol and visits Gordon, who tells Batman about the recent vampire killings, leaving Batman to sa that he and Tanya missed some of them from before. Gordon then says that he will put together a small team of people he can trust to fight the vampires. Batman then leaves the scene, making Gordon feel uneasy about fighting the undead again. Meanwhile at the house of a Gotham mob boss, a vampire visits to tell them that the Joker is now in charge of the city. Although they don’t accept it, the vampire rips his heart out and throws it at the mob boss, before biting his face off. The Joker and the other vampires then enter the house, biting all the mobsters and turning them into vampires, leaving the Joker in charge of the underworld. At the same time, Batman visits a cemetery, where he finds some of the dead have risen again as vampires. Using his new tools, Batman kills nearly all of the vampires, apart from one, who notices that Batman himself is also a vampire. The remaining vampire then tells Batman that he isn’t different to any other vampire and that eventually, he will need blood to harvest on. This causes Batman to get angry and emotional, but before he can give into the bloodlust, he murders the last vampire and cuts his head off. Batman then heads to a forest and begins to become frustrated with his need for blood. Elsewhere, a woman named Selina Kyle leaves work, but she is followed by the Joker’s accomplice, Creach, who begins chasing her. Creach then turns into a wolf and manages to bite her neck. However, she kicks Creach in the plums and escapes by jumping into the river. After some time, Selina gets home and goes to sleep with her large number of cats that she has for pets. Meanwhile, the Joker, Creach and the vampires head to a mansion, where they kill and harvest the blood from its inhabitants, increasing the number of the vampire army. At the same time, Batman investigates the kidnapping of numerous women and discovers that they are all “dancers” (aka prostitutes) visiting the same club owner, Manny the Shark. Batman heads to Manny’s place, where he finds him with a dancer. However, Batman also realises that Manny himself is a vampire and he kills the vampire (and tells the dancer to get a new job). Meanwhile, Selina wakes up from her sleep and discovers that she has become a purple Catwoman creature. She then screams in rage about how she will kill Creach and the vampires. Meanwhile in (continues after image)
Vampire HQ, Joker is made aware about the vampire killings and how the Batman is involved. This causes the Clown Prince of Crime to come up with a trap in order to defeat Batman. At the same time, Catwoman hunts out on top of the roofs, where she notices Batman. The two then fight for some time, ending with Selina being defeated by Batman. But, when she tells him that she wants all of the vampire’s dead, explaining why she attacked Batman, he lets her speak more. Catwoman then explains why she has become this strange cat creature and although she wants to help Batman, he declines it, causing her to leave. Batman then heads back to his lab, where he tries to perfect his blood resistant potion like Tanya did, but he fails, causing him to shout in rage. He then visits Ariane (from Red Rain) to ask about werewolfs and werecats, which she confirms can exist, along with other types of animals. Batman then questions why the moon is important to transformation, but Ariane cannot explain how. However, when she mentions supernatural aspects of her research, Batman groans as he is looking for hard facts. Then, Ariane explains that as 70% of the human body is liquid, tides may be created in the liquid due to the moon, along with other hormones in the bloodstream. Ariane then concludes that what she just said could be a load of nonsense. Batman begins to reveal his personal problems and how being a vampire has destroyed his life. Ariane questions if she is in danger, which Batman says she isn’t. Ariane then asks if he is in danger, to which Batman screams that he is. Ariane warns Batman that he must have mercy on his soul as there is nothing that he can do, leaving Batman to tell her that she is wrong before flying out of the room. Meanwhile, Joker visits a church, where he heads into the confession box, speaking to a priest. However, Joker kills the priest after telling him that he has the blood of rich people on his hands. Joker then goes through the church, thinking of renovating it into a trap for Batman. Meanwhile, Batman heads back to his lab, where Alfred offers him his potion. But Batman refuses it, telling Alfred that he will be a vampire forever. He then orders Alfred to leave the house, which he does, heading into the weather of red rain. Alfred then meets Gordon and speaks about how Batman may be losing his sanity. Speaking of which. Batman gives into his bloodlust and eats a rat from the floor, harvesting its blood. He then screams about how Tanya is dead and how he cannot face being a vampire alone. Batman then heads out and finds Catwoman, who notices that he is suffering from a fever. She takes him inside to rest and when he wakes up in the morning, they both turn back to normal until the next night. Batman then tells Selina that they have to fight the vampires at night, causing her to tell him that they could both sleep in for the day. Meanwhile, Alfred is worried about where Bruce is and how his time as Batman may kill him soon. At night, Batman and Catwoman visit a night dancing event, full of dancers as the vampires have been hunting dancers as their main prey. When the vampires arrive and begin harvesting on the dancers, Batman and Catwoman attack them, ending with all of the vampires being killed using the wooden silver stakes, along with their heads being removed. Batman then confirms to Catwoman that the Joker has been the one behind all of this, meaning that they should go for him instead of the vampires. Although he is unsure if the Joker is also a vampire, Batman tells Catwoman that they must all kill a vast majority of the vampires before the next night. Throughout the next day, Alfred and Gordon go about the places that Batman and Catwoman has visited and defeated vampires in in order to kill them for good using stakes. At the same time, Batman and Catwoman arrive at the church to face the vampires, who are beginning to lose faith in Joker due to the amount of vampire deaths. Together, Batman and Catwoman face the vampires and kill them all, including Creach. However, Catwoman is shot with a silver wooded bolt by Joker, which was intended for Batman, who holds Catwoman in his arms as she dies.
Batman then chases the Joker through the church in rage. Although the Joker manages to activate his trap, involving Batman being sprayed with holy water, it no longer affects Batman in his rage. Batman then punches the Joker in the head, snapping his neck, before biting his neck and sucking out his blood. Batman screams in rage that he has failed massively and that it is far too late to head back now. He then flies back home, leaving a note for Alfred, ordering him to kill him using a stake. This causes Alfred to cry and when he and Gordon find Batman’s body in the crypt, they thrust the stake into Batman’s heart using a hammer, while saying “To Death… In Peace”. Batman whispers his last words, before dying, leaving Alfred and Gordon to walk away…
MY THOUGHTS
Following on from the classic story of Red Rain, the story direction for Bloodstorm was an obvious, but natural and masterful direction that Moench took. For every page of this story, we witness Batman’s downfall and the long list of harsh negatives of being a vampire, one of which is the constant desire for blood. In fact, in terms of character, it is a stroke of genius. We begin the story with Batman doing what he does: fighting criminals and saving the innocent. This not only reminds us of the character of Batman and what he stands for, but it also shows that despite being a vampire, he still wants to fight crime. This adds so much to his downfall as throughout the story, we see his primary aim clash with his desire for blood, but more on that in a bit. The remergence of the vampires is the very start of Batman’s downfall, as we see him remember Tanya in dreams and we see him prepare to fight the vampires using his new tools. It is at this point that we see Batman take potions that attempt to control his vampiric urges. From that scene, we can tell that Batman is facing problems and it is then that we begin to head down the long stairwell, taking us to death (a bit grim, I know). This leads us to an excellent scene in terms of drama and character, displaying Batman fighting a vampire, who constantly tells Batman that he isn’t a special vampire or a unique one: he is just a vampire. This really hits hard and has a huge impact on Batman as a character as when you read up until that point, we really believe Batman to be a some heroic special vampire that could almost rule them all if he desired. This is because we have seen him defeat Dracula, but when that one regular vampire tells Batman that he is simply just a vampire, we believe and make sense of it. Looking at his powers as a vampire, Batman can turn to mist, fly using giant wings, transform into bats and so on. Thinking about it, couldn’t Dracula do that? In fact, can’t any vampire do that? This just shows that behind all of the crimefighting shenanigans, Batman is a regular vampire, and like any other vampire… he needs blood. Then, pretty much for the duration of the story, we see Batman fighting himself like a drug addict looking to become clean. It doesn’t take long for him to give in though, as he ends up eating a rat and then killing the Joker after he kills Catwoman. That moment when the Joker kills Catwoman is pretty much what the tale has been building up to, as you know that in the end, Batman will give in and of course, he does. However, the execution by Moench is done brilliantly as we see Batman face the Joker with some excellent and creepy dialogue, before biting his prey. This is Batman’s (continues after image)
failure and its not just himself that he has failed, but also Selina. Now, I’ll come onto Selina in a bit, but her death in the story is arguably the best part. That’s not because of my views on the character, but it is because of Batman’s character and in the aftermath, one thing I noticed only on my second read was that when Batman leaves the church, cats around screech at him and threaten to attack him with their sharp claws. This adds to Batman’s failure as it shows that even the very allies of Selina have a bad view of the fallen hero. I think that you could most probably tell that to me, Batman is the best character of this story by a country mile, but I am inclined to speak about the other characters and what they mean to the plot. Pretty much all of the characters fit perfectly into the story and I think that Moench writes them very well. Selina, while lacking background, is ultimately an important character for the story due to her death, but it also adds another secondary character that isn’t Alfred. Not to say that I dislike Alfred’s character or role here, god no, but in terms of this story as a whole, the scenes that he does feature in feel unique and very special, especially when considering that Alfred is a sort of father-figure to Batman and it is clear that his downfall clearly troubles him. Wow, that was a huge diversion, but at least I covered Alfred. But yeah, Selina, if a tad shallow, does add a new perspective to being infected as we see her transform into a Catwoman type creature and overall, she does have a huge part to play in the story as Batman’s comforting pal (for a brief time anyway). Like before, Gordon remains in the background and while I don’t find the plot that he is featured in to be as exciting or interesting as the one he was involved with in Red Rain, he does suitably feature in the ending (which I shall get onto later). Now, to the villains. Like before, the main villain is pretty much excluded from the vampires (even if Dracula was a vampire himself) as unlike the vampires that just walk around and do nothing (which they don’t here as much), the main villains actually have a character. Focusing on Bloodstorm, Joker features as the main villain and suitably so for a character that has to pretty much destroy Batman’s hope and mental integrity. As we have all seen, the Joker is Batman’s most destructive and impactfully evil foe and even in this Elseworlds case, this can be seen here. In fact, the Joker is my favourite character of the whole story. Yeah, I know I said that for Batman, but I’m an indecisive f*ck. This is a pretty dark story, full of murders, gore and all the rest of it and while the Joker himself is evil and deranged (as he should be), he just makes the story so much more entertaining and fun to read. Some of his lines and gags can be (continues after image)
funny and his interaction with the vampires adds so much to the story. Speaking of the vampires, they are actually better than how they were in the Red Rain story. In that story, they just sort of stand around, chase some people and eventually get killed. This didn’t come across as a very huge threat, but here, we see them kill so many people and even bite somebody’s face off, pretty cruel stuff. This makes the villains believable evil that they have to be dealt with using murderous anti-vampire weaponry as they come across as a genuine threat. Plus, even though he lacks a character and he is quite simple, I understand the presence of Creach, as not only does he introduce Selina into the story, but he gives a character for the Joker to talk to. While the plot may feel very similar in numerous places in the story, I thought that the pacing was done incredibly well and unlike the first story, it didn’t really have a slow start and it was well paced throughout. Most of the plot was focused on Batman, a decision that I am very happy with, but it also meant that other characters could actually get a look in. Like I said before, the story builds up brilliantly to Batman’s demise and when that ending happens, it is quite emotional, especially from Alfred’s perspective. The last pages of the story just show that Bruce has given up and that he can no longer be Batman as he has taken a human life (even if it was the Joker’s life). When Gordon and Alfred kill Batman and leave his body dead, we get a sense of miserable sadness, one which makes us sad about what happened to Batman and due to that, the story ends on a pretty sour note. But we do obviously get the positive that Batman is now at peace and is resting (until the third story). But overall, the plot is very good and is better than Red Rain, but one of the greatest things about the story is certainly the sense of character that Moench displays.
Like in most instances, even in a brilliant story, there are some negatives and here there are just a few, one of which is Selina Kyle, probably the weakest character in the story as I thought that she was pretty vague. We don’t really know anything of her background or character and although some may from the information given from the mainstream comics, her background might be different here, meaning that it has to be mentioned or shown. Also, as Creach is a vampire (that transforms into a wolf), why does Selina become a Catwoman thingy. It would have made more sense if Creach had become a tiger and then bit Selina as her transformation would have made a bit more sense that what we were given. I think some development was needed there just to make the character of Selina feel more realistic. Apart from that, there isn’t actually much else, apart from a few things. For instance, one plot hole at the end is that does Batman cut off Joker’s head? We obviously see Batman bite the Joker and kill him, but he doesn’t cut off his head, meaning that the Joker could easily rise from the dead and attack Gotham once more. I guess that this adds a sense of mystery to the end of the villain, but it does come across as a bit inconsistent. It is also strange that Alfred and Gordon don’t cut off Batman’s head after they kill him. Surely Batman would have told them to do that in the note (but then again, we wouldn’t have a sequel to this story is they had done that). Lastly, although there is a horror tone and a spooky one at that, I don’t find it to be as atmospheric as the first one. There is certainly a lot of action, gore and blood in this story, you know, hard-hitting stuff, but I feel like some more creepy aspects could have been used to build up the story. That being said, there is some of that in the story, as you can certainly see in the artwork.
Once again, Kelley Jones pencils the story and like before, the art is very good and full of horrific touches just to make the story better. Like before, Batman is shown very menacingly, except more so here, as he is now a vampire. In fact, there are a few panels which actually look quite frightening and really add that tone hanging over the
story. Jones also displays his unique, scary, but entertaining view of the Joker, which looks great. The other characters are all done very well and aspects like the backgrounds add so much to the story, making some scenes look so unique. Obviously, this is also enhanced and aided by the inker, John Beatty, who I believe does Jones a bit better than Malcolm Jones III. However, a lot of that could be down to how Kelley Jones’s art style evolved, but as before it is very good and adds so much to the tale.
VERDICT
Overall, Batman: Bloodstorm is actually better than its prequel for the reasons that I have explained. The main plot highlighting the downfall of Batman is told exceptionally brilliantly and the presence of the Joker makes the story so much more enjoyable, along with the numerous other features of the story, which all make this an entertaining read. Of course, there are a few faults in terms of the plot, but the art is magnificent and really adds a horror tone to the story. Now, I’m sure you all know what’s coming up next, before we get to the Crisis posts which will take us up to the end of the year. Batman: Crimson Mist is the end of the Vampire Trilogy and while its… No… I’ll save it for next time.
Story: 9/10
Art: 9.5/10
Highlighted Character: Vampire Batman or Joker (either one will do)
Next Review: Batman: Crimson Mist. Written by Doug Moench with art by Kelley Jones and John Beatty. Expected to be published by 27/10/2019.
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