I think that it was safe to say that a lot happened between the release of Batman: Bloodstorm in 1994 and its sequel, Crimson Mist in 1999. In that long five-year gap, Elseworlds stories blew up in demand and became incredibly popular. This is the period where these alternate reality stories were arguably at their peak (until the late 2000s), with the annuals of 1994 being released under the label and the 1996 annuals being titled something similar to Elseworlds, Legends of the Dead Earth, stories which take place in the possible far future, showing that classic heroes like Superman and Batman still live on as legends, but more on that another time. Also, in the five year gap was an important time for the Batman (vol 1) title, as Doug Moench, Kelley Jones and John Beatty (who all worked on Dark Joker and Bloodstorm) were now the creative team (on issues 515-519, 521-525, 527-532, 535-552). Although I’m not reviewing those stories for quite some time, I must confess that their run is very good not only due to the expected horror tone underlying throughout, but also because they feel like very traditional Batman detective stories while featuring most of his famous villains. However, just before the beginning of the Road to No Man’s Land saga (and then the core of No Man’s Land), the trio left the title. DC wanted Moench, Jones and Beatty to produce the third instalment of the Batman Vampire trilogy. The team decided that unlike the previous story (where Batman is killed by Gordon and Alfred), the Crimson Mist story was to be the ending of the tale, with no possibility of a fourth instalment. Because of this, Moench wanted to make this tale the darkest and most unsettling of them all… and he succeeded alright…
Batman: Crimson Mist, the third and final story in the Batman: Vampire trilogy is (just like the two before it) around one-hundred pages long and was released in 1999, eight years after Red Rain. As usual, the story is written by Doug Moench with art by Kelley Jones, along with inks by John Beatty (who only inked the second story in the series, not the first). Obviously, this story was printed under the Elseworlds imprint and I have read this concluding chapter of the story in the Batman: Vampire trade
paperback, collecting the three stories of the series.
THE PLOT
Seemingly some years after the events of Bloodstorm (1994), Batman is still dead in his tomb, now in skeletal form. Although he is dead, his consciousness is still present, and he is angry that his mind is still alive in his fake death limbo. Meanwhile, Alfred wakes up from a nightmare about when he and Gordon killed Batman, wondering what will happen to Gotham without Batman. At the same time in a hospital, District Attorney Harvey Dent is getting his bandages removed by doctors after a gangster threw acid at his face in court. But, when the doctor removes the bandages, Harvey, noticing that one half of his face is completely burnt and critically damaged, becomes angry, screams about how the law doesn’t want him and then punches the doctor, before running out of the hospital to become a crime lord. Meanwhile on the streets, a prostitute is grabbed by a strange creature from the sewers, who takes her deeper into the tunnels before eating her. The creature, who is Killer Croc, leaves the half-eaten body in the sewer, before heading out to hunt again. Elsewhere in Gotham, Jonathan Crane becomes the Scarecrow and finds somebody who used to bully him. Scarecrow breaks into the bully’s home, spraying him with fear gas before violently killing him with a sharp object. While Batman is still mad and angry stuck in limbo, Commissioner Gordon visits Alfred to make him aware of the crime wave going through the city. Gordon wishes that Batman was still around (not as a vampire though) to help him take out these new villains, like the Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two Face, Scarecrow and Killer Croc. Gordon then leaves Alfred, thanking him for listening. Alone, Alfred wonders that even as a vampire, Batman couldn’t be evil as he only killed one victim, the Joker. He then heads to the tomb of Batman, where he decides to try and revive his master by pulling out the stake from his heart. After using a lot of strength, Alfred pulls out the stake and Batman leaps up with his eyes (continues after image)
now red. However, Batman screams at his old friend, telling him that he was a fool for not cutting his head off after he killed him with the stake. Although Alfred tries to convince Batman that he is the same man and that his heart is good, Batman says otherwise as his heart is powered by the evil of its soul victim, the Joker. In fear, Alfred warns Batman about the new criminals of Gotham and how he is needed to defeat them, but he claims that the city doesn’t need another monster. Alfred then offers to give his blood to Batman, making him angry as he has been tempted by the offer. Batman then pushes his old friend away violently, before vanishing into crimson mist, leaving the tomb and Alfred to think about what he has done. Shocked, Gordon is told the news by Alfred, causing the Commissioner to think as Alfred wasn’t killed by him, maybe he still has some humanity. Meanwhile on the streets, the police are chasing Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin. But the Penguin and his goons are attacked by Batman, who then disarms them all before biting the Penguin’s neck, killing him and taking his blood. Batman then tells the goons that he wants to know where the rest of the Penguin’s gang is, before he takes their blood and heads. He finds the information from the goons and locates their hideout, killing everyone there, destroying the Penguin’s gang. The next night, Gordon and Alfred activate the bat-signal on top of the police building, causing Batman to arrive in his evil bat form. Nervously, Gordon shows Batman a clue from the Riddler. Batman then speaks again about how they have released him from death as a plague on Gotham and how he will kill every criminal he comes across, before vanishing into red dust again. Later on, Batman finds the Riddler now more extreme than he once was, stealing drugs and murdering people. Although Riddler tries to kill Batman, he fails, and his blood is harvested. Next, Batman finds Scarecrow attacking another one of his school bullies, but before he can kill him, Batman decapitates the villain. Elsewhere, Two Face is speaking with Killer Croc and some gangsters about how they are going to defeat Batman. By flipping a coin, Two Face decides that they must defeat Batman by teaming up with their opposites, meaning Gordon and the police. Meanwhile, Poison Ivy controls another person to be her slave, before poisoning him and killing him. Batman then appears to Ivy, decaying all of her plants, before biting her neck and taking her blood. The next night, Gordon and Alfred speak about how Batman has become a predator, rather than a murderer. But, as an officer of the law, Gordon accepts that Batman is a killer, never minding who his victims were, and that they must kill him for good. However, their conversation is cut short when they notice the bat-signal shining in the sky. Alfred and Gordon go to the roof of the police building, prepared with silver crosses, but instead, they find Two Face and Killer Croc waiting for them. Although tensions between the two groups are high, the villains offer an alliance with Gordon and Alfred, but they aren’t interested. Two Face and Killer Croc then leave, telling them that they can have time to think about their proposal. Gordon explains to Alfred that he can’t get the police involved (for some reason) or the government as they would think that Gordon was crazy. After a bit of a guilt trip for both of them, Gordon thinks about where Batman may be hiding in the day, causing Alfred to believe that it could be the ruins and caves under Wayne Manor. Meanwhile, Batman heads to gangster Black Mask’s hideout, where he violently kills him and all of his goons. He then collects all of their heads, placing them on pikes around the Blackgate Prison building as a warning to every criminal in the building. Batman then heads to Arkham Asylum, where Doctor Arkham is happy that things have been quiet in the building since the Joker died. However, things get noisy when Batman violently bites, kills and decapitates, Amygdala, Mad Hatter, Victor Zsasz and some others. An orderly runs into Doctor Arkham’s office, telling him that all the inmates are dead. Suddenly, the head of one of them is thrown on Arkham’s desk, with a note written in blood telling him that he can go home as his work is now done. Batman then leaves the asylum in his red mist form. Close to dawn, Alfred and Gordon decide to team up with Two Face, Killer Croc and his goons to take on Batman. In the day, they all meet, prepared with oak bolts, crossbows, crucifixes and holy water. Gordon decides to lay the trap for Batman in the centre of the cave and the trap is Alfred, the person who Batman has always trusted (until he got those long fangs obviously). Gordon then plans that the sun will be what kills Batman as it should defeat him for good. In the cave, Batman hears their plan and at night, heads out to visit Ariane (from the Red Rain and Bloodstorm stories), who is convinced by Batman’s appearance that she is now in danger. Batman asks her if a vampire can be killed for good and definitively, but all she can recommend is a stake through the heart. This makes Batman angry as that failed last time. He explains that his temporary death was like hell and it was inescapable. Although Ariane can’t give an answer on how a vampire can be permanently killed, Batman becomes livid once again and flies out of Ariane’s room. He returns to the cave’s underneath Wayne Manor, where he remembers Tanya and Selina (from Red Rain and Bloodstorm respectively), before remembering that he has to kill Killer Croc and Two Face in order to make Gotham a cleaner place. The next morning, Gordon tells everybody in the cave to get into position for the trap. Gordon asks Alfred one last time if he is sure about doing this, which he is as he knows no other way in which to defeat Batman. In the centre of the cave, Alfred calls his master, who appears incredibly quickly and instantly tells him that he knows of the trap. Two Face’s goons begin firing at Batman, who is attacked by Killer Croc. While this is happening, Two Face demands Gordon activate the explosives they planted in the cave to defeat Batman using the sunlight, but Gordon refuses as victory is dependent on where the sun is in the sky. Meanwhile, Batman still fights with Croc, but luckily, Gordon manages to shoot Batman using a bolt through his back, injuring him. Croc then punches Batman deeper into the chasm of the cave and he is seemingly defeated. Although Alfred and Gordon stand over the abyss, hoping that it is what Batman would have wanted, the moment is cut short when Two Face, Croc and the others turn on the two of them. A fight then ensues between the two factions, with all of the goons being defeated, Alfred hiding from Croc and Gordon in a shooting match with Two Face. After hiding, Alfred hears Batman’s voice and locates his master climbing up from the depths of the cave to him. Batman, in pain and calmed down, tells Alfred that the bolt just grazed his heart. Alfred then tells him that he can’t just leave him, causing Batman to question why Alfred is still faithful. Then, Alfred tells his master that he is needed to defeat Two Face and Croc and that he is willing to sacrifice his blood to him in order to achieve that. Once Batman comes to terms with that and painfully pulls the bolt out of his back, he tells Alfred that after the killings, there will be no more. At the same time as Two Face hunting Gordon, Croc is searching for Alfred and becoming angry. However, Croc is surprised when Alfred’s head drops to the ground, causing Croc to look up, where he sees Batman falling towards him with a stalagmite. Quickly, Croc is stabbed to death with the stalagmite by Batman, who then finds Gordon and Two Face. Using two crossbow bolts, Batman stabs Two Face through both sides of his face, killing him. Gordon (continues after image)
becomes nervous as he expects Batman to kill him for stabbing him, but he doesn’t. Instead, Batman tells him that Alfred is now dead, and that Gordon must finally kill him using the explosives planted in the cave. In rage, Batman holds Gordon up by the neck, prepared to kill him if he doesn’t tell him how to activate the bomb. After some time, Gordon tells him that the activation switch for the bomb is in his belt. Gordon is then released, and he activates the bomb, causing the roof of the cave to explode. Slowly, the roof begins to fall down, but Gordon didn’t expect the explosion to be as big as it was. Although Batman orders him to run to the exit, it is blocked off. Gordon tells Batman that he hopes that god will have mercy on both of their souls, before rocks fall down on him and crush him to death. Alone, Batman says that god will have mercy on Gordon’s soul and on Alfred’s, but not his own. Batman then heads out into the harsh sunlight, where his skeleton begins to turn to dust. Batman is then eaten up by the sunlight, with his cape and cowl attaching themselves to a rocky pillar with the
corpses of Alfred and Gordon nearby…
MY THOUGHTS
Wow, that was a grim way to end the story and that just isn’t going off just the ending, but the whole thing really. Compared to its two predecessors, this is the most violent and the darkest of all of them, with the horror tone being re-introduced back into the trilogy as if you recall, I thought that the second one, while it was very good, lacked a lot of the horror that made the first one good. Now, the main plot is actually a lot smaller than Red Rain and Bloodstorm, for numerous apparent reasons, but starting at the top, we are reintroduced to the dead vampire Batman very well and the first few pages of the story really do have a sinister and creepy vibe to them. We see a skeletal Batman lying in his tomb, still alive even though he is meant to be dead. This is actually one of my favourite aspects of the story and I think that Moench could have developed this further. Batman is stuck in a sort of limbo where everything is black. This makes the prospect of Batman’s death scarier and more chilling, as we see him dead visually, but inside he isn’t. We are then shown what Gotham City has now become, which is basically like the regular old Gotham City from the regular comics, if a bit more horrific. While I get that this does lose the sort of uniqueness of the world that these stories take place on, it is great seeing most of the villains returning, especially ones like Two Face and Scarecrow, both of whom we are introduced to and told some background information about. This is actually quite good for the fact that even though all of the characters won’t make it to the end of the tale, they do feel like developed characters, making their deaths much more impactful. Now is a suitable time to mention Batman’s return, which is arguably the best scene of the whole story due to its execution and display of character from both Batman and Alfred. Firstly, the mood and setting for the revival of Batman is excellent: in a tomb and its dark. Great stuff. Secondly, while this is certainly aided by the art, both characters are presented incredibly well and realistically so in my view. Batman’s heart has been tainted by the villainous blood of the Joker, which as an excuse for making him evil, does make sense as there isn’t any other way that that sudden change in character could be accomplished. He is now cruel and abusive to Alfred, which in turn changes his character. Throughout the whole tale, Alfred is the best character as he feels the most human. We see instances that he thinks of himself as a friend and father-figure to Batman as not only is he willing to sacrifice himself later on in the story, but he constantly looks out for Batman in order to save him and see if he is okay. Like I said this makes his character more human and he feels genuine as his character has fundamentally remained the same since Batman’s death. There are also other great plot moments involving Alfred, like him being used as the bait and also the nightmares, both of which perfectly explain why he is putting himself in harms way. He feels responsible for not only Batman’s death, but also his resurrection and due to that, his death at the end of the story comes as a bit of a shock, but it also ties up his character in this story very well, showing that he was and forever will be faithful to his master. Throughout most of the story, we just see Batman kill all of his major villains. These parts of the story go on from start to finish and while some are better than others due to the method of death and/or character, they all feel incredibly impactful and shocking. Some notable deaths are Penguin, for being the first unexpected death, Scarecrow, for how violent it was, Zsasz due to the exaggerated scream of “Yaugh-K!” (whatever that sounds like in real life I don’t know) (continues after image)
and Two Face, which is both creative and hard-hitting as in the regular comics world,
Batman was once friends with Harvey. The murderous brutal scenes of death are at their best in tone in the asylum, which is written very well and the note that Batman leaves for Doctor Arkham is very unsettling. All of these scenes reinforce the huge character leap of Batman, but it does show that he has a sense of right and wrong still, as he will only kill criminals, but never innocent people. Lastly for the positives, the ending of the story is executed so well, and it has that feeling of a unnatural and abnormal conclusion. Once we see the death of Gordon (which I will get onto in a bit), Batman has a monologue about how he has succeeded in his task of keeping Gotham safe, but at a huge cost. We then see him turn to dust, which is a great page and while it does obviously show that this is the end of the story, it feels quite horrible in a sense that the whole thing has ended without anybody present to actually see it. Sure, its conclusive alright, but it has that devious and great hint of bitterness that everyone had died. It is certainly an ending that will stay with me. Apart from that, some other scenes and characters stuck out, for instance, Gordon, who is actually similar to Alfred in many respects. He has that same sense of guilt hanging over him and he does act as a sort of reasonable force for good, but Alfred is better due to the connection he and Batman had. Also, the team-up between the villains and heroes wasn’t expected to last long, but because of that, it brings up tension in the story and the stakes are constantly high. Lastly, although it isn’t a highlight in the story, Batman’s last meeting with Ariane keeps the same old tradition going and for that reason I think that it works for this story.
Right, now, this story is by far the weakest of the three in the vampire-trilogy. The reason I say that is because not only do you probably already know that, but because you may have noticed that I’m not keen on a lot of the things I would say are good about this story. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad story or even a generic average one for the reasons that I discussed, but it lacks a lot. Something that is notable in this story is that Moench doesn’t appear to be totally engaged in the story or passionate about it compared to the previous two. This is actually because the plot feels nowhere near as full as either Red Rain and Bloodstorm and I am actually quite surprised that they managed to spread this pretty basic plot out for one hundred pages. The main parts of the tale are the death scenes and while they are hard hitting, they go on for way too long and just like the rest of the story, there is a
f*ck load of padding. After a while, the deaths just become natural and while some of them are more interesting due to how creative they can be, it just makes for pretty boring reading. This also affects the pacing of the story as a whole, which feels incredibly fast paced and good at the start and end, but in the middle, it feels too slow and nothing really happens for quite some time. I think that this huge problem is actually caused by the page length of the story, which is far too long. I believe that this story presented here could have been told in about fifty to seventy-five pages and if they needed the story to be the page length that it is, the story would need to be re-written, especially if you want readers to be properly and totally engaged throughout. One big character problem I have with the story is Batman. Yes, I explained earlier that I feel that the transition in his character made sense and that he clashed well with Alfred and others, but as a whole, his portrayal as a constantly angry predator that kills pretty much every evil thing in his path becomes pretty tiresome after a while. He is just like that for most of the story and most of the time, you don’t even really need to read his dialogue, particularly in the scenes where he kills the villains, where he seems to just say the same thing to all of them before tearing them apart. Then there is my issue with some of the story choices taken, particularly in the cave scenes. When Alfred, Gordon, Two Face, Croc and the others are in his cave, Batman heads out to meet Ariane, which is an ultimately pointless meeting and is only there for the sake of tradition. He then heads back to the cave, where he has to wait for Alfred to call him before he can come out and begin his killing spree. Not only that, but Batman clearly notices everyone hanging around in his cave and due to that, why doesn’t he just begin killing them all then. This really isn’t helped by the problem that Batman is pretty indecisive about whether he wants to die or not, as one moment he begs for Alfred or Gordon to try and kill him and then the next he attacks people trying to kill him or he tries to prevent anyone from doing what he asked. Speaking of Gordon, there is one line that really bothered me when reading it, which was that the police and government would think he is insane if he told them that Batman was come back to life as a vampire. Um, what? This is the same world where Dracula existed and flew over Gotham City while Batman grew wings to fight him. Like I said, this isn’t a bad story as there are numerous scenes which I enjoy, but I think that Moench didn’t put his full effort into it, meaning that the plot feels very inconsistent at times and there are numerous moments and occasions where the story just doesn’t add up.
As opposed to Moench’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for the story, Jones shows the exact opposite as you can just tell by the stuff that he had to draw that he was going to like this one. Expectedly so, the art here is just as horrific, spooky and atmospheric as Jones has always been, in fact, more so. As this is five years after Bloodstorm, since then, Jones has drawn his run on Batman. Due to that, his art is much more stylised and recognisable as Kelley Jones, due to the lighting and design of the people. As ever, Beatty’s inks over Jones are very good as it brings out the true potential of Jones’s art. My only real problems with it is that in terms of proportion, some panels look quite
strange and while the digital colouring by Gregory Wright is mostly good, there are times where it does look unconvincing.
VERDICT
Overall, Batman: Crimson Mist is certainly the weakest of the three stories in the Batman Vampire trilogy. Like the previous stories, there is a pretty good sense of character and there are some great moments throughout. However, the story doesn’t feel as developed as its prequels and it does come across as lazy in terms of execution in some areas. That being said, the art makes the story much better and more entertaining to read as we witness the great return of the aspect of horror in these stories. But looking at the three stories together, the vampire trilogy is certainly a classic Elseworlds tale and that is no surprise due to its unique presentation in terms of both story and art. However, this is obviously the end of the vampire stories, meaning that next time, we will be moving onto the next and final series of posts for this year and I’ll say this, you might enjoy them if you like plot, character and words… lots and lots of words…
Story: 6.5/10
Art: 9.5/10
Highlighted Character: Alfred Pennyworth (why does Gordon always call him by his surname only in this story?)
Next Review: Crisis on Multiple Earths Tales Part One (1963-1966) (Justice League of America (vol 1) 21-22, 29-30, 37-38, 46-47) Written by Gardner Fox with art by Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs and Sid Greene. Expected to be published by 03/11/2019.
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