By d. emerson eddy — It's been roughly a year since we modified the format for Monday's weekly review in response to the shift in the industry that occurred due to everything in the world changing gears. That first Classic Comic was a bit of comfort food in Batman #520, one of my favorite issues amidst the Doug Moench and Kelley Jones run (though the issue itself was illustrated by the legend Eduardo Barreto). I wanted to go back to another little piece of comfort that helped lead to that run on the ongoing series, the Elseworlds tale, Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, from Doug Moench, Kelley Jones, Malcolm Jones III, Les Dorscheid, and Todd Klein.

The story brings Bram Stoker's legendary vampire to Gotham City, feeding on the city's homeless and undesirables, while Batman is visited nightly by a strange woman who turns into mist in his dreams. It's a compelling — and natural — melding of vampires and Batman, which at no point really feels like a “crossover” or alternate universe (though you'll understand why it's an Elseworlds title as the story progresses). 

Amidst the horror and vampire action, Doug Moench also weaves in some interesting topical points, especially in the early '90s as concerns from the '80s carried over in new forms, concerns of pollution, bloodborne diseases, and homelessness. Raising questions of how changing our environment — often for the worse — has in turn affected us. Though not quite epistolary in actual form, there's also a kind of nod to Bram Stoker's original tale in the narration boxes. Todd Klein very nicely varies the typeset used for the different characters' voices.

The artwork here from Kelley Jones, Malcolm Jones III, and Les Dorscheid is incredible. Kelley Jones' style here is somewhat more restrained, and I suppose you could say “realistic”, compared to the exaggerated character work he'd develop through his Batman run and certainly in his modern work on things like Swamp Thing (incorporating what I feel are more Bernie Wrightson influences for some character designs).

It works incredibly well, giving a dark and dangerous Gotham City with some heavy gothic and medieval touches to the architecture and an inky depth to the shadows in Batman and Dracula. Even pulling the lighting eye trick from Bela Lugosi's Dracula to blend some conventions from film into the story. Dorscheid's color palette here is somewhat muted, leaving the dark blues of Batman, the red rain, and the black-tinged blood to stand out against that backdrop.

Overall, Batman & Dracula: Red Rain from Moench, Jones, Jones, Dorscheid, and Klein is a wonderful blend of two properties into a seamless, exciting horror story. It also went on to spawn two sequels that kind of leaned into the excesses of what Elseworlds could do and made possible the incredible run from Moench and Jones on the ongoing Batman series.

Batman and Dracula - Red Rain

Batman and Dracula - Red Rain
Writer: Doug Moench
Penciller: Kelley Jones
Inkers: Malcolm Jones III
Colorist: Les Dorscheid
Letterers: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: December 12, 1991
In this Elseworlds tale the Dark Knight Detective matches wits and brawn against one of the most dangerous adversaries in literature. A plague of the undead is sweeping across the city and the police are powerless to stop it. Dracula has come to Gotham, and the streets will run red with the blood of its citizens unless Batman can find a way to defeat this legendary foe.
Price: Batman and Dracula - Red Rain $1.99 | Also available in Elseworlds: Batman – Volume 2 ($8.99)

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.