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Even the most die-hard fans of Batman might agree that there are almost too many ongoing titles and limited series featuring the Dark Knight to keep up with. That is why one should be thankful for the invention of the one-shot.
This term describes a single-issue comic that follows a hero on an adventure that, in many cases, even takes place within its own continuity. Batman has been the star of many a fun one-shot, but only a handful are considered his most enduring masterpieces of the like.
Batman Takes On Jack The Ripper In Gotham By Gaslight
One-shots make up many of the best Batman Elseworlds stories, which reimagine the Dark Knight's origins almost from the ground up. Some of these tales do not only take place in another world, but also another time, such as what is often cited as DC's first-ever Elseworlds story, Gotham by Gaslight.
Written by Brian Augustyn and illustrated by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, the 1989 release takes place 100 years earlier, during which this reality's version of Bruce Wayne returns to his native city to begin his crusade against crime. His first mission as Batman is to investigate a series of murders by a killer who has moved to Gotham from England, where he was known as Jack the Ripper.
The Man Who Laughs Reimagines Batman And Joker's First Encounter
Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson modeled their creation of Batman's archnemesis, The Joker (who first appeared in 1940's Batman #1), on an unsettling image of a grinning Conrad Veidt from the 1928 silent thriller, The Man Who Laughs. What better name for a story that reinterprets these iconic rivals' first quarrel?
Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Doug Mahnke's 2005 one-shot, intended to be a successor to Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, sees Gotham City plagued by the emergence of a madman causing people to literally die laughing. Allied with Captain James Gordon, Batman accepts the responsibility of catching this psychopath, who is anything but discreet about his sinister intentions.
Batman: Earth One Is Geoff Johns' Own Year One
Speaking of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, said 1987 limited series is the author's own reinterpretation of the early days of Bruce Wayne's war on crime in Gotham City. Of course, Miller is not the first author to explore the superhero's origins from a new angle, and he certainly would not be the last.
Geoff Johns, in collaboration with artist Gray Frank, took a crack at giving the Dark Knight a new backstory in 2012 with Batman: Earth One, which takes Wayne's relationship with Alfred Pennyworth in a particularly unique direction. The graphic novel would spawn two subsequent volumes in 2015 and 2021, and has proved influential on modern screen reinterpretations of Batman in his amateur hour, such as in Matt Reeves' The Batman.
Batman: Ego Inspired Matt Reeves
Speaking of Matt Reeves' The Batman, the filmmaker actually looked at several different interpretations of the character when preparing his hit 2022 DC flick starring Robert Pattinson, which spawned the upcoming The Batman Part II. One story he cited as an especially important source of inspiration is Batman: Ego.
At face value, the main villain of Darwyn Cooke's 2000 graphic novel is The Joker, but, in truth, the more damaging threat that Bruce Wayne is forced to contend with is his own inner demons. Ego is one of the more fascinating Batman stories ever told, especially from a psychological perspective, as it takes a deep, delirious dive into the hero's mind, tormented by the haunting memories of his parents' tragic murder.
Bruce Wayne Becomes Green Lantern In Batman: In Darkest Knight
Some of the most fun and intriguing one-shots combine the origin stories of two different superheroes into one, such as 1993's Superman: Speeding Bullets, in which Kal-El is adopted by the Waynes. Another Elseworlds story released the following year asks the question, what if Bruce Wayne was chosen to join the Green Lantern Corps?
The answer is provided in Batman: In Darkest Knight, from writer Mike Barr and artist Jeremy Bigham, which begins with Abin Sur passing his ring off to the wealthy heir just as he is pondering how he will manage to strike fear into the hearts of the evil and corrupt. The story thankfully never loses sight of Bruce's signature characteristics, even showing him quarreling with fellow Lanterns over where his loyalties lie, in Gotham or the rest of the galaxy.
Arkham Asylum Is Batman's Terrifying Die Hard Moment
Being a mental hospital known for housing Gotham's most notorious psychopathic criminals, one would assume that Arkham Asylum is a place one would not want to be inside for very long. Writer Grant Morrison supposedly took that thought strongly to heart when envisioning his own exploration of the infamous building named Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
The 1989 one-shot, which follows the Caped Crusader struggling to find a means of escaping the hospital in the midst of a riot, served as the inspiration for the popular Batman: Arkham video game franchise. However, some might argue that the story still deserves a proper animated Batman movie adaptation, and especially one that brings artist Dave McKean's haunting artwork to life.
The Killing Joke Is The Ultimate Joker Story
Out of all the stories that prominently feature The Joker, the one that best defines Batman's arch nemesis is most likely writer Alan Moore and artist Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke. The 1988 graphic novel offers a humanizing inside look at the Gothamite's evolution into a maniacal monster, framed as flashbacks interspersed between a heart-wrenching central main story.
In more recent years, some have argued that the plot point involving Joker paralyzing Barbara Gordon with a gunshot and psychologically torturing her father, James Gordon, with graphic nude photos of her is handled in poor taste and makes it one of the more unreadable Batman comics in retrospect. On the other hand, it is acts of relentless and unpredictable evil like this that make the Clown Prince of Crime such an enduring force in the darker corners of DC's legacy.
Batman: Vengeance Of Bane Marks The Villain's Debut
Speaking of definitive moments in a comic book villain's legacy, the most influential story involving Bane is easily the Knightfall saga, in which he puts Batman out of commission by breaking his back. However, the very first appearance by the hulking criminal mastermind was actually in a one-shot.
Published in late 1992 with a Jan. 1993 cover date, Batman: Vengeance of Bane is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Graham Nolan. It reveals the villain's origins, from his tragic upbringing to becoming the sole survivor of the "Venom" experiments, and sees him set his sights on Gotham, which puts him on the Dark Knight's radar.
Batman: Noël Is A Dickensian Holiday Classic
There are very few superheroes who are gifted with the versatility that Batman boasts, allowing him to be seamlessly thrown into just about any type of situation, or any type of story. For instance, he could be the star of a modern reimagining of A Christmas Carol and it would make sense, as proven by Batman: Noël.
Writer and artist Lee Bermejo's beautifully illustrated 2011 graphic novel sees a more cynical than usual Bruce Wayne using an impoverished father named Bob Cratchit as bait to catch The Joker during the holiday season. The allusions to Charles Dickens' widely influential 1843 novella do not stop there, as the vigilante suddenly falls ill and begins to suffer hallucinations that ultimately inspire him to find a more optimistic solution to pursuing justice.
Batman & Dracula: Red Rain Pits The Vigilante Against The Vampire
A vigilante dressed as a nocturnal animal pitted against a supernatural creature of the night is a match in... well, certainly not Heaven, but it is an undeniably exciting concept, regardless. Andy Warhol explored the idea in a now-lost unofficial Batman movie that the pop art icon shot in 1964 called Batman Dracula, while DC would not catch up to it until 1991.
From writer Doug Moench and penciler Kelley Jones, Batman & Dracula: Red Rain is the first in a trilogy of one-shots that sees the vigilante taking on the lord of all vampires. Bruce Wayne is even horrified to discover that he has succumbed to the Count's bite, but uses his newfound abilities as a true creature of the night to his advantage.
