Originally published as an Elseworlds one-shot (1991) Keeping with the vampire theme, the first Elseworlds slot is awarded to "Batman & Dracula: Red Rain", a fantastic Batman book which spawned two sequels. Elseworlds tales, unlike Marvel's What If? series, aren't necessarily tied to a single shifted point on the canonical DC timeline. Even those that do diverge from a popular storyline tend to be much kinder on readers who may be unfamiliar with that original story, as opposed to the Elseworlds counterpart at Marvel. In that respect, "Red Rain" is straightforward: Dracula comes to Gotham, and Batman does the only thing he can to protect his city in sacrificing himself to combat the new enemy. He becomes a vampire himself, dedicated completely to the eradication of Dracula and his murderous horde. As clear-cut as the synopsis sounds, "Red Rain" is anything but predictable. Batman's rule against killing is now jeopardized to a dangerous extent as Bruce's bloodlust becomes ever more insatiable. Part of the brilliance of "Red Rain" lies in bringing this desire to kill to the forefront of the story in order to examine it. The writers take a further step by asking if newfound vampirism is the cause for this sinful desire, or if it only heightened a human part of Bruce that he had suppressed. On the whole, this book is certainly one of the high water marks for the entire Elseworlds series.
