10 Factors That Give Batman The Best Extended Comics Universe

4. Batman Stories Lend Themselves To Multiple Genres

Earlier, we wrote about how Batman is the most adaptable character in comics. This applies to the genre of story being told, as well as how he can be revamped to suit the stories of the day. Batman has been the star of many genres through comics history: superhero adventure, hard-boiled crime, horror, romance and detective mystery, to name but a few. The only genre that Batman hasn't mastered is comedy, really, although DC are having a crack at that currently with the digital first series Batman '66, telling stories set within the world of the campy 1960's TV show. Holy jokes, Batman! Batman's association with horror has always been a strong one, given how the character has often been portrayed as a Gothic agent of terror. Writer Doug Moench and artist Kelley Jones delivered a trio of Batman vs Dracula stories in the 1990's, with Red Rain, Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist. Batman also tangled with Jack The Ripper in Gotham By Gaslight, by Brian Augustyn and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. These were published under the imprint Elseworlds, which specifically allowed creators the opportunity to tell stories with recognisable characters in wildly different genres and settings. A more recent example of the freedom afforded to Batman writers, in regards to different genres, is Grant Morrison's The Return Of Bruce Wayne series. After being 'killed' by Darkseid, Batman is revealed to actually be travelling through the timestream of the DC Universe. Each of the six issues in the series covers a different genre/time period: caveman, Salem witch trials, pirates, wild west, noir and finally back to a more recognisable Batman tale. There are truly very few boundaries when telling a Batman story, and this is intrinsic in giving Batman the best extended universe in comic books.