5. Gotham By Gaslight
Gotham by Gaslight was DC's first "Elseworlds" story, by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola, published in February 1989. It's very much a steam-punk take on the Dark Knight, and takes place in the Victorian era of 1889. Much of Bruce's origin is the same, and at the beginning of the story Bruce is touring Europe, training to become Batman. He returns home, and before long it's revealed that Jack the Ripper has come to Gotham as well. Bruce is immediately suspected of the crimes (after all, he's the eccentric son of a doctor with some strange nocturnal habits). It's a radically different take on Batman that works wonderfully, and the steam-punk aspect of the artwork is beautiful and just plain awesome. There was once a videogame adaptation in the works, but it was eventually scrapped, so I guess an animated feature is the next best thing.