What do you think?
Rate this book
Batman: Elseworlds
Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham
A Lovecraftian tale of horror set in Gotham City co-written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.
In this tale of horror in Gotham City co-written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Bruce Wayne unintentionally brings a dark evil back from a rescue mission.
Collects: Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham #1-3!
In this tale of horror in Gotham City co-written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Bruce Wayne unintentionally brings a dark evil back from a rescue mission.
Collects: Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham #1-3!
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 22, 2015
85 people are currently reading
1239 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,865 books2,527 followersMike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 410 reviews
December 26, 2023
One of those Elseworld books where everything just clicks. Batman's world easily mashes up with Lovecraftian horror. Mignola has a long history with C'thulhu and it shows. I would have liked to see the Wayne family's backstory expanded and the Robins be more than cannon fodder but all in all a well crafted story with great coloring and pretty good art from Troy Nixey.
February 20, 2016
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham is a three-part Elseworlds story from 2000/2001 from writers Mike Mignola and Richard Pace who blended Batman with HP Lovecraft - a winning combo, right? Well, sort of…
It’s 1928 and an Antarctic expedition to retrieve the missing Professor Cobblepot led by eccentric millionaire Bruce Wayne reveals an unspeakable horror sleeping beneath the ice! It’s up to Batman to save Gotham from Yogs, Thoths, Sh’thgloths, Yhueth’sHUThgtsthathgueanths and other creatures whose names you can’t pronounce properly without a mouthful of peanut butter!
Seeing how Mignola is Mr Horror Comic, it makes sense for him to be co-writing a Lovecraftian comic and the idea is a good fit with Batman’s dark, gothic world. The Lovecraft elements are there: monsters in the ice, cursed books, slumbering tentacle creatures, doomed journal entries and so on.
Except Mignola/Pace can’t really make their alternate Bruce Wayne into a convincing Batman, motivation-wise. Sure there’s the “kid Bruce watching his parents killed” origin scene but absolutely no connection for him from that point on to becoming a Bat-themed vigilante. He becomes a seafarer who happens to have an old-timey Batman outfit for no reason!
The story suffers from a rambling, vague plot with too many characters who seem to be there as fanservice only. Jason Blood/Etrigan, Killer Croc, Mister Freeze, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Ollie Queen really don’t have major parts to play in the story but they’re a part of Batman’s world so let’s throw them in there anyway! I did like Barbara Gordon’s reimagining as a spirit medium - a true Oracle! - and the way Mignola/Pace used Two-Face as part of the warped finale.
Fans will be disappointed that Mignola only draws the covers which is probably why Troy Nixey was hired as he draws in a pretty good facsimile of Mignola’s style. Nixey even pays homage to the Mignolaverse by drawing Bruce like Lobster Johnson in Antarctica (those gogs!), Ra’s Al-Ghul as Rasputin, and Killer Croc as a frog monster! I enjoyed his depiction of Etrigan too who looks genuinely disturbing for a change. Nixey’s shortcoming seems to be kids as he makes Tim Drake look like a deformed mini-Quasimodo throughout! Generally though I had no problems with the art and thought it was a fine complement to the script.
I would’ve liked the story to have been tighter but then it wouldn’t be a genuine Lovecraft homage if it was so maybe that’s intentional - truly great horror writing isn’t Lovecraft’s style! Still, Batman and Lovecraft is a decent pairing making The Doom That Came to Gotham an interesting and creative re-imagining that’s worth a look for all Batman and Mike Mignola fans.
It’s 1928 and an Antarctic expedition to retrieve the missing Professor Cobblepot led by eccentric millionaire Bruce Wayne reveals an unspeakable horror sleeping beneath the ice! It’s up to Batman to save Gotham from Yogs, Thoths, Sh’thgloths, Yhueth’sHUThgtsthathgueanths and other creatures whose names you can’t pronounce properly without a mouthful of peanut butter!
Seeing how Mignola is Mr Horror Comic, it makes sense for him to be co-writing a Lovecraftian comic and the idea is a good fit with Batman’s dark, gothic world. The Lovecraft elements are there: monsters in the ice, cursed books, slumbering tentacle creatures, doomed journal entries and so on.
Except Mignola/Pace can’t really make their alternate Bruce Wayne into a convincing Batman, motivation-wise. Sure there’s the “kid Bruce watching his parents killed” origin scene but absolutely no connection for him from that point on to becoming a Bat-themed vigilante. He becomes a seafarer who happens to have an old-timey Batman outfit for no reason!
The story suffers from a rambling, vague plot with too many characters who seem to be there as fanservice only. Jason Blood/Etrigan, Killer Croc, Mister Freeze, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Ollie Queen really don’t have major parts to play in the story but they’re a part of Batman’s world so let’s throw them in there anyway! I did like Barbara Gordon’s reimagining as a spirit medium - a true Oracle! - and the way Mignola/Pace used Two-Face as part of the warped finale.
Fans will be disappointed that Mignola only draws the covers which is probably why Troy Nixey was hired as he draws in a pretty good facsimile of Mignola’s style. Nixey even pays homage to the Mignolaverse by drawing Bruce like Lobster Johnson in Antarctica (those gogs!), Ra’s Al-Ghul as Rasputin, and Killer Croc as a frog monster! I enjoyed his depiction of Etrigan too who looks genuinely disturbing for a change. Nixey’s shortcoming seems to be kids as he makes Tim Drake look like a deformed mini-Quasimodo throughout! Generally though I had no problems with the art and thought it was a fine complement to the script.
I would’ve liked the story to have been tighter but then it wouldn’t be a genuine Lovecraft homage if it was so maybe that’s intentional - truly great horror writing isn’t Lovecraft’s style! Still, Batman and Lovecraft is a decent pairing making The Doom That Came to Gotham an interesting and creative re-imagining that’s worth a look for all Batman and Mike Mignola fans.
April 28, 2016
Twenty Three Skidoo! It’s Batman in the Roaring ‘20’s!
On occasion, comic creators like to take favorite characters and drop them into different time periods for some non-continuity escapades. Here it’s Bats up against H.P. Lovecraft’s Lurker at the Threshold. The Threshold being Gotham City, so, as always it’s not quite the bee’s knee’s in fair Gotham, because it going to be a tentacle-apooloza!
Right-o!
Basically, Bruce Wayne’s been away from Gotham City for twenty years, scouring local sea ports for teen-aged boy wards (Dick, Tim, Jason) and honing his Bat-skillz. Most recently, he’s been visiting Antarctica, looking for the missing Cobblepot party. A Mr. Freezee-Cone has unearthed the Lurker and Cobblepot hangs back to cavort and do the Happy Feet thing with some penguins.
Apparently, long ago in colonial times, distant relations of Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, Kirk Langstrom and some other guy killed someone named Prinn after a satanic rite, setting off the ultimate revenge 200 years later, with Batman, predictably at the center.
Bottom line: Some of the fun lies in seeing how Mignola re-invents some of Batman’s rogues – Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, Talia and Ra’s al Ghul. Some of the fun is sucked out of this volume, by some the worst facial renderings ever.
I’d recommend this for those of you who want something a little different in their Bat-reading.
Fair warning, Bats: Walking into a huge, monstrous, tentacly vaginal orifice that used to be the better half of Harvey Dent is never a good life choice.
On occasion, comic creators like to take favorite characters and drop them into different time periods for some non-continuity escapades. Here it’s Bats up against H.P. Lovecraft’s Lurker at the Threshold. The Threshold being Gotham City, so, as always it’s not quite the bee’s knee’s in fair Gotham, because it going to be a tentacle-apooloza!
Right-o!
Basically, Bruce Wayne’s been away from Gotham City for twenty years, scouring local sea ports for teen-aged boy wards (Dick, Tim, Jason) and honing his Bat-skillz. Most recently, he’s been visiting Antarctica, looking for the missing Cobblepot party. A Mr. Freezee-Cone has unearthed the Lurker and Cobblepot hangs back to cavort and do the Happy Feet thing with some penguins.
Apparently, long ago in colonial times, distant relations of Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, Kirk Langstrom and some other guy killed someone named Prinn after a satanic rite, setting off the ultimate revenge 200 years later, with Batman, predictably at the center.
Bottom line: Some of the fun lies in seeing how Mignola re-invents some of Batman’s rogues – Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, Talia and Ra’s al Ghul. Some of the fun is sucked out of this volume, by some the worst facial renderings ever.
I’d recommend this for those of you who want something a little different in their Bat-reading.
Fair warning, Bats: Walking into a huge, monstrous, tentacly vaginal orifice that used to be the better half of Harvey Dent is never a good life choice.
September 21, 2019
Take the Dark Knight back to the Jazz Age (the late 20's) and throw him into an H.P. Lovcraft-ian tale and you get the gloomy The Doom That Came to Gotham. I thought the story was lackluster and the illustration style was too unattractive. My hopes were raised and then quickly dashed when Oliver Queen (a.k.a. Green Arrow) was introduced but then just as speedily exited from the narrative.
January 28, 2018
Wheee!!!
The doom might have came to Gotham but nothing but sheer delight was brought to thine eyes! In fact it was sooo good that I actually forgot to take notes (which I usually do when reading) and kept pinching myself in disbelief! Featuring a sprawling panorama of Batman staples, Lovecraftian delights, and a stellar story, The Doom That Came to Gotham will bring nothing less than a Five Star experience to your eyes!
What starts off in as a chilly expedition to the fringes of Antarctica swiftly escalates to a subterranean conflict of cataclysmic scope. Mystery follows the Batman crew back to our beloved Gotham and the spooky story rockets forth with the speed of the Saturn V. Vrooom!
The sheer force of speed applies to character development as well as narrative. Headlining this speedily phenomenal voyage are the usual suspects, which were all tastefully inserted just as well as they were re-purposed for this story. All the jig-saw pieces fit and the coherent story reflects that.
The story is great. The characters (including one I always felt, belonged perfectly in the Batman/Hellboy crossover-universe but never saw until now!) are great. And the art (despite certain impugners on the review page here) is nothing short of splendiferous.
Whether intentionally or not, this depiction of The Batman is highly reminiscent (influenced by?) of Paul Pope's Batman Year: 100. With shorter horns on the mask and an equally well done re-purposing of the outfit as a whole, this version (much like everything else) felt snugly into the story and the (early 1900's?) world it depicts.
Finally, something needs to be said about the uniqueness of the story. Featuring certain decisions and the happenstances they bore that could not exist in the mainstream series, I was highly surprised as I was delighted to see certain things (which I will not reveal) happen. While not quite on the level of Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (in profundity nor originality) I really like it when one-offs play with with well-established universes and do something unique and eye-opening that couldn't happen otherwise.
In either case, ignore the ingrates polluting this review page.
The Doom that came to Gotham is a highly worthy read for Hellboy and Batman fans alike.
Two very happy thumbs up.
The doom might have came to Gotham but nothing but sheer delight was brought to thine eyes! In fact it was sooo good that I actually forgot to take notes (which I usually do when reading) and kept pinching myself in disbelief! Featuring a sprawling panorama of Batman staples, Lovecraftian delights, and a stellar story, The Doom That Came to Gotham will bring nothing less than a Five Star experience to your eyes!
What starts off in as a chilly expedition to the fringes of Antarctica swiftly escalates to a subterranean conflict of cataclysmic scope. Mystery follows the Batman crew back to our beloved Gotham and the spooky story rockets forth with the speed of the Saturn V. Vrooom!
The sheer force of speed applies to character development as well as narrative. Headlining this speedily phenomenal voyage are the usual suspects, which were all tastefully inserted just as well as they were re-purposed for this story. All the jig-saw pieces fit and the coherent story reflects that.
The story is great. The characters (including one I always felt, belonged perfectly in the Batman/Hellboy crossover-universe but never saw until now!) are great. And the art (despite certain impugners on the review page here) is nothing short of splendiferous.
Whether intentionally or not, this depiction of The Batman is highly reminiscent (influenced by?) of Paul Pope's Batman Year: 100. With shorter horns on the mask and an equally well done re-purposing of the outfit as a whole, this version (much like everything else) felt snugly into the story and the (early 1900's?) world it depicts.
Finally, something needs to be said about the uniqueness of the story. Featuring certain decisions and the happenstances they bore that could not exist in the mainstream series, I was highly surprised as I was delighted to see certain things (which I will not reveal) happen. While not quite on the level of Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (in profundity nor originality) I really like it when one-offs play with with well-established universes and do something unique and eye-opening that couldn't happen otherwise.
In either case, ignore the ingrates polluting this review page.
The Doom that came to Gotham is a highly worthy read for Hellboy and Batman fans alike.
Two very happy thumbs up.
April 9, 2023
Tentacles are gross. Ten tickles are funny. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
March 12, 2018
This was a rather interesting story. Had the art matched the level of the story then this would have been a 4 or 5 star entry.
Mignola does a Batman story into which he blends H.P. Lovecraftian myth into the Batman world all set in the late 1920's.
The Doom is an "Old One" which is a staple of Lovecraft's stories of dark Gods. It is interesting to see the Lovecraftian background merged with the normal DC cast of characters. But this story isn't a normal one. While some of the characters are similar (from Harvey Dent to Dick Grayson) the outcomes and the situations are fairly original in a Batman story.
The Nietzchean ending with allusion to the "become a monster to fight monsters" idea and the appearance of Etrigan the Demon gave this a very solemn and dark ending, which I rather enjoyed. I shall not spoil any of this interesting plot for you. It works well and is worth reading. I was disappointed by the artwork and wished Mignola had illustrated it himself.
Still in the fairly generic quality of many titles this one stands out for being different. That alone makes it worth your time.
Mignola does a Batman story into which he blends H.P. Lovecraftian myth into the Batman world all set in the late 1920's.
The Doom is an "Old One" which is a staple of Lovecraft's stories of dark Gods. It is interesting to see the Lovecraftian background merged with the normal DC cast of characters. But this story isn't a normal one. While some of the characters are similar (from Harvey Dent to Dick Grayson) the outcomes and the situations are fairly original in a Batman story.
The Nietzchean ending with allusion to the "become a monster to fight monsters" idea and the appearance of Etrigan the Demon gave this a very solemn and dark ending, which I rather enjoyed. I shall not spoil any of this interesting plot for you. It works well and is worth reading. I was disappointed by the artwork and wished Mignola had illustrated it himself.
Still in the fairly generic quality of many titles this one stands out for being different. That alone makes it worth your time.
December 31, 2015
A nice lovecraftian "elseworld", but is a real shame Mignola made just the covers' art.
Not bad but it could be better.
Not bad but it could be better.
May 28, 2020
Very nicely done story setting Batman in a Gothic horror setting. The art fits well with the storyline and setting. nice read Recommended
March 14, 2023
Batman vs. Cthulhu!
Rereading "Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham", I noticed this nice little mistake. As shown below, the name is supposed to be "Henry Queen". But I think the letterer was thinking about Harley Quinn. (Troy Nixey who did the pencilling here also worked on Harley Quinn.)
Rereading "Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham", I noticed this nice little mistake. As shown below, the name is supposed to be "Henry Queen". But I think the letterer was thinking about Harley Quinn. (Troy Nixey who did the pencilling here also worked on Harley Quinn.)
June 1, 2021
Batman and Cthulhu Mythos should go together great, but this crossover also has a bunch of Hellboy creep in and take over most of the whole thing. It just has some familiar names and locations, one or two key character trait, but that's it: it doesn't really feel like a Batman story.
If it were a Hellboy story, dropped all the pretenses with names and such, it wouldn't be a bad one.
If it were a Hellboy story, dropped all the pretenses with names and such, it wouldn't be a bad one.
April 7, 2016
Batman noir with a lovecraft twist. I gotta say I liked it. Often times with such memorable characters it is nice to read an alternate version of such beloved characters. I felt the same way reading the spider man noir, i'm not a huge spiderman fan but i really enjoyed the noir volume. I suppose i'm a sucker for noir, i love most of Brubaker's stuff, so I guess i just liked this too. The art is great it fits the theme really well. Most of the iconic batman villains make an appearance in the 1920's story. The story revolves around mysterious events that all follow bruce after discovering a strange body in an ice cave. The twist at the end with the transformation I thought was really cool, almost like it is a curse. worth a read.
March 2, 2017
Mignola takes on Gotham! It's set in old-timey times! There are pirate-y looking ships! This should have been a slam-dunk for me, but...idk, maybe it was the art (not bad by any means, and great at atmospheric stuff and the creepy-crawlies, but the faces felt a little knock-off Paul Pope to me, and there's always a slight awkwardness of Mignolaverse artists kind of copying his style to fit into the general "look"). Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read this? But I was kind of super bored by the last...80% of this book. And when people are being taken over by plants/lizards/weird fire monsters (spoilers I guess but this happens on like every other page, so), that should probably not be the case.
Edited to add: just noticed Mignola is only a co-writer on this, and I wonder if maybe he sort of sketched out an outline for the story and Pace filled in the dialogue/specific story beats?
Edited to add: just noticed Mignola is only a co-writer on this, and I wonder if maybe he sort of sketched out an outline for the story and Pace filled in the dialogue/specific story beats?
April 10, 2023
Lovecraft meets Batman as Bruce Wayne attempts to unravel a prophecy foretelling the end of the world in Gotham, 1927.
Mignola's plot moves at a breakneck pace, and ropes in almost all of Batman's most iconic rogues (though I applaud him for not shoving the Joker in there somewhere) in some kind of Lovecraftian twist. Troy Nixey's art isn't something I've seen before, but it does the job well and feels very consistent across the three double sized issues.
I will say, I do think the movie does it better - it's paced a bit more smoothly, and it ties the concepts together a little better, particularly in terms of Barbara Gordon and the 'ghosts' of it all. That's not to say that the book is bad, far from it, but it's one of the rare examples where I think the adaptation takes the original and improves on it.
Mignola's plot moves at a breakneck pace, and ropes in almost all of Batman's most iconic rogues (though I applaud him for not shoving the Joker in there somewhere) in some kind of Lovecraftian twist. Troy Nixey's art isn't something I've seen before, but it does the job well and feels very consistent across the three double sized issues.
I will say, I do think the movie does it better - it's paced a bit more smoothly, and it ties the concepts together a little better, particularly in terms of Barbara Gordon and the 'ghosts' of it all. That's not to say that the book is bad, far from it, but it's one of the rare examples where I think the adaptation takes the original and improves on it.
April 19, 2023
An entertaining adaptation, integrating the eldritch cosmic elements of Lovecraftian horror, with the gothic, rustic, atmospheric gotham, replete with several members of the Bat family, as well as his rogue's gallery.
It's not as immersive as the world building of A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman, but is one of the better works in this particular sub-genre of mixing, mashing and reimagining familiar classics.
It's not as immersive as the world building of A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman, but is one of the better works in this particular sub-genre of mixing, mashing and reimagining familiar classics.
January 4, 2017
Well, it certainly didn't live up to the promise of the early pages, set in Antarctica. I wonder how much of this really was by Mignola, since the majority reads like someone else ticking off the points from a Mignola outline. One big problem I had with it is that Batman is boring, with terrible dialog. He sounds like more of a lowbrow Batman, which doesn't quite fit, since the Waynes are, as usual, still a wealthy family in this world. I found myself the least interested when he was present, which is bad for a Batman story in which he's involved in the main action (there's been great Batman stories in which he's more of an observer; this isn't one of them). Another problem is the art, which isn't by Mignola, but tries to be. Batman himself often looks like a Paul Pope Batman, but the other characters and surroundings don't look like Pope's. It's an odd effect. The rest of the characters look squashed and pudgy, but not in either the atmospheric Mignola or strange-but-cool Pope way, more in an out of shape, sad middle-aged way.
I loved what happens to Harvey Dent; it's quite original and Lovecraftian! I liked the Demonus ex machina, and the introduction in Antarctica, but overall, it didn't add up to anything compelling.
I loved what happens to Harvey Dent; it's quite original and Lovecraftian! I liked the Demonus ex machina, and the introduction in Antarctica, but overall, it didn't add up to anything compelling.
October 29, 2018
The world of Batman is merged with the Lovecraftian Mythos. Some nice twists with some of the standard secondary characters.
MY GRADE: B.
MY GRADE: B.
March 4, 2016
Set in 1928, this is an interesting Elseworld (though it doesn't bear the name) story. A Lovecraftian Horror tale featuring a lot of familiar Gotham residents with an unfamiliar twist. Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Harvey Dent, and Ra’s Al Ghul to name but a few. There is even an Azrael-esque Oliver Queen.
Gotham is on the verge of an impending Doom from a long dormant threat. Due to ancestral ties Bruce Wayne is the only man that can save the city. This reimagining of Batman, the history of Gotham City and the history of the United States as a whole is fascinating. I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the story is gripping. It’s a real page turner. I just wish it had been a bit longer, not because the story felt rushed but because I enjoyed is so much I didn't want it to end.
It is unlike any comic book story I have ever read and that is to its credit. I think Batman fans will enjoy this imaginative take on Batman but I think the fans that this will appeal to most are fans of the horror genre. Gotham make the perfect eerie backdrop for a very eerie tale. A great read. 4.5 stars
Gotham is on the verge of an impending Doom from a long dormant threat. Due to ancestral ties Bruce Wayne is the only man that can save the city. This reimagining of Batman, the history of Gotham City and the history of the United States as a whole is fascinating. I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the story is gripping. It’s a real page turner. I just wish it had been a bit longer, not because the story felt rushed but because I enjoyed is so much I didn't want it to end.
It is unlike any comic book story I have ever read and that is to its credit. I think Batman fans will enjoy this imaginative take on Batman but I think the fans that this will appeal to most are fans of the horror genre. Gotham make the perfect eerie backdrop for a very eerie tale. A great read. 4.5 stars
July 22, 2023
This was enjoyable from beginning to end. Mignola, while he wasn’t the artist of this book, definitely had the majority of creative control when it came to this one. The story was very dark and inspired obviously by Lovecraft horror. The tone of the book and the art fit this story perfectly. I’m surprised that Mignola wasn’t the artist on this one, though he did have a big hand in direction clearly, as mentioned already. The biggest thing I enjoyed about this story was that it truly captured the Elseworlds vibe. The creators removed Batman as we all know him and put him and so many of his villains and supporting cast in areas all around this story. The amount of Batman lore packed into this one was seriously impressive.
August 31, 2017
Großartige Artwork, aber die Story hält nicht, was sie verspricht. Hier sollten einfach zu viele Themen und Motive zusammengemischt werden: "Das Ding aus einer anderen Welt" und reichlich Lovecraft; Batman als früher Pulp-Held im Jahr 1928, der offenbar selbst nicht weiß, warum er dieses Kostüm trägt. Die Story ist überfrachtet und man verliert als Leser schnell den Faden. Batman und sein Umfeld (Alfred, Tim, Oliver Queen) wirken nicht authentisch und sind Fremdkörper in dieser übernatürlichen Horrorgeschichte. Ich hätte THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM so gerne lieber gemocht, aber zumindest im ersten Lesedruchgang hat es mich nicht überzeugt.
August 26, 2020
A Lovecraftian pulp re-imagining of Batman. Lots of twisted horror and some neat alternative takes on traditional Batman characters.
January 15, 2016
While this does somewhat hit the beats of the pulps a bit too much on the head, Mignola does a lot to drive back to the origins of Bob Kane's Batman in detective/pulp comics and making the Lovecraft references which already lace Batman much more explicit. The rogue's gallery becomes explicitly Lovecraftian, the supernatural elements are played straight and without all the meta-commentary of Grant Morrison's more gothic story lines. While there are references to Mountains of Madness and The Nameless City, Mignola also manages to give some Robert E. Howard style plot elements as well. The art is moody and strong--reminds me of the art for Gotham by Gaslight in design. It's not perfect, but wonderfully atmospheric and enjoyable.
September 2, 2016
The book is based on the short story "The Doom that Came to Sarnath" by H.P. Lovecraft. Readers will enjoy it if they are into Lovecraftian horror, though the art was not able to captivate me.
February 15, 2019
Batman. Cthulhu mythos. Mike Mignola. This should be great! But it weirdly isn't. Disappointed overall, but still an upper-to-middle of the pack Elseworlds offering.
October 18, 2024
“Ten thousand years ago there stood by its shore the mighty city of Sarnath, but Sarnath stands there no more.”
Yes that is timeless Lovecraft for you from one of his most famous fantasy short “The Doom That came to Sarnath “.The Doom That came to Gotham is one of the DC’s Elseworlds series by Mike Mignola inspired from the Lovecraft story of “The Doom that came to Sarnath “ and other Lovecraft mythos . the story is full of many Lovecraft-inspired renditions of both the Dark Knight's friends and foes, including Green Arrow, Etrigan, Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul .As I have always been fascinated by Lovecraft stories hence I gave this a try and story was this was really fresh read and it was great to see an amazing amalgamation of my favourite storyteller and my favourite cape crusader.The let down however was pencilling from Troy Nixey,I felt the artwork was not consistent and quite patchy throughout.Overall it was a nice read and frankly speaking I bought this outta my love for Lovecraft.
September 19, 2014
Reseña: http://www.fabulantes.com/2014/09/la-...
"La posibilidad de crear algo nuevo desde las cenizas de lo viejo permite a Troy Nixey y sobre todo a Mike Mignola mostrarse sacrílegos con las convenciones consolidadas del universo Batman. Sabemos que estamos ante una peripecia del hombre murciélago por la profusión de personajes identificables que van haciendo acto de aparición, pero la intersección de dos líneas argumentales paralelas, la “batmaniana” y la “cthuliana“, los convierte en algo totalmente distinto, casi en novedades. Y también en espectaculares sorpresas. Su papel en este mundo es muy inteligente. Batman ha sido siempre un cómic de personajes, por lo que crear una Gotham al modo Sarnath requería de la total reestructuración de sus habitantes más célebres. Todo conocimiento anterior sobre ellos es inútil. Al ser autoconclusiva y autárquica, La maldición que cayó sobre Gotham exige tabula rasa."
"La posibilidad de crear algo nuevo desde las cenizas de lo viejo permite a Troy Nixey y sobre todo a Mike Mignola mostrarse sacrílegos con las convenciones consolidadas del universo Batman. Sabemos que estamos ante una peripecia del hombre murciélago por la profusión de personajes identificables que van haciendo acto de aparición, pero la intersección de dos líneas argumentales paralelas, la “batmaniana” y la “cthuliana“, los convierte en algo totalmente distinto, casi en novedades. Y también en espectaculares sorpresas. Su papel en este mundo es muy inteligente. Batman ha sido siempre un cómic de personajes, por lo que crear una Gotham al modo Sarnath requería de la total reestructuración de sus habitantes más célebres. Todo conocimiento anterior sobre ellos es inútil. Al ser autoconclusiva y autárquica, La maldición que cayó sobre Gotham exige tabula rasa."
January 20, 2016
Barman goes Steampunk!
A haunted book and ancient evil want to rip Batmans heart out of his chest.
Lord Cthulhu rises up from the earth to seek revenge on Gotham City and the Bat.
Completely different from what Batman faces. The art on the cover doesn't match whats inside and thats highly disappointing.
Still a decent read if you're looking for something outside the box.
A haunted book and ancient evil want to rip Batmans heart out of his chest.
Lord Cthulhu rises up from the earth to seek revenge on Gotham City and the Bat.
Completely different from what Batman faces. The art on the cover doesn't match whats inside and thats highly disappointing.
Still a decent read if you're looking for something outside the box.
August 20, 2017
Not much to say about this. It's Batman meets Mignola which is a match made in heaven, and it works wonderfully.
There's a lot of mysticism and magic in the long history of Batman for Mignola to play with, Gothams roots for example. Whatever powers any of the villains had is now explained away by (you guessed it) Mignolas favourite things from beyond, unspeakable Lovecraftian horrors. It definitely feels more Mignola than classic Batman though, mostly because its a reimagined 1920's Batman that is so elseworlds that death and disfiguration is pretty run of the mill. I think I would have liked to see a modern Batstory written by Mignola, maybe even one that is in main continuity so it wouldn't be too crazy but this is still a fun read.
The art is fantastic here. It's not as dark and shadowy as the usual Hellboy fare which I think is a missed opportunity. It's actually technically and traditionally 'better art', more details and colors beyond what you'd find in Hellboy, but I still think it would have been better if this was more in Mignolas typical style. The heavy use of shadows and darkness would have been perfect for Batman.
I think all in all I wished the story was less Mignola and the art was more Mignola and I have used the name Mignola far too much I now have semantic satiation. Recommended if you like elseworlds tales, Lovecraft, and Batman.
There's a lot of mysticism and magic in the long history of Batman for Mignola to play with, Gothams roots for example. Whatever powers any of the villains had is now explained away by (you guessed it) Mignolas favourite things from beyond, unspeakable Lovecraftian horrors. It definitely feels more Mignola than classic Batman though, mostly because its a reimagined 1920's Batman that is so elseworlds that death and disfiguration is pretty run of the mill. I think I would have liked to see a modern Batstory written by Mignola, maybe even one that is in main continuity so it wouldn't be too crazy but this is still a fun read.
The art is fantastic here. It's not as dark and shadowy as the usual Hellboy fare which I think is a missed opportunity. It's actually technically and traditionally 'better art', more details and colors beyond what you'd find in Hellboy, but I still think it would have been better if this was more in Mignolas typical style. The heavy use of shadows and darkness would have been perfect for Batman.
I think all in all I wished the story was less Mignola and the art was more Mignola and I have used the name Mignola far too much I now have semantic satiation. Recommended if you like elseworlds tales, Lovecraft, and Batman.
September 1, 2023
An Elseworlds story that doesn't live up to the potential of its concept (Batman--meets--Lovecraft) or creative team (Mignola and Pace). While main narrative certainly is exciting, with a suitably dark ending and great "variants" to Ra's and Talia al Ghul, Green Arrow, Oracle and Harvey Dent, there are so many needless cameos (three of the various Robin's, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, etc) that the writing is too busy wedging in these characters to just tell its story. As such, the World's Greatest Detrctive does no real detecting, just stumbles from event to event, and Troy Nixey's pencils are lackluster and sometimes difficult to follow.
An enjoyable read, but sadly forgettable.
An enjoyable read, but sadly forgettable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 410 reviews