In the ’80s, DC Comics produced a number of four-issue prestige-style miniseries that reinvented existing characters or pushed them in different directions. Experimenting with characters. The most famous one is probably The Dark Knight Returns, but there were countless others. Some are on the periphery of continuity, while others are deeply rooted within it. In 1988, Batman received another work from one of the regular series writers and one of horror’s greatest artists.
A populist dictator has emerged. A cult group blindly follows him. Extrajudicial killing of criminals. A city infested with people empowered by its leader. You could be forgiven for thinking I’m writing about recent events, but these are elements of a story from nearly 40 years ago. It’s certainly not quite the same, but I think it’s interesting how stories from the past influence things in the present. And sometimes you can strangely match them.
“All the ugly little parts weren’t in place yet, but we were starting to see the big picture.”
Batman – The Cult, by Jim Starlin, Bernie Wrightson, Bill Ray, and John Costanza, was intended to mature Batman as a character and deal with serious subject matter. It was about Batman being dismantled, brainwashed, and repurposed by a charismatic cult leader who took in Gotham City’s undesirables and homeless people and turned them into an army to take over the city.
Deacon Blackfire isn’t ultimately a very nuanced character, but it’s fascinating to watch those around him fall into his cult of personality. And, whether it’s true or not, this is the story of how he tried to influence people in various ways, including politics and the mafia, until he finally settled on a kind of religion. Or at least mysticism. And how many of Gotham’s ordinary citizens will simply join the queue when it starts to bubble, using that willpower to get otherwise innocent people murdered and even more extreme forms of vigilante action?
Bernie Wrightson and Bill Ray’s art is amazing. At this stage in his career, Wrightson was already a master, so just seeing him leave would be surprising. The level of detail is top notch. There is a realness to his fear here that makes the story believable. The synergy of the creators’ storytelling is also wonderful. The panel types change when it comes to flashbacks, and Bill Ray’s colors sometimes change too much to a washout, opting for a certain limited color scheme during sequences to match the various movements. Little things that have a huge impact on the overall readability and flow of the story.
And, typical of Stalin’s scripts, there’s some heavy lifting by John Costanza with all the narration. Again, it’s told from Batman’s point of view, which is engaging and gives us further insight into the character, but the narration box here doesn’t employ the same script as the previous year’s Batman: Year One diary. I think this is more confirmation that this was still a Batman story back in the day.
“The Dark Knight will yet rise from the ashes of defeat.”
Although it’s weird and weird at times, setting a precedent for the feds’ abandonment of Gotham City that would be revisited in No Man’s Land, Batman – The Cult by Starlin, Wrightson, Wray, and Costanza is a harrowing look at how cults can suck you in, destroy you, and control you through the eyes of the least likely candidate for Batman. And what damage the cult’s overall strength, in extreme cases, can do to a particular city.
Classic Comics Compendium: Batman – The Cult
Batman – The Cult
Screenplay: Jim Starlin
Artist: Bernie Wrightson
Colorist: Bill Ray
Author: John Costanza
Publisher: DC Comics
Release date: May 19 – September 29, 1988 (original version)
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