This post is not meant to devaluate The Immortal Hulk even though I publish it so close to it. First I thought I write post about The doom that came to Gotham without making it Best thing at the moment post. That was before I finished the book. Reason why this comes so close to The Immortal Hulk is because I started reading the comic right after writing that post. No. Not every comic I read is best thing ever. I just happened to read two good ones back to back.
Reason why I wanted to write about The doom that come to Gotham was it isn’t that well known. Gotham by gaslight is much better know Elseworlds Batman comic. I have heard of few others too. But never about The doom that came to Gotham until couple weeks ago. It is weird Gotham by gaslight drawn by Mike Mignola is better known than The doom that came to Gotham written by Mike Mignola. Mike Mignola is the guy who created Hellboy. Hellboy universe is my favorite comic book universe. I will get back to it later. For those who don’t know DC’s Elseworlds stories are stories with familiar character in different worlds where anything can happen.
The doom that came to Gotham is lovecraftian Batman story. Maybe better term is lovecraftian horror story played by Batman characters. That is how it feels like. Batman characters are there but they are changed some much they feel they act similar character. This goes to level where story might have worked better without making it Batman story. Batman characters don’t add much to story. That said Two-Face and Poison Ivy were turned into great lovecraftian characters. What was done to Two-Face made me make this Best thing at the moment post.
In this world Bruce Wayne has known for twenty years he has to fight evil forces in Gotham. He has adventured around the world waiting for sign to come back to Gotham. He gets that at the beginning. He returns to Gotham 1926 bringing seed of the doom. You will be surprised if you expect this to follow rules of Batman stories. No character is safe even if they are important in normal Batman comics. Here everything serves lovecraftian story.
The doom that came to Gotham remind lot of Hellboy. Story has many same elements. Artwork could be from Hellboy universe book. Probably because of the way Mignola writes comics. This might be over looked by Batman fans because it more Lovecraft and Hellboy than Batman. Lovecraft and Hellboy fans will enjoy this book.