Writer/Artist: Mike Mignola, Richard Pace, Troy Nixey, Dennis Janke

Publisher: DC, original retail $4.95 ea

Doom That Came to Gotham can be a little tricky to find since it has never been collected as a trade, but it’s well worth the time to hunt down. Originally published as three prestige format issues at $4.95 each, the series doesn’t really price up much in the price guides so if you are lucky you shouldn’t have to pay much more than cover for them. The trick is, I haven’t actually seen a complete set run through our store in nearly a decade so its safe to say most people hold onto their copies and never sell them back. If you had to pay extra for them I would say be willing to pay $20-30 and hope they aren’t going for much more. While I would hope DC would publish a trade at no more than $19.99, I would personally be willing to pay a bit more just because the book is so awesome.

Set in 1928, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after finding the sole survivor of the Cobblepot Expedition in Antarctica. After witnessing some bizarre events and the horrible evidence of creatures from beyond, Wayne and his three wards Dick, Jason, and Tim are haunted by warnings of an approaching doom and a number of familiar villains all tainted by Lovecraftian horror.

So if you’re a Batman fan and a Lovecraft fan than you pretty much are required to check this out. The great thing is that sometimes with Elseworld books the creators jampack as many familiar characters with no real thought of purpose or plotting, but with this story Mignola does a fantastic job of melding two completely separate mythologies into a new and disturbing creation. Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul, Killer Croc, Langstrom, Mr Freeze, Etrigan, and Harvey Dent are just some of the familiar faces thrown in and melded into a number of strange Lovecraftian concepts and creatures.

The story and scripting are well paced and have a great flow that would have been shunted if not given three issues to play around and expand the concept with. Nixey’s art is top notch as well, oozing that familiar supernatural feel of Mignola’s Hellboy but lending a more organic and creepy physical aspect to the horror.

More proof that DC should bring back the Elseworld imprint and let creators experiment and go crazy with their characters.

Grade: A+

If you like this then try: Hellboy, BPRD, Gotham By Gaslight, Jenny Finn