In Batman's 80-plus years of DC history, the hero has proven to be versatile by taking on various subgenres in comics. Many will understandably be most familiar with the Dark Detective's street-level capers, but he's amassed an impressive horror-themed catalog. These series range from mainline canon to inventive alternate DC continuities.
Given the gloomy setting of Gotham City and Batman's rogues gallery of heinous villains, the horror genre fits Batman's world as naturally as crime-noir. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is one of the most classic horror comic examples, while The Black Mirror is a grisly contemporary hit.
10 Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth
Grant Morrison's work on Batman is widely celebrated, but Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is a standout. Alongside artist Dave McKean, Arkham Asylum sees the Joker cause a mass prison riot.
The Caped Crusader goes in to quell it, but the plot descends into a horrific deep-dive into the twisted psyches of its inmates and Batman himself. Arkham Asylum is pure psychological horror, showing Batman in a much more vulnerable light. Likewise, McKean's blend of painting and photorealism-inspired artwork makes this an unsettling read in the best way.
9 Batman & Dracula Trilogy
The Dark Knight Returns might be the most revered alternate-timeline Batman comic, but the Batman & Dracula Trilogy was an early success of DC's Elseworlds imprint. Doug Moench and Kelley Jones' series turns the Dark Knight into the embodiment of his symbol, as becoming a vampire is the only way to defeat Count Dracula.
Given the character's motif and the Elseworlds label opening up new opportunities for creative liberty, blending Batman with classic supernatural horror was inevitable. It's as bloody and bombastic as fans would expect, putting a fresh Bram Stoker-like twist on the conventional Batman canon.
8 Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
Gotham's infamous Arkham Asylum is unsurprisingly such a great setting for horror-centric Batman comics. Dan Slott and Ryan Sook's Arkham Asylum: Living Hell holds little back, showcasing the facility's fearsome inhabitants through Warren White's perspective.
A Serious House on Serious Earth is a unique depiction, but Living Hell does well in its own right to lean into the "house of horrors" approach to Arkham. Using the soon-to-be white-collar villain Great White Shark's POV is especially refreshing, effectively conveying the punishing nature of the asylum and the terror-inducing rogues gallery.
7 Damned
Black Label cemented its place as DC's Elseworlds successor, with Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Damned going in a darkly ambitious direction. Set in a continuity where the Joker dies, Batman awakens to no recollection of his death and needs the help of DC's supernatural heroes to solve this shocking case.
Damned maintains a consistent and oppressing supernatural and psychological horror tone and themes, venturing into the grim recesses of Bruce's mind. Meanwhile, the likes of John Constantine, Zatanna, Etrigan the Demon, Swamp Thing, and more tastefully complement the story's horror atmosphere.
6 Dark Knight, Dark City
The Riddler is one of Batman's most iconic rogues, widely known for his eccentric personality and obsession with besting the World's Greatest Detective intellectually. However, Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer's Dark Knight, Dark City paints the colorful villain in a bleaker light.
Coming from the pages of the mainline Batman book, Dark Knight, Dark City shows the Riddler sinking to far more sinister lows in his attempts to kill the hero, leaving a bloody trail along the way. This story arc combines cosmic horror with Batman's mythos, as the villain summons an Eldritch monstrosity to gain an advantage.
5 Gothic
Legends of the Dark Knight spawned some of Batman's greatest '90s comics, with Morrison lending their talents to it. Alongside veteran artist Klaus Janson, Gothic was an early-career arc that saw a grim entity lead a slaughter through Gotham's underworld.
The city's mob bosses are being assassinated and dare to turn to Batman for help, but it unravels into something more engrossing, infinitely darker, and revelatory of Bruce Wayne's tortured past. What begins as a street-level case evolves into an otherworldly horror story delving into occult religious folklore.
4 The Cult
Jim Starlin has written one of the biggest landmark storylines in Batman's mythos in A Death in the Family. The Cult is one of his more underrated works, though, with Deacon Blackfire and his brainwashed masses nearly breaking the Dark Knight beyond repair.
It also gives Jason Todd his time to shine as the Boy Wonder, as the stakes feel ominously sincere. The violent slasher-level scenes of Blackfire's acolytes make for a disturbing kind of Batman story. Meanwhile, the foreboding supernatural horror at the root of Blackfire's origins makes The Cult a consistently foreboding read.
3 The Black Mirror
In the lead-up to the New 52, Scott Snyder teamed up with artists Jock and Francesco Francavilla for The Black Mirror. In Bruce Wayne's absence, while establishing Batman Incorporated abroad, Dick Grayson takes on the role of Gotham's guardian amid a series of mysterious and gruesome cases.
This Detective Comics story arc strings together a series of mystery thrillers, incorporating body-horror elements to emphasize the harrowing atmosphere. It's the best example of a brutal Batman comic mixing crime-noir with horror. What's more, Dick Grayson provides a unique perspective from a familiar mantle.
2 Haunted Knight
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are best known for their revered classics The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, but Haunted Knight paved the way for them. This anthology stemmed as Halloween specials for Legends of the Dark Knight, with Batman tackling a string of his villainous gallery's exploits.
Haunted Knight makes fantastic use of its anthological storytelling format, with Loeb's writing and Sale's art setting a consistently eerie tone. A particular highlight is the finale's A Christmas Carol approach, showing how Batman fits seamlessly with Halloween and Christmas all the same.
1 The Mad Monk
The Golden Age of comics saw a grittier version of the hero before the campiness of the '50s and '60s set in. While even those stories feel quite dated by today's standards, Matt Wagner's Batman and the Mad Monk is a wonderful modernization of this vampiric tale.
Much of Wagner's Batman catalog chronicles the hero's early years, and The Mad Monk is an entertaining take on his first encounter with the supernatural. The series captures the spirit of the Golden Age but with a modern edge. Likewise, the vampire cult is a fitting antagonist for a pulpy-style horror caper.