Batman & Dracula: Red Rain

Batman & Dracula
Cover of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain HC. Art by Kelley Jones & Malcolm Jones III.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Publication date	1991
Main character(s)	Batman Dracula Commissioner James Gordon Alfred Pennyworth Joker Selina Kyle Two-Face Killer Croc
Creative team
Writer(s)	Doug Moench
Penciller(s)	Kelley Jones
Inker(s)	Malcolm Jones III John Beatty (Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist)
Letterer(s)	Todd Klein
Colorist(s)	Les Dorscheid, Gregory Wright (Crimson Mist)

The Batman and Dracula trilogy is a group of American comics stories which began with Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, a 1991 graphic novel by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones, in DC Comics' Elseworlds line of alternate reality stories. It spawned two sequels by the same creative team; Batman: Bloodstorm and Batman: Crimson Mist. DC Comics later released The Batman and Dracula trilogy in a trade paperback collection, entitled Tales of the Multiverse: Batman - Vampire.

Batman investigates a series of murders of homeless people of Gotham whose throats have been slashed. He discovers that a family of vampires led by Dracula himself (surprisingly "alive" and well after centuries of supposedly being dead) are the culprits behind the murders. A rogue vampire named Tanya, a former member of Dracula's brood, helps Batman take down the villain. Over the course of the tale, Batman, after a vampire bite, acquires the necessary strength to stand up to Dracula's minions while still retaining his humanity. Tanya informs Batman that vampires created by Dracula are powerless against his abilities and mental powers.

Determined to destroy Dracula's minions, Batman lures them into the Batcave. Tanya and her followers distract them while Batman detonates multiple explosive charges, destroying Wayne Manor and killing the vampires. Batman then confronts Dracula and impales him on a tree. This act costs Batman his humanity as Dracula drains the last of his blood. However, after Alfred reads his "will", Batman assures his old friend that he has nothing to fear. Bruce Wayne may be gone, but Batman, thanks to his vampiric powers, will go on forever.

In the second installment, the Joker leads the remaining vampires of Dracula's horde. He convinces the vampires to follow his orders after pointing out their inability to think beyond their next victim since Dracula's death. Although they manage to take control of most of Gotham's major crime families, a team consisting of Batman, Catwoman (as a real werecat, transformed by the bite of a vampire in the form of a wolf), Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, and their vampire hunters made up of Gotham PD detectives eventually destroy the vampires. Gordon, Alfred and their team stake the former crime lords during the day while Batman and Catwoman confront the last vampires in a warehouse. Catwoman is killed in the final battle, taking a crossbow bolt for Batman, after defeating the vampire who made her what she had become. Enraged at the loss of the only person able to control his bloodlust, Batman subsequently drains the Joker of his blood. Horrified by what he has done, Batman stakes the Joker to ensure he cannot come back as a vampire. He then successfully convinces Gordon and Alfred to stake him so that he cannot commit further murders.