Batman Gets a Lovecraftian Make-Over in Christian Ward’s Batman: City of Madness
Christian Ward’s critically acclaimed series Batman: City of Madness brings forth a new foe and a different perspective on a well-known character.
Eisner Award winning comic book creator Christian Ward reinvents Gotham and Batman’s familiar cast of characters in his new three-issue miniseries Batman: City of Madness. Batman will form alliances with old enemies into order to combat an evil that has been lying dormant below Gotham. Ward is delivering a new vision of the dread and rot of Gotham with a horror that lies hidden beneath the crime and corruption of the city. He is introducing Gotham Below and its terrifying guardian, Batman Below.
Known for his psychedelic, cosmic stories, Ward is heralding a new Batman universe with the prestige series, Batman: City of Madness. Between Indie titles, Image Comics and his work with well-known characters such as Thor and Aquaman, Ward is a visionary eager to bring a new interpretations of the established character of Batman.
As with any Batman title, the villain is as important as the hero. And Ward is reaching for the stars with redesigns of familiar foes such as Two-Face, the Court of Owls and Talon alongside the introduction of a villain who challenges our ideas of heroes and villains, Batman Below. Inspiration for Ward’s design came from his personal love for comic horror and his early memories of Grant Morrison’s haunting Arkham Asylum. Batman Below is an immediately recognizable combination of the classic Batman silhouette with the shocking additional of Lovecraftian tentacles. Very much like the character of Batman Below, for Ward “This thing has been growing in me like a dark seed.”
A Batman rising from the dark regions of Ward’s mind
The origins of Ward’s interpretation of Gotham and Batman stretch back to reading Batman: Arkham Asylum as a teenager. Ward was immediate drawn to the stranger versions of Batman’s world where the most terrifying aspects of the story happen at the fringes of the action-packed battles between heroes and villains. Struck by the haunting and other-worldly atmosphere of Morrison’s story, Ward harboured a desire to work with the ideas of the universe. While Ward never explicitly linked Batman to his love of cosmic horror, the two melded together in the darker regions of his mind over the next decade.
Around 2021, Ward’s unusual view of Batman started to emerge when he added a Lovecraftian influence. By adding mouth tentacles to an image of Batman, Ward created a disturbing character who paid homage to mystical conceptions of Cthulhu. Posting the image on Twitter caused a viral moment that encouraged Ward to consider the character more than just a dark impression of his own imagination. Continuing to post work of the horror mash-up, Ward realised there was a reading audience increasingly invested in his creation.
After working with Ram V on Aquaman for DC Black Label, Ward was approached by an editor curious about Ward’s concept art for his unusual Batman. When asked if he had a story to accompany the image, Ward was ready and put together a pitch within the hour. Before the week was out, Ward had the project approved and he was working on his first Batman story and arguably the first cosmic horror interpretation of Batman.
Challenges of Creating a New Batman Story
For better or worse, Batman is one of the most frequently written about characters in comic books. The wealth of stories written over several decades offer writers numerous challenges when it comes to providing fresh stories that develop the character in original ways while also maintaining Batman’s recognizable features. For Ward, Batman is a disturbed and vengeful man who shares many parallels with Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Haunted by the past, Batman uses violence in an attempt to reconcile the tragedies he has experienced.
Ward focuses on the self-assured aspects of Batman based on his intricate preparation that leads to his superhuman confidence. Ward says, “I wanted to look at Bruce’s elegance and the idea that he knows all; he knows what to do.” By producing an unknown terror that appears to share many of Batman’s characteristics, Batman Below undermines Bruce’s sense of certainty and his place in Gotham.
From the first issue, Batman is forced to reassess his personal convictions. He immediately recognizes the simplicity of Two-Face’s crime and the ease with which he is able to locate the criminal. Ward’s Batman evaluates and questions everything he encounters, showing glimmers of uncertainty as he suspects the motivations of everyone he encounters.
Unexpected alliances
Alongside an appearance of Two-Face and a cameo from Mad Hatter with some telltale references to Alice in Wonderland, Batman: City of Madness includes the Court of Owls. Despite considering the Court of Owls to be a relatively new addition to the Batman pantheon of villains, Ward found they “fit so beautifully within that world [of cosmic horror] that they were the natural choice.”
Using the Court of Owls as “the guardians of the door to the Gotham Below” provides an opportunity to escalate the danger of Batman Below by suggesting he is a force that even the all-powerful Court of Owls fear. By making the Court of Owls gatekeepers to a hidden horror, Ward can provide both a foil and counterpart to Batman. The Court “want to protect the city,” creating “interesting parallels and ways in which they and Batman would connect.”
As we head into Book Two, it looks like Batman’s life is about to get increasingly complex. Not only does he have to deal with an unknown presence in his city, he will need to negotiate with the Court of Owls and in doing so, challenge is personal convictions.
Looking into the Abyss and Frightening Mirror Images
For Ward, “cosmic horror is science fiction that looks back rather than science fiction that looks forward. “ The horror originates from the fact that the tragedy has already happened. Batman Below is an ancient evil threatening with a sense of inevitability.
Ward uses the analogy of the looking into the abyss and mentions a conversation he remembers from the Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in which Alfred expresses concern that Bruce will not just look into the abyss, but fall into its darkness. Batman Below proves that the horrifying possibility has already happened and that is it a power that the Court of Owls need to restrict in order to maintain their control over the city.
Ward is keeping some secrets that will be revealed as we progress further into the three part series. We can expect some revelations about the identity of Batman Below and his connection to Bruce as a reflection of the horror and tragedy of Batman.
Batman: City of Madness Book 1 is on sale now.
Look out for Batman: City of Madness Book 2 on December 12th 2023 from DC Comics and to finish the series Batman: City of Madness Book 3 or pick up the ollected hardcover of Batman: City of Madness (these are paid affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more).
The series is written and illustrated by Christian Ward, and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Originally published at https://neuromyths.substack.com.
