Though the story writing is an important part of the comic books themselves, they would be sorely lacking in entertainment value without the brilliant and engaging images that they are known for. Each action comes to life with the flip of a page. Seeing the story played out in these images gives readers the chance to easily immerse themselves into their favorite charaters worlds.
The Batman comics have held audiences attention for decades and have evolved along with the popular styles of each age and the ever tasting change of its readers. Many of the stories have been complimented by compelling artwork that prompts the reader to turn each page with anticipation. But just as there are numerous unique versions of his tale, there are unique art styles as well.
10 A Deep Dive Into The Arkham Asylum
The art from Ryan Sook takes a dip into the murky waters of evil minds. In the series Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, the reader gets an opportunity to see how Gotham’s famous prison earned its reputation as one of the worst places in existence. The story follows Warren White as he navigates himself through the asylum after he makes the mistake of pleading insanity for stock fraud.
Sook’s drawings clearly portray an air of innocence with each character, exactly where it's expected. As they shift into dark realizations, the ink tones become heavier to the point that it almost seems to weigh the characters down. The figures, proportions and postures are fairly typical, but each emotion is truly felt through each panel. It's worth noting that Eric Powell’s cover art on each issue pairs extremely well with the interior of the series.
9 The Art Is No Laughing Matter
One of the latest and darkest versions of Batman has caught the attention of many DC fans. The artwork in Dark Knights: The Batman Who Laughs features some incredible work from Riley Rossmo. While lately it's not uncommon to see the stylized action that is portrayed in this work, Rossmo makes the careful decision of mixing soft and hard angles with his linework. The hard angles are greatly emphasized to caricaturize the expressions of some of the characters as they are shouting, smiling, or just being evil.
He also uses Ben Day dots with his shading, giving the art many “splashy” moments, especially when characters are in movement. Doing this does much to emphasize some of the gory moments that happen through the story.
8 He’s Not Old, He’s Classic
Frank Miller’s classic The Dark Knight Returns is memorable for its story just as much as it is for its art. Miller’s particular style is extremely rough, having faint lines, blocks of shadow, and gesture drawings that suggest a shape to each image. It is very reminiscent of his noir themes that he draws in his other big title, Sin City.
The roughness lends to the feeling that is extracted from the formerly retired crusader. It's impossible to not feel how he fights through age and injuries in order to restore justice back into Gotham City. Miller has had a lot of practice drawing Batman, contributing many other stories beloved by fans.
7 If Batman Was A European Masterpiece
This collection of stories - Batman: Europa - takes Batman all across Europe. He is infected by an otherwise incurable virus, and notices his strength slowly declining. He begrudgingly teams up with The Joker - who is also infected - to find the cure.
Jim Lee made his comeback to drawing the Dark Knight in this painted series. He is joined by several other artists from Italy who for each issue gave a fantastic rendition of their vision of Batman. Many of the panels are worthy of being displayed in a gallery.
6 Forever Halloween
Tim Sale has an art style that is somewhat similar to Frank Miller’s. Dipping back into the noir feeling, Sale sharply distinguishes himself as a unique artist in Batman: The Long Halloween with his billowing line work that somehow emphasizes each character’s features.
The strong point in Sale’s work is in feeling the individual emotions of the characters through each panel, whether it's in dialogue or action. There are several portions where characters are portrayed side by side, while keeping consistent with his style, he is able to show dramatically different features with each one.
5 Beware The Manbat
John Bolton’s photorealistic artwork is extremely unique. Having a strong taste for horror, Bolton dedicated some of his best work towards the miniseries Batman: Manbat. This project is centered around the villain, and as such has given opportunity for plenty of fantastic imagery.
It is interesting to see the shift from realistic portrayals of people and things, to suddenly jump into the fantastical forms of anthropomorphic beasts with grotesque shapes. The artwork alone is worth picking up this book.
4 Descent Into Hell
Photorealism matches well with elements of horror. It makes the reader connect more with the frightening events that happen with the story, especially if the image is near reminiscent of a photograph.
Self-taught artist, Lee Bermejo, contributed his own brand of photorealism in Batman: Damned; an adventure featuring John Constantine. As they race to find out who killed The Joker, readers get to see details in every muscle fibre, wrinkle of fabric and every scar that appears throughout the story.
3 Influenced By Old Cinema
Batman stories are often riddled with nods to older horror stories of sorts. It’s an often mentioned rumor in the comics that Batman is actually a vampire, since he only strikes at night. In Batman: Nosferatu, Ted McKeever takes direction from the story by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, which takes Bruce Wayne (Bruss Wayne-son) and turns him into a vampire (Nosferatu) who comes to rule the night.
The art style is a heavy nod to German expressionist film from the 1920s. The eponymous character is named after a film which is an adaptation of the classic story of Dracula.
2 All Hail The White Knight Of Gotham
Turning the narrative of Batman on its head, this story by Sean Murphy paints him as a villain rather than a hero to the city. Batman: White Knight manages to make collect the Joker’s wits into a purpose driven crusade against Batman in order to save Gotham City.
Murphy has a mechanical and intricate style that matches well with the story he is telling. Given that The Joker’s thought process is similarly portrayed, it breathes a new life into the newly reformed and driven character.
1 He’ll Continue To Fight
Alex Ross is without question one of the most unique and most popular artists to work with DC. His works, usually painted, show great depth, emotional expression and realism that is hard to match with many other artists.
His work in Batman: War On Crime is no different. It’s hard to imagine the amount of work that went into each panel, as he leaves no detail untouched. This one-shot story is a great example of some of the work he’s done with the Batman franchise.