Following the end of its Vertigo imprint, DC Comics found itself in need of a new line of mature comic books with more focus on horror and adult stories. Launching with Batman: Damned, the DC Black Label imprint has published a number of miniseries. With a range of A-list talent behind the books, Black Label has explored a range of heroes and villains from across the DC universe.
The creation of the new mature-themed imprint has led to mixed success at DC. While many of these stories have done a good job of giving fan-favorite heroes new twists, some of these stories have also fallen flat. Among the mixed success, some Black Label titles definitely stand out as success stories and have gone down excellently with fans - some have even become instant classics.
10 Plunge Was A Good Original Horror Story
Plunge By Joe Hill And Stuart Immonen
From the Black Label offshoot imprint Hill House Comics, Joe Hill and Stuart Immonen brought fans Plunge, an isolated horror story in the vein of The Thing. In the six-issue story, the crew of a salvage operation soon find themselves under attack from zombified creatures of the people there before.
The strongest series to come out of the Hill House line, Plunge brought great horror and suspense that has defined isolated horror for years. Replete with nods to horror stories from pop culture of a similar tone, this is a must-read comic for any fan of zombie horror and science-fiction alike.
9 Batman: Reptilian Was An Underrated Creature Feature
Batman: Reptilian By Garth Ennis And Liam Sharp
Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp's monster horror book Batman: Reptilian brought readers a new monster for Batman to face. When his rogues gallery are found attacked and near death, Batman resolves to find who - or what - is responsible for the senseless macabre.
When his investigation leads him straight to Killer Croc, Batman begins to suspect an even greater reptilian threat may be lurking in Gotham's sewers. The series is creature feature horror at its absolute best, and the final fight between Batman and the monster is a fantastic sequence.
8 Batman VS Bigby Had Batman Crossing Over With Fables
Batman Vs. Bigby! A Wolf In Gotham By Bill Willingham And Brian Level
In 2022, Bill Willingham delivered fans of his Fables run an incredible and enjoyable crossover, bringing the werewolf Bigby to Gotham City. Here, the two faced off as Bigby hunted for a magical book while Batman, uneasy with a werewolf roaming his streets, set out to take him down.
Batman Vs. Bigby! A Wolf In Gotham, with art by Brian Level, was a solid way to bring the world of Fables to the streets of Gotham, and the fight between Batman and Bigby was a true crowd-pleaser. In keeping with the time-honored crossover trope, the battle between the two heroes then leads to an alliance as they team up and set about to stop the villain.
7 One Dark Knight Gave Fans An Excellent Batman Mission
Batman: One Dark Knight By Jock
Writer/artist Jock concluded his action-packed miniseries One Dark Knight in late 2022, proving one of the year's best miniseries. One of the fastest-paced miniseries out there, it saw Batman trying to recover a supervillain named E.M.P. after the meta-human accidentally triggers a city-wide blackout during a heatwave.
With the entire Gotham criminal underworld descending upon them, Batman struggles to get E.M.P. to Blackgate Prison. One Dark Knight's strength was in its pacing as well as its exploration of the various criminal territories that make up Gotham's streets - not to mention Jock's excellent art.
6 Rogues Has Been A Great Old Age Story For The Flash Villains
Rogues By Joshua Williamson And Leomac
Joshua Williamson and Leomacs's Rogues released to near-instant popularity and acclaim for its great use of the "one last job" trope. Seeing the villains team up for the big score in this new spin on the world of Flash has made for an entertaining crime thriller.
Set to conclude in December, Rogues has been an excellent old-man villain story. It's full of great fan service for Flash fans, especially since it's penned by its mainstay writer of the Rebirth era. The gangster thriller noir setting has made the characters' villains more interesting than ever.
5 Batman: The Imposter Is A Great Follow-Up To The 2022 Film
Batman: The Imposter By Mattson Tomlin And Andrea Sorrentino
Witten by Mattson Tomlin and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino, Batman The Imposter gave fans an Elseworlds miniseries set in the style and tone of Matt Reeve's The Batman. Following a young Batman, the series sees a murderer don the cape and cowl and impersonate Gotham's Dark Knight.
Batman The Imposter was a great look at the new spin on Batman, as well as serving as a genuinely great detective story, something often neglected by the main continuity. The series also succeeded in one key place where other Batman comics often fall short in establishing a compelling romantic interest for Bruce Wayne.
4 Aquaman: Andromeda Has Been A Dark Sci-Fi Spin On The Aquatic Hero
Aquaman: Andromeda By Ram V And Christian Ward
Ram V and Christian Ward's brilliant sci-fi miniseries, Aquaman: Andromeda reimagines a darker version of Aquaman facing off against a cosmic terror. Seeing the crew of an experimental submarine, the Andromeda, discover an alien craft beneath the sea, Arthur Curry and Black Manta spring into action.
Delving into cosmic horror, V brings his usual dark and eerie writing style to Aquaman as the aquatic hero struggles to save the world from an alien disease. Compared to other Black Label titles, Aquaman: Andromeda is by far one of the creepiest and the best forays into horror, thanks in large part to Ward's art.
3 The Last God Set Up A Great Fantasy World
The Last God By Phillip Kennedy Johnson And Ricardo Federici
Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Ricardo Federici presented fans with an entirely new fantasy world in 2019's The Last God. The dark fantasy epic followed a group of heroes as they set out on a journey to slay a monstrous god their people had long believed dead.
As great as the action of the series, Phillip Kennedy Johnson shows his true strength to be in world-building, and he left behind an entirely new universe in Last God. The series is a perfect story for fans of worlds like Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons.
2 The Question: The Deaths Of Vic Sage Was Great Noir Thriller
The Question: The Deaths Of Vic Sage By Jeff Lemire And Denys Cowan
Fan-favorite conspiracy theorist vigilante, Vic Sage's Question got a great miniseries in 2019, courtesy of Jeff Lemire and Denys Cowan. Including a plot revolving around time travel, the Question deals with crimes and corruption across the centuries.
The detective noir setting of The Question: The Deaths Of Vic Sage was a perfect match for the character, and tapping Lemire to write the story was a great fit. The series embraced the strange darkness of Question and threw readers into an almost psychedelic mystery of the lives of Vic Sage across different eras.
1 Batman: White Knight Created An Entire Universe
Batman White Knight By Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy's White Knight world has proven to be a solid hit with comic book fans, even at one time outselling the main Batman titles. Launching an entirely new Elseworlds-style tale, Batman: White Knight saw Joker revert to his previous persona of Jack Napier and launch a war against Batman.
Becoming Gotham's mayor, Napier turned the focus of the city's crime-fighting resources on Batman, whom he blamed for the state of crime and violence. The first miniseries remains the peak of the Murphyverse as it perfectly established the world and character motives.