Cover: Mike Mignola & George Pratt

Batman #452

Aug 1990 · DC · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.50 GBP

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Dark Knight, Dark City [Part I]”

★ 1st appearance — Barbatos

About this Issue

Batman #452 opens 'Dark Knight, Dark City,' the three-part arc that introduced the occult entity Barbatos — spelled 'Barbathos' in the original text — into the Batman mythos decades before Grant Morrison and Scott Snyder made the demon central to their landmark runs and the Dark Nights: Metal event. The issue is also a standout Riddler story, recasting Edward Nigma as a genuinely sinister, supernatural-adjacent threat in a way that was startlingly unlike anything happening in the mainstream Batman titles of 1990. Writer Peter Milligan wove Gotham's founding into a conspiracy involving secret societies, 18th-century occultists, and a demonic ritual — a Gothic horror turn that the Batman monthly almost never attempted in the regular continuity format. The arc was long considered an overlooked copper-age gem before retroactive recognition of its Barbatos material elevated its historical profile considerably.

writer Peter Milligan · artist Kieron Dwyer · inker Dennis Janke · colorist Adrienne Roy · letterer John Costanza · cover Mike Mignola, George Pratt

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $6

CGC 9.8 · 33 in census $71

CGC 9.6 · 16 in census $33*

CGC 9.4 · 12 in census $22

CGC 9.2 · 13 in census $22

CGC 9.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 none in existence

Show all 14 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 none in existence

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

NM $2.47 NM $2.95 NM $2.99 MINT $2.99 NM+ $3.99 NM $4.99 NM $5 NM $9

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 31 total · seen 29 days ago

🏪 Real comic shops near you sell this issue on eBay — from our directory:

Comic Book Station1 on eBay ↗

Listings on eBay · clicking supports comicbooks.com

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

British writer Peter Milligan — then best known for unconventional work in 2000 AD and on the verge of launching Shade, the Changing Man at Vertigo — brought 'Dark Knight, Dark City' to DC's Batman title under editor Denny O'Neil and associate editor Dan Raspler, the same editorial team shepherding the Batman office through the post-'A Death in the Family' era. Milligan's sensibility was markedly stranger than the title's usual fare, and the arc's decision to run a Gothic-horror, occult-origins story in the main Batman ongoing rather than a prestige-format special was unusual for the period. The cover for issue #452 was penciled by Mike Mignola and inked by George Pratt, providing a striking visual identity that distinguished the arc from typical in-continuity Batman stories of the time.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance/mention of Barbatos (spelled 'Barbathos' in the issue), the bat-demon whose mythology was later expanded by Grant Morrison in The Return of Bruce Wayne and by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo in Dark Nights: Metal.
Written by Peter Milligan, with interior pencils by Kieron Dwyer, inks by Dennis Janke, colors by Adrienne Roy, and letters by John Costanza.
Cover art penciled by Mike Mignola and inked by George Pratt — Mignola provided covers for all three issues of the arc.
Published August 10, 1990 (on-sale June 21, 1990) by DC Comics; edited by Denny O'Neil with Dan Raspler as associate editor.
Part 1 of a three-issue arc (Batman #452–454); the story also features the Riddler as primary antagonist, portraying him as far more violent and disturbing than was conventional, under the implied influence of Barbatos.
The plot roots Gotham City's dark history in an 18th-century occult ritual involving a fictionalized Thomas Jefferson and a cabal of devil-worshippers attempting to summon and control the bat-demon.
The full arc was collected in a trade paperback (Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City) that also includes Milligan's subsequent Detective Comics run (#629–633), and was previously reprinted as a DC Comics Presents 100-Page Spectacular using the #452 Mignola cover.
John Constantine is listed among the story's characters in the Grand Comics Database, adding a further connection to the DC occult universe of the period.