Batman: Haunted Gotham #3

This DC Elseworlds miniseries takes Batman into gloriously gothic, supernatural territory, and part three — "The Shattered Serpent" — looks every bit as wild as that title promises. Kelley Jones and John Beatty's cover puts Batman face-to-face with a massive, tiger-striped serpentine demon, its coiling neck and grotesque reptilian head dominating the deep crimson background while a visibly strained Dark Knight raises a fist in defiance. Doug Moench's script and Jones's unmistakably warped, expressionistic art made Haunted Gotham one of the more delightfully strange corners of 2000-era Batman storytelling.