Batman: The Cult

Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson teamed up for this dark, four-issue DC miniseries from 1991, plunging Batman into a psychological and physical nightmare when he is captured and brainwashed by a messianic, homeless cult leader named Deacon Blackfire. Wrightson’s lush, horror-tinged artwork gives Gotham a decaying, fever-dream atmosphere as the story pushes the Caped Crusader to his breaking point. A chilling exploration of fear and control, The Cult stands as one of the era’s most visually distinctive and unsettling Batman tales.