darkly romantic comics - batman, the crow, sandman


	From Hell. Batman, The Crow, The Sandman and The Tomb of Dracula represent the Dark Romantic movement in comics. I have not read many comics and I appreciate contributions. The world around Batman is decadent. Villains terrorize the citizens. Gotham City, beautiful and frightening, is a renaissance for gothic architecture. Batman is a defiant "anti-hero" or a "byronic hero". The man behind the mask is a a revengeful angel that wanders the earth alone. He lives in a desolate castle. The bat often appears in folklore and gothic novels.

There are many similarities between The Crow and Batman - the gothic architecture, the villains. Violence is justified. The story in The Crow is perhaps more romantic in the traditional sense: the "anti-hero" and his girlfriend - the murder victim - finally unite in eternal love. She returns from the dead.

The Sandman is a 75-part literary comic book series, written by Neil Gaiman. The central character in the series is Dream, also known as Morpheus, also known by many other names. He is captured in 1916 by an occult group, and held prisoner until he escapes in 1988.


	The consequences of his imprisonment become clear in the course of the series.The Endless are: Dream. Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium. Allthough The Sandman is a closed chapter, I think Gaiman continued with other comics, as Lucifer. Dracula doesn't only exist in myths, movies, and novels. The Marvil series The Tomb of Dracula was created in 1972 by Gene Colans. Dracula appears in the 20th century. The vampire hunters are related to the characters in Stoker's novel. The vampire hunters Frank Drake are Blade became popular characters in other comics and movies. I haven't read The Tomb of Dracula yet, but many Dark Romantics think it's the best portrait of Dracula since Nosferatu (1922).