Succumbence and Redemption in Doug Moench’s Batman & Dracula Trilogy

Abstract

Dracula had always been a source of inspiration for Batman, something confessed by his very own creator Bob Kane in his autobiography. Written by Doeg Moench3 and published in what is called the Modern/Dark Age of Comics, the Batman & Dracula Trilogy reunites the two characters in one person(age). This paper investigates the development of some motifs from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and explores the matter of the fallibility of the hero as raised in this graphic trilogy. A hero is exemplary, yet human nevertheless. Being human, he is imperfect and, therefore, subject to mistake. But how grave can a hero’s mistake be? To what extent is a mistake a fall? And does a hero have the right to redemption no matter the gravity of his fall? The rationale and the morale behind the very idea of Batman have been lost once the hero succumbed to anger and lust and could not stop his fall anymore. Does the sacrifice he eventually undergoes entitle him to redemption?