While it’s clear that his experiences with Blackfire have shaken him, The Cult never delves too deeply into the matter. It was written by Jim Starlin, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, colored by Bill Wray and edited by Denny O'Neil. So paramount is this story that its details—despotic state, underground army, lynchings, blown bridges—partly inspired Nolan’s third Batman film. How We Got Here: The first issue opens with Batman already held captive by Blackfire, with flashbacks showing how he was taken prisoner.

But those are just the hardcore unable to accept the truth -- Batman murdered a man while under the influence of a cult, incapable of controlling his actions or trusting his own senses. Normally this wouldn’t be considered noteworthy, given that Gotham is already a death trap to all who live there, but there seems to be an implication that it has something to do with the homeless population suddenly disappearing off the streets. The Comics Code Authority had just disbanded, there was a strong desire to tell serious, dark stories within the industry, and if you were to check the temperature of the world, much less the U.

It does give a good idea of how Gotham reacts to all of this, but the same facial expressions and the boring page layouts make it a chore to read. But that incident with the woman that gets torn apart, I didn’t read that as Batman justifying it, but rather acknowledging that he was powerless to do anything about it.

With his mind heavily under the influence, Batman joins the cult and follows the word of Deacon Blackfire. And I totally understand why so many creators wanted to replicate it for their own projects; thought results varied from good to edge-lord cringe.Outside some brief hallucinations of the Joker and Two-Face, none of Batman's Rogues Gallery make any sort of appearance, the story focusing exclusively on Deacon Blackfire and his cult. At the ends of the day, The Cult is a solid story and makes for a great edition to Starlin’s work on the character.

After disarming Blackfire, Batman brutally beats him, going out of his way to make it as painful as possible. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but the story posits that Gotham is taken over, falls into total chaos, and empties out halfway in the time it takes Batman and Robin to escape the sewers, right? Finally, this Batman seems to have no problem with blowing up bad guys with missiles mounted on the Batmobile/monster truck. For historical context, it's one year after Year One, one year before Jason Todd gets voted to death, and the same year as The Killing Joke.Batman gets caught in the most banal way, a situation he's been in countless times, but somehow falls victim to this time. In perhaps the most shocking moments in the arc, Rat-Face attempts to make Batman attack an innocent African American man who he falsely claims is a pimp. Gasoline Dousing: The aforementioned setting fire of Blackfire's totem was preceded by Bruce dosing the thing in gas.