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Title: Red Rain
Review: This is one of Batman's "Elseworlds" adventures, as opposed to the "real-life" Batman adventures. As you might guess from the title, Batman meets Dracula. DC probably had to step carefully to avoid treading on Marvel's copyrights on the Dracula character, and that results in a seriously underwhelming villain. The art, heavily influenced by Bernie Wrightson (and I'm being very kind here), is interesting, but Kelly Jones has never learned to draw human beings in proper proportions: Thalidomide flipper limbs sprout off mutant musclebound torsos, and bodies twist around in knotted, impossible contortions. Doug Moench apparently never got the memo that comix grew up, so he continues to write florid, overwrought funny book prose. One character even throws his head to the sky and bellows, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" The balloon-breasted heroine, for no good reason, wears a skintight one-piece and thigh-highs. Nothing about this book elevates it from geeky juvenilia.
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