Batman: Caped Crusader, which is streaming now on Prime, takes Batman back to his gritty noir roots, and recaptures the lurid crime drama vibes of his initial comic book adventures. It's both a superhero detective series and a horror show, and while it sometimes struggles to find its footing when it involves Batman's sleuthing efforts, it thrives as a creepy exploration of his foes. If that sounds surprising it shouldn't be – the history of Batman in the comic book medium provides a wealth of potential for things to get a little scary.
Batman's early years are heavily inspired by horror, both on the page and the screen. Many of his exploits in those inaugural issues of Detective Comics find him tackling macabre foes that seem straight out of pulp magazines and ghoulish stories. By his third ever appearance, he's already moved on from blackmailers and jewel thieves to a mad scientist named Dr. Death. And it doesn't take long for Batman to fight mutated abominations, the handiwork of the demented Hugo Strange.
