Batman: Gotham After Midnight in the words of writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Simon Dark) himself, is a stylized, atmospheric tale of what happens to the city of Gotham when the witching hour begins. Rather than opt for an artist fond of the edgeless, paint-like, chiaroscuro effect that has become so much in vogue I suppose as the cumulative effect of trying to achieve more what Frank Miller did with his landmark The Dark Knight Returns, DC Comics paired Niles with artist Kelley Jones, whose familiarity with Batman is well established—with the wildly popular Elseworlds story "Blood Rain" and its two sequels, as well as a lengthy run on Batman from 1995-1998. The partnership turned out to be just right. The result is a 12-issue maxi-series that went on sale May 28, 2008 (cover dates July 8, 2008 - June 9, 2009) until last April 29, 2009, that is indeed a stylized, macabre, gothic rendition of the underlying premise. Filled with tiny details that only serve to flesh out the characters even more, each issue features a familiar villain yet underscores a larger arc, the progression of which is a definite statement against another comics thing also very much in vogue, the crossover. Ironically, it was in a midst of a crossover story arc in the succeeding storyline that Batman was apparently killed (aftermath posted here). All 12 issues will be collected into a graphic novel softcover edition to be released on September, 2009.