“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
–H.P Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature.
Cosmic horror is a subgenre of horror that was pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft—you have probably heard of his most famous story, “The Call of Cthulhu.” Whether or not you like or are familiar with Lovecraft’s work, cosmic horror has gone far beyond its credited creator and continues to grow and adapt with the modern age. It's a hard genre to define and contrary to the word “cosmic” being in the name, it isn’t exclusive to aliens or outer space. It explores the fear of the unknown. Something bigger than humans that is inconceivable and all powerful—often something ancient. Many cosmic horror stories have elements of isolation and ultimately explore how small and powerless humans are within the universe.
These otherworldly entities can be archaic god-like beings, nameless creatures that live in the depths of the oceans, or threats from beyond our own galaxy. Just like the themes of the genre, defining cosmic horror can be open ended and up to interpretation. Here are five DC cosmic horror titles that are self-contained and exemplify and celebrate the genre. These are all one volume each and perfect to devour in an afternoon.
Aquaman: Andromeda
The Creative Team: Written by Ram V and illustrated by Christian Ward
The Premise: Point Nemo, located in the Pacific Ocean, is known as the “spaceship cemetery.” It’s the farthest away from any landmass and is used to intentionally crash land spaceships and satellites. But something new…something not human has been discovered in these deep dark waters. Whatever it is, it’s waking up. A group of scientists on an experimental submarine called Andromeda have been tasked to investigate and make first contact with this potentially extraterrestrial object. All the while, Black Manta is also after this mysterious structure, with Aquaman on his tail. But the situation really takes a dark turn when the doors to this thing open.
Why It’s Cosmic Horror: We meet multiple entities that exist deep beneath the ocean that have traits often found in Lovecraftian horror—think tentacles! Aquaman himself has an otherworldly design in line with this genre. He wears armor made of organic subterranean materials and has glowing black eyes. The mysterious structure is transcendental in design. We see the Lovecraftian motif of isolation with the crew members aboard the Andromeda and how they are influenced by the unknown. This story also explores the history of an ancient civilization, Antlantis, which adds to the themes and tropes often found in cosmic horror.
Batman: City of Madness
The Creative Team: Written and illustrated by Christian Ward with letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
The Premise: There is a Gotham that exists under Gotham—Gotham Below. This is a nightmarish world filled with dark mirrored versions of every citizen of Gotham, all fed and fueled by the fear and hatred flowing down from above. The entrance, guarded by the Court of Owls, is breached and something escapes—a twisted version of the Dark Knight who aims to trap and train his own Robin. All the while, this breach is driving some of Gotham’s most dangerous citizens mad. Now Batman must team up with the Court of Owls and traverse this frightening realm to save his city. This is the spiritual successor to the psychological thriller Batman: Arkham Asylum, with a cosmic horror bent.
Why It’s Cosmic Horror: Gotham Below's Batman takes visual inspiration from one of the first credited cosmic horror stories: “The Call of Cthulhu.” Like the infamous Cthulhu, Batman Below has tentacles making up the bottom portion of his face. Thematically, this story explores the unknown nature of something that exists outside of humanity’s understanding of the world—Gotham Below. This hidden city defies physics and seemingly exists in its own realm that is fueled by fear itself. Meanwhile, its mirrored copies of Gothamites are otherworldly in design and conception—why and how do they exist?
Plunge
The Creative Team: Written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Stuart Immonen, with colors by Dave Stewart
The Premise: After a devastating tsunami, a ship named the Derleth has begun sending out automated distress signals from a remote atoll…but the strange thing is that the Derleth disappeared forty years ago. Rococo, the company that owns the ship, has put together an unexpected crew to recover it: a marine biologist, a salvage team and a white-collar corporate representative. But what they discover is more than a shipwreck. They discover the missing crew walking around having not aged a day…but they are missing their eyes. And there is something beneath the surface of the ocean…waiting.
Why It’s Cosmic Horror: The all-powerful entity that lurks below the waves has a clear Lovecraftian influence with its many eyes and tentacles. (A visual motif often found in cosmic horror is cephalopods—squids and octopuses.) The physical design of this god-like creature couples with its unknown nature and origins to create a perfect cosmic horror threat. Plunge has extraterrestrial elements (cosmic zombies!) and explores concepts that exist beyond our five senses.
Swamp Thing: Green Hell
The Creative Team: Written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Doug Mahnke, with colors by David Baron
The Premise: Earth is almost completely covered in water. Humanity’s last survivors are confined to “islands” that were once mountain tops. This is a result of humanity’s parasitic relationship with the planet. The parliaments of the Green, the Red and the Rot—god-like elemental entities—decide that the only solution is to exterminate the problem and end humankind. They do so by summoning an avatar of chaos to destroy everything in its path. Its only worthy opposite is Alec Holland—Swamp Thing. Think Waterworld meets The Walking Dead with a cosmic horror twist visually similar to The Ritual.
Why It’s Cosmic Horror: The parliaments of the Green, the Red and the Rot are physically personified as abstract god-like entities. The Red, most notably, looks like a demonic realm straight out of the pages of a Lovecraft story. The parliaments are ancient and exist beyond what humans can understand. They play by their own laws of the universe and humans are mere ants in comparison. All-powerful ancient entities are a common theme found in cosmic horror.
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham
The Creative Team: Written by Mike Mignola and Richard Pace, pencils by Troy Nixey, inks by Dennis Janke and colors by Dave Stewart
The Premise: Gotham, 1928. This Elseworlds story opens up with an icy shipwreck with two survivors who have both lost their minds…and one of them is trying to free a giant god-like cephalopod from the ice. After twenty years, it’s time for Batman to return to his city only to uncover a number of otherworldly supernatural conspiracies that threaten Gotham and the world at large. Batman has to face his biggest threat yet—an all-encompassing ancient evil that inspires and influences the minds of Gothamites and seeks to destroy everything.
Why It’s Cosmic Horror: This is the quintessential example of cosmic horror in DC. Even the marketing and synopsis classifies this title as Lovecraftian. There are several elements that make The Doom That Came to Gotham part of the genre, like its ancient cephalopod-inspired being, archaic rituals and a mysterious book that contains knowledge beyond our realm of understanding. The all-powerful entity, the Lurker on the Threshold, is referred to as being outside of time and space and having come down from the stars when the Earth was new. Visually, we see cephalopods and reptilian-like creatures, as well as fungus-infected characters that add to the cosmic horror nature of this Batman comic.
Honorable Mention: Absolute Green Lantern
This new comic by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay isn’t a self-contained story and only recently released its first issue, but you should be reading this series if you’re a fan of cosmic horror. The Absolute universe exists in its own continuity and takes beloved and well-established characters and goes crazy with them. Hal Jordan and Jo Mullein have discovered the destructive power of a cosmic entity—a massive literal Green Lantern that has dropped from the sky and taken out multiple city blocks. Hal’s abilities aren’t what you’d expect from a Green Lantern, in fact, he might be something entirely different. He wields the power of pure darkness in one of his hands and has no control over his newfound destructive abilities.
Cosmic horror is a genre that continues to expand and grow with the modern age. There is so much to be explored and celebrated with this blend of supernatural and sci-fi existential horror. From beyond the stars to the deepest parts of the ocean, mind bending entities threaten our very understanding of the world around us in these exemplary Lovecraftian comic books.
Aquaman: Andromeda, Batman: City of Madness, Plunge, Swamp Thing: Green Hell and Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham can all be read in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.
Absolute Green Lantern #1 is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Sami DeMonster writes about superheroes, horror and sci-fi for DC.com and reviews comics every week on social media. Follow her at @samidemonster on Instagram and Substack.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Sami DeMonster and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
