Batman by Darwyn Cooke

A stylish, noir-tinged collection in which a masked vigilante wrestles with the monstrous embodiment of his own mission during a harrowing night of self-examination, weighing fear against compassion to decide what kind of symbol he will be for his city. Companion tales follow tense run-ins with crime bosses, fraught entanglements with a certain cat burglar, and street-level cases that expose his vulnerabilities, moral code, and the human cost of vigilantism.