Comics Review: The Batman's Grave #1

[bedsitter23]

The Batman's Grave (2019-) #1 by Warren Ellis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I somehow missed this, and was lucky I could find Issue #1 still (Issue #2 hit yesterday).

There are a bunch of Batman stories out now. I am reading a bunch, and there's even still more than what I am reading. Still, when I saw Ellis and Hitch attached, I knew I had to add one more.

As I have talked before, Batman. at this point, is America's archetypal character. It is our King Arthur, our Beowulf, our Odysseus, our Mr Darcy.

Also, in Ellis and Hitch's hands here, he's the G*ddamn Batman.

This is a hard-boiled story. Yet, Ellis hits all the right notes. There's characterization. There's nuance. There's a detective story that unravels. It hits all the right notes that a good Ellis story does, but it is always on task. There is quite a bit of action, yet, there's enough story, that it feels well within the $3.99 price point.

At time, Hitch's style reminds me of the 90s art in the Legends of the Dark Knight. It does not seem like an obvious choice, and I don't know that I was going to like it. However, it really does fit the tone quite well. It sells the underlying grit of the story. The LotDK theme feels heavy on this to me- those memorable storylines where writers like Morrison, Wagner, Mignola, Willingham, James Robinson and a literal who's who (including Ellis) would stop by to spin a different kind of Batman tale.

For me, it is only 2 issues in, but as good as a Batman story that I have read in awhile, and Tom King has done some strong work. It just really grabbed me.



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