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Batman: Miniseries
The Batman's Grave: The Complete Collection
The World's Greatest Detective must try to inhabit the mind of a murder victim to solve a case--without filling the empty grave next to those of his parents.
Can Batman imagine the life of a corpse with a half-eaten face without dying himself?
A man was murdered, and the Batman is in his head--and he knows how it happened. All he has to do now is survive his own deduction.
Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, one of the most legendary creative partnerships of the modern age, reunite in this tale about life, death and the questions most are too afraid to ask.
Collects The Batman's Grave #1-12
Can Batman imagine the life of a corpse with a half-eaten face without dying himself?
A man was murdered, and the Batman is in his head--and he knows how it happened. All he has to do now is survive his own deduction.
Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, one of the most legendary creative partnerships of the modern age, reunite in this tale about life, death and the questions most are too afraid to ask.
Collects The Batman's Grave #1-12
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2021
38 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,972 books5,771 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
May 8, 2021
I'm in the minority here, but I just loved these 12 issues long miniseries from Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, something halfway between Nolan's cinematic/realistic Batman, sometimes I just could hear Hans Zimmer's theme in my mind, and an hard-boiled detective tv show.
I think Ellis nailed for good the essence of the Caped Crusader as World's Greatest Detective here, cutting away some iconic elements of the character like the usual bat-family/villains freakshow cast of supporting actors while keeping a nice Gary Oldman based Gordon and just best depiction ever of good old Alfred Pennyworth as a funny, cynical, David Niven reborn.
Maybe 12 issues were too much for this apparently meandering storyline with so many silent brutal fight scenes filled pages, but Hitch's stellar artworks were 100% eye-candy for me, so that's just ok for me.
Probably not best Dark Knight comic-book ever, but if you are in the mood for reading a non-canon crime/detective tale with strong Christopher Nolan's movies trilogy vibes, just check it out.
And I think that abrupt and unexpected circular ending, open to more than one interpretation, was a real cherry on cake at last.
Excelsior.
December 29, 2020
Gotham’s latest nutter is a Power Rangers-cosplayer calling himself Scorn and he’s got an army because he’s a Batman villain. Which means Batman gotta punch ‘im. For twelve bloody issues!
I mostly love Warren Ellis’ books (the man himself - ehh, not so much, particularly in light of recent, um, things), and, while he’s written some Batman comics in the past, he’s never tackled a full-length storyline before, so I was excited to see him teaming up with Bryan “Never Met a Dutch Angle I Didn’t Like” Hitch for this 12-issue maxiseries, The Batman’s Grave. And it’s underwhelming, mostly quite boring stuff, unfortunately!
The story itself turns out to be wholly unremarkable. Scorn is just another ordinary dude with conveniently absurd hi-tech/training, for no other reason than plot, with a grudge against the GCPD. He’s a character we’ve seen Batman face a hundred times before (normally he’s called Deadshot). Batman’s journey to finally punch Scorn doesn’t warrant 12 issues - but I’m sure DC knew that combining Ellis and Hitch with Batman meant that they could string along fans for that long, so they did. They were right but still, up yours DC.
Which is why Hitch is given free reign to draw numerous extended fight scenes that add little-to-nothing to the overall story but certainly add to the page count! Watch Batman fight nobodies like the Eater of Faces, Colonel Sulphur, Dr Karl Helfern’s Scorn goons, more Scorn goons in Arkham Asylum, Scorn himself a couple times, and more Scorn goons. Throw in tons more splash pages, lots of pointless dialogue, and pages like an entire page of Batman walking past a bus stop because his Batmobile got blowed up.
The book is essentially 80% filler for what is a feeble, instantly forgettable story. Ellis tosses in a lot of convoluted elements like hypnotic drugs and serial killer murders and the takeover of Arkham but it’s just loud nonsense to distract you from the nothing-to-it plot and the villain’s eye-rollingly flat motivations. No idea why this is called “The Batman’s Grave” either - like a lot of this book, it fails to connect to anything halfway meaningful.
That said, I liked the way Ellis wrote Batman’s thought processes for getting into victims’ heads and he wrote the funniest Alfred I’ve read in some time. Some of the lines that made me laff:
Bruce: You work in the manor all day and you spend all night in the cave. How do you even do that?
Alfred: I am habitually ripped to the gills on very fine cocaine, sir.
Bruce: I may not buy people out of a life of crime, but I’ve been developing that approach.
Alfred: Because I have nagged and shamed you.
Bruce: No.
Alfred: I have owned you, sir. Confess it.
Bruce: I should call the police and tell them there’s a shot man on my floor and the butler did it.
Alfred: Sir. Young master. You wouldn’t grass on faithful old Alfred to the rozzers, would you? Not ALFRED. (slurps whiskey)
The scene where Alfred shoots an intruder with rubber bullets is great, especially when Alfred keeps returning to shoot the unconscious intruder again and again to make sure he doesn’t get up! Hitch draws him like David “Pink Panther” Niven too which is perfect.
Hitch’s art is brilliant as it usually is. While too much of the book is extended wordless fight scenes between Batman and whichever easily-defeatable foe is standing in front of him, they’re well choreographed and great to see. It’s just I don’t think people want to see so much of this when they pick up a Batman book - they want something to read, not half a book full of Batman fight scenes! The excessive Dutch angles are a weird stylistic choice and some of the designs for Batman’s gadgets are awful. In one scene he’s flying what looks like a robot’s turd (made up of wheels and lights) and the Bat-hound drones looked horrendous!
While the art is good and Ellis’ wit translates well through Alfred, The Batman’s Grave is overall an overlong, bloated, meandering, and completely unmemorable book - a disappointing effort from such a talented creative team.
I mostly love Warren Ellis’ books (the man himself - ehh, not so much, particularly in light of recent, um, things), and, while he’s written some Batman comics in the past, he’s never tackled a full-length storyline before, so I was excited to see him teaming up with Bryan “Never Met a Dutch Angle I Didn’t Like” Hitch for this 12-issue maxiseries, The Batman’s Grave. And it’s underwhelming, mostly quite boring stuff, unfortunately!
The story itself turns out to be wholly unremarkable. Scorn is just another ordinary dude with conveniently absurd hi-tech/training, for no other reason than plot, with a grudge against the GCPD. He’s a character we’ve seen Batman face a hundred times before (normally he’s called Deadshot). Batman’s journey to finally punch Scorn doesn’t warrant 12 issues - but I’m sure DC knew that combining Ellis and Hitch with Batman meant that they could string along fans for that long, so they did. They were right but still, up yours DC.
Which is why Hitch is given free reign to draw numerous extended fight scenes that add little-to-nothing to the overall story but certainly add to the page count! Watch Batman fight nobodies like the Eater of Faces, Colonel Sulphur, Dr Karl Helfern’s Scorn goons, more Scorn goons in Arkham Asylum, Scorn himself a couple times, and more Scorn goons. Throw in tons more splash pages, lots of pointless dialogue, and pages like an entire page of Batman walking past a bus stop because his Batmobile got blowed up.
The book is essentially 80% filler for what is a feeble, instantly forgettable story. Ellis tosses in a lot of convoluted elements like hypnotic drugs and serial killer murders and the takeover of Arkham but it’s just loud nonsense to distract you from the nothing-to-it plot and the villain’s eye-rollingly flat motivations. No idea why this is called “The Batman’s Grave” either - like a lot of this book, it fails to connect to anything halfway meaningful.
That said, I liked the way Ellis wrote Batman’s thought processes for getting into victims’ heads and he wrote the funniest Alfred I’ve read in some time. Some of the lines that made me laff:
Bruce: You work in the manor all day and you spend all night in the cave. How do you even do that?
Alfred: I am habitually ripped to the gills on very fine cocaine, sir.
Bruce: I may not buy people out of a life of crime, but I’ve been developing that approach.
Alfred: Because I have nagged and shamed you.
Bruce: No.
Alfred: I have owned you, sir. Confess it.
Bruce: I should call the police and tell them there’s a shot man on my floor and the butler did it.
Alfred: Sir. Young master. You wouldn’t grass on faithful old Alfred to the rozzers, would you? Not ALFRED. (slurps whiskey)
The scene where Alfred shoots an intruder with rubber bullets is great, especially when Alfred keeps returning to shoot the unconscious intruder again and again to make sure he doesn’t get up! Hitch draws him like David “Pink Panther” Niven too which is perfect.
Hitch’s art is brilliant as it usually is. While too much of the book is extended wordless fight scenes between Batman and whichever easily-defeatable foe is standing in front of him, they’re well choreographed and great to see. It’s just I don’t think people want to see so much of this when they pick up a Batman book - they want something to read, not half a book full of Batman fight scenes! The excessive Dutch angles are a weird stylistic choice and some of the designs for Batman’s gadgets are awful. In one scene he’s flying what looks like a robot’s turd (made up of wheels and lights) and the Bat-hound drones looked horrendous!
While the art is good and Ellis’ wit translates well through Alfred, The Batman’s Grave is overall an overlong, bloated, meandering, and completely unmemorable book - a disappointing effort from such a talented creative team.
April 18, 2022
A series of glorified action sequences attempting to carry a rather weak plot. It has good elements, the best of which being the focus on Batman's detective skills, but it's ultimately let down by slightly off art and characterisations, and a story which is extremely filler heavy. A little too long and inflated, it's a run that would have benefited from a tighter, more condensed narrative.
December 4, 2021
Surprisingly sedate. In a story with no super-powered foes, Batman is slowly worn down in a series of brutal Jason Bourne-type hand-to-hand combat fights as he tries to solve the latest vast conspiracy threatening to destroy Gotham City. The gimmick du jour is that he solves the individual crimes in the spree by putting himself into the mind of the victim instead of the usual mind-of-the-killer trope, but it really doesn't add much.
It was refreshing to have a Batman story set for a large chunk in Arkham that did not involve a mass break-out of his entire rogues gallery -- though there is still a giant fight scene in there. The banter between Batman and Alfred was given lots of time too, which was nice, even if sort of lukewarm. Most Commissioner Gordon scenes were good too, though one decision seemed very out of character.
But the climactic battle and the big "Huh?" induced by the final pages were so disappointing I just can't give this a thumb's up.
It was refreshing to have a Batman story set for a large chunk in Arkham that did not involve a mass break-out of his entire rogues gallery -- though there is still a giant fight scene in there. The banter between Batman and Alfred was given lots of time too, which was nice, even if sort of lukewarm. Most Commissioner Gordon scenes were good too, though one decision seemed very out of character.
But the climactic battle and the big "Huh?" induced by the final pages were so disappointing I just can't give this a thumb's up.
February 15, 2021
Sarcastic killing machine with a taste for booze and blow and without two f*cks to give is my new favorite iteration of Alfred. And the rest of the story is good too.
April 12, 2021
A shockingly disappointing volume from Ellis. He tries to write The Long Halloween, but it's just long.
I mean, you have to give Ellis points for trying to do something new, and not just offering up another Joker or gangster story when he turned back to Batman's early years. And, it's got a nice modern feel to it, and a really terrific take on Alfred, who should get his own comic.
But Ellis plays the old game of small-crimes leading to a big mastermind, which rarely goes well, and even less so here when some of the small crimes were deliberate misdirection.
And the big criminal has super plot immunity, basically doing whatever he wants until he's taken down at the end of issue #12.
Finally, Ellis heavily depends on his artist, sometimes plotting out pages and pages of dialogueless action, which makes big parts of this book a quick and shallow read.
This was intriguing enough to keep reading, especially with Ellis' cliffhangers, and it read quickly. But it's not going to be a classic.
I mean, you have to give Ellis points for trying to do something new, and not just offering up another Joker or gangster story when he turned back to Batman's early years. And, it's got a nice modern feel to it, and a really terrific take on Alfred, who should get his own comic.
But Ellis plays the old game of small-crimes leading to a big mastermind, which rarely goes well, and even less so here when some of the small crimes were deliberate misdirection.
And the big criminal has super plot immunity, basically doing whatever he wants until he's taken down at the end of issue #12.
Finally, Ellis heavily depends on his artist, sometimes plotting out pages and pages of dialogueless action, which makes big parts of this book a quick and shallow read.
This was intriguing enough to keep reading, especially with Ellis' cliffhangers, and it read quickly. But it's not going to be a classic.
April 10, 2021
The Batman's Grave collects issues 1-12 of the series written by Warren Ellis and art by Bryan Hitch.
Batman must enter the mind of a killer who is targeting people connected to Gotham's Justice Department
Plot wise, we have had this story a dozen times. Hell, it very similar to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight. The story is actually fairly forgettable (and shouldn't have been longer than 8 issues), but there are some real treasures in this book. Firstly, Batman and Alfred's relationship in this book is perfect with Alfred stealing every scene he appears in. Alfred is hands down the best part of this book. It is worth reading solely for this charming British butler. Second of all, I really liked the way it was presented how Batman gets into the mind of the killer and how he investigates a crime scene. It takes the extra steps that so many Batman stories skips of Batman doing some mysterious Crim scene sample sourcing and instantly solving the crime. Third, Batman gets his ass handed to him numerous times. I like when Batman has to struggle against his foe. He shouldn't be unbeatable in hand to hand combat. What makes him stand out is his resolve to keep going and find a way to either win or to fight another day. Fourth, this book strips away the Batfamily and Rogue Gallery giving you a much smaller scale story that doesn't have to juggle a ton of characters and relationships. Very refreshing. And finally, the art is great. Bryan Hitch gets to showcase Batman in a ton of fights and that is a real treat for the reader.
This isn't the best Batman book. Not even close. But I did like a lot of things presented here. I would recommend this book to Bat fans. I questioned even getting the book due to Ellis's recent accusations but I thought I would give it a shot because of the other creators and to separate the art from the artist.
Batman must enter the mind of a killer who is targeting people connected to Gotham's Justice Department
Plot wise, we have had this story a dozen times. Hell, it very similar to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight. The story is actually fairly forgettable (and shouldn't have been longer than 8 issues), but there are some real treasures in this book. Firstly, Batman and Alfred's relationship in this book is perfect with Alfred stealing every scene he appears in. Alfred is hands down the best part of this book. It is worth reading solely for this charming British butler. Second of all, I really liked the way it was presented how Batman gets into the mind of the killer and how he investigates a crime scene. It takes the extra steps that so many Batman stories skips of Batman doing some mysterious Crim scene sample sourcing and instantly solving the crime. Third, Batman gets his ass handed to him numerous times. I like when Batman has to struggle against his foe. He shouldn't be unbeatable in hand to hand combat. What makes him stand out is his resolve to keep going and find a way to either win or to fight another day. Fourth, this book strips away the Batfamily and Rogue Gallery giving you a much smaller scale story that doesn't have to juggle a ton of characters and relationships. Very refreshing. And finally, the art is great. Bryan Hitch gets to showcase Batman in a ton of fights and that is a real treat for the reader.
This isn't the best Batman book. Not even close. But I did like a lot of things presented here. I would recommend this book to Bat fans. I questioned even getting the book due to Ellis's recent accusations but I thought I would give it a shot because of the other creators and to separate the art from the artist.
January 25, 2024
If you want a action packed Batman fucking shit up, this is pretty much that. Ellis makes Pennyworth a snappy little shit and I love that part. Batman is pushing through, further and further, whatever he must do to stop the baddies, and it is entertaining. Nice to have a new villain too. However, it's nothing new and we could predict how it would end easily. A 3.5 out of 5.
May 5, 2025
Batman's Gave is all about Batman pushing himself to his inevitable death by fighting crime in Gotham. The book opens with Alfred cleaning the headstones of Martha Wayne, Thomas Wayne, and Bruce Wayne?! Wait, what?
Even in the world where someone buys a burial plot for themselves, or plans out a burial plot next to their family... they don't already have their name on it... right?
This was artistic license (and the power of imagery) gone too far. Right?
:-/
Anyway, the premise of this book is super weird: Part of Batman's detective skills are recreating a crime scene and imagining himself as the victim, because he "can't imagine himself the criminal"/understand the perp.
The first creep/criminal we are introduced in this book is the Flamingo, who is not how I've seen him drawn elsewhere. He looks like a creepy clown here with wispy hair tufts on each side of his head. *shudder*
Character wise, Bruce's relationship with Alfred is also really interesting here. Alfred is the soldier, telling Bruce he's in the middle of a war & he's the only one who doesn't know it (i.e. telling him to kill on the streets. It's kill or be killed in war.)...
The war:
Warden Arkham: "How are you feeling?"
Batman: "I'm fine, thank you."
Arkham: "Really?"
Batman: "Really. Does something make you think otherwise?"
Arkham: "Well, you're dressed as a bat."
LOL
While Batman is visiting Arkham the Scorn army arrives (a vigilante army of bad guys) and starts shooting up the place. Batman has the gall to tell Commissioner Gordon "No killing," which is just too F*ing wild, even for Batman. Just because Batman doesn't kill, doesn't mean he stops the police for shooting at bad guys with assault weapons. (Who is Ellis's Batman?? I'm not sure I like this writing.)
Anyway, Batman leads Gordon through Arkham, and it's begrudgingly cool that Batman knows his way out of Arkham, even "with his eyes closed" in case he ever gets locked away, himself. That is very Batman.
Batman ends up fighting Scorn and his army for many many more pages. Like, another half of the book.
(I disagree with Batman that the Sorn Army are not terrorists. I think a homegrown militia are terrorists, but *shrug*.)
Though Batman "can't" think like the criminal, he ends up feeding info to the GCPD to mess with Scorn's head (about his father [a serial killer] & mother [an innocent] who were killed by the police).
There are a few chuckle moments in Ellis's writing. Alfred serves up a lot of wry humor. And there's one scene at the beginning of Chapter 7 where the Batmobile is blown up and Batman has to walk past a bus stop of people, LOL. But other than that, I found this book (and writing) to be only OK. Not bad, but not my favorite Batman story.
Of course the ending was as grim as expected, .
Maybe the story was too long, maybe I just didn't love Ellis's Batman, maybe I hated the on-the-nose ending, not sure…But this book gets a 3.5 star rating from me, no more.
Even in the world where someone buys a burial plot for themselves, or plans out a burial plot next to their family... they don't already have their name on it... right?
This was artistic license (and the power of imagery) gone too far. Right?
:-/
Anyway, the premise of this book is super weird: Part of Batman's detective skills are recreating a crime scene and imagining himself as the victim, because he "can't imagine himself the criminal"/understand the perp.
The first creep/criminal we are introduced in this book is the Flamingo, who is not how I've seen him drawn elsewhere. He looks like a creepy clown here with wispy hair tufts on each side of his head. *shudder*
Character wise, Bruce's relationship with Alfred is also really interesting here. Alfred is the soldier, telling Bruce he's in the middle of a war & he's the only one who doesn't know it (i.e. telling him to kill on the streets. It's kill or be killed in war.)...
The war:
Warden Arkham: "How are you feeling?"
Batman: "I'm fine, thank you."
Arkham: "Really?"
Batman: "Really. Does something make you think otherwise?"
Arkham: "Well, you're dressed as a bat."
LOL
While Batman is visiting Arkham the Scorn army arrives (a vigilante army of bad guys) and starts shooting up the place. Batman has the gall to tell Commissioner Gordon "No killing," which is just too F*ing wild, even for Batman. Just because Batman doesn't kill, doesn't mean he stops the police for shooting at bad guys with assault weapons. (Who is Ellis's Batman?? I'm not sure I like this writing.)
Anyway, Batman leads Gordon through Arkham, and it's begrudgingly cool that Batman knows his way out of Arkham, even "with his eyes closed" in case he ever gets locked away, himself. That is very Batman.
Batman ends up fighting Scorn and his army for many many more pages. Like, another half of the book.
(I disagree with Batman that the Sorn Army are not terrorists. I think a homegrown militia are terrorists, but *shrug*.)
Though Batman "can't" think like the criminal, he ends up feeding info to the GCPD to mess with Scorn's head (about his father [a serial killer] & mother [an innocent] who were killed by the police).
There are a few chuckle moments in Ellis's writing. Alfred serves up a lot of wry humor. And there's one scene at the beginning of Chapter 7 where the Batmobile is blown up and Batman has to walk past a bus stop of people, LOL. But other than that, I found this book (and writing) to be only OK. Not bad, but not my favorite Batman story.
Of course the ending was as grim as expected, .
Maybe the story was too long, maybe I just didn't love Ellis's Batman, maybe I hated the on-the-nose ending, not sure…But this book gets a 3.5 star rating from me, no more.
April 19, 2021
An okay read. Was interested in this series, for a while and now that I have finished it I'm a bit mixed on it.
What Ellis does very well, is balancing the action with the dialogue. Each issue is structured very well in that you get a cool fight scene, and then some dialogue between Bruce and Alfred. The vibe of the series also reminded me alot of the Telltale batman game, in the similar suit and tech Bruce uses.
The art was okay overall, there were times I liked it and other times it was just okay. I think mainly how Bruce and Alfred are drawn was a bit weird and muddy. The Batmobile was very cool though!
Other then that the series was dragged out a bit too long, as I feel this was like 6 issue mini, in terms of the story, but it got doubled to 12. And the ending was a bit weird and anti-climatic I feel.
Overall it's okay series, but not something I recommend going out now and reading.
What Ellis does very well, is balancing the action with the dialogue. Each issue is structured very well in that you get a cool fight scene, and then some dialogue between Bruce and Alfred. The vibe of the series also reminded me alot of the Telltale batman game, in the similar suit and tech Bruce uses.
The art was okay overall, there were times I liked it and other times it was just okay. I think mainly how Bruce and Alfred are drawn was a bit weird and muddy. The Batmobile was very cool though!
Other then that the series was dragged out a bit too long, as I feel this was like 6 issue mini, in terms of the story, but it got doubled to 12. And the ending was a bit weird and anti-climatic I feel.
Overall it's okay series, but not something I recommend going out now and reading.
July 28, 2023
This is mostly a good Batman story with a weak villain and an odd characterization of Alfred. I think I liked it more than I'm willing to give it credit for.
August 7, 2022
Twelve issues for this story are twice too many. The supernumerary ones are overextended slow-mo fights (with some extremely awkward poses I might add). I guess Hitch had a ball on this one but the reader sure doesn’t! And do not mistake me: I do like Hitch, no prob, but I thought I was gonna OD on all these silent panels of guys getting smashed through walls.
Let’s also say that tech design isn’t his strong suite. What with the horrible scooby drones?
The plot is basic: guy with a grudge against GCPD hires brain dead grunts and a few more colorful to hit on cops. Batsy plays Will Graham and painfully saves the day. Twelve issues?
Nah.
The only thing really shining through is Alfred. The cold blooded former SAS sarcastic butler gets the better lines of the book by far and casually shows how tough he is.
Let’s also say that tech design isn’t his strong suite. What with the horrible scooby drones?
The plot is basic: guy with a grudge against GCPD hires brain dead grunts and a few more colorful to hit on cops. Batsy plays Will Graham and painfully saves the day. Twelve issues?
Nah.
The only thing really shining through is Alfred. The cold blooded former SAS sarcastic butler gets the better lines of the book by far and casually shows how tough he is.
April 10, 2025
The Batman’s Grave by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch is fricking amazing. I’ve never been so amused by Alfred before. Story’s interesting, art is gorgeous. Please, give me more.
June 18, 2021
The Batman's Grave is a twelve-issue miniseries has Bruce Wayne as Batman inhabiting the mind of a murdered victim to solve a case without filling the empty grave next to his parents. It was written by Warren Ellis with art by Bryan Hitch and collects all twelve issues of the 2019–2020 limited series.
The Batman's Grave is a twelve-issue miniseries that has Bruce Wayne as Batman forcing himself to inhabit the mind of a murder victim with a half-eaten face, which sends him on a collision course with an enemy who has infiltrated every part of Gotham – every corner Batman turns leads him one step closer to his own grave.
Warren Ellis has penned the entire trade paperback. Ellis has created a narrative that is a good character study of Batman with a villain that has the same origins as Bruce Wayne. However, as Bruce fights against the crime that killed his parents as Batman, Robert Anthony goes against the police and the criminal justice system that he see as the killers of his parents as Scorn. However, the execution was moderately done – as the narrative is not memorable.
Bryan Hitch penciled the entire trade paperback. Since he was the only penciler, the artistic flow of the trade paperback flowed exceptionally well. For the most part, Hitch's penciling is wonderful using light and shadow well to create a dark and mysterious Batman. His attention to detail also showed through in most splash pages.
All in all, The Batman's Grave is an interesting narrative with potential that wasn't quite met – it is a story about Bruce Wayne as Batman trying to solve a mystery, by becoming the murdered victim and meeting a villain not unlike himself had he took a different approach to vigilantism.
The Batman's Grave is a twelve-issue miniseries that has Bruce Wayne as Batman forcing himself to inhabit the mind of a murder victim with a half-eaten face, which sends him on a collision course with an enemy who has infiltrated every part of Gotham – every corner Batman turns leads him one step closer to his own grave.
Warren Ellis has penned the entire trade paperback. Ellis has created a narrative that is a good character study of Batman with a villain that has the same origins as Bruce Wayne. However, as Bruce fights against the crime that killed his parents as Batman, Robert Anthony goes against the police and the criminal justice system that he see as the killers of his parents as Scorn. However, the execution was moderately done – as the narrative is not memorable.
Bryan Hitch penciled the entire trade paperback. Since he was the only penciler, the artistic flow of the trade paperback flowed exceptionally well. For the most part, Hitch's penciling is wonderful using light and shadow well to create a dark and mysterious Batman. His attention to detail also showed through in most splash pages.
All in all, The Batman's Grave is an interesting narrative with potential that wasn't quite met – it is a story about Bruce Wayne as Batman trying to solve a mystery, by becoming the murdered victim and meeting a villain not unlike himself had he took a different approach to vigilantism.
January 5, 2022
Middling fare here, which is made more disappointing by my love of Warren Ellis. My thoughts are simply that maybe he's not a great choice to write Batman. A little too snarky with Alfred playing comic relief.
Also, weird note, Batman is kicking people in the face constantly in this book. There are like a dozen panels that prominently display the treads of his boots. Weird.
Also, weird note, Batman is kicking people in the face constantly in this book. There are like a dozen panels that prominently display the treads of his boots. Weird.
January 11, 2023
The Batman's Grave is probably the recent Batman publication that should have received "The Detective" subtitle, not Tom Taylor's work. Warren Ellis writes a chatty Batman who spends a good portion of the book entering some kind of mind palace to uncover clues and motivations. It's kind of fun the first time, but wears out its welcome a little.
When Batman isn't thinking hard or joking with Alfred (who is just delightful here), he's punching the hell out of someone. Bryan Hitch does a lot of heavy lifting on the artwork and its generally great. The shift from all dialogue to no dialogue can be startling though. And the issues seem to end mid-sentence, which must have been odd outside of this collection.
12 issues is definitely too many - I lost interest about the same time they introduced the villain who was pulling the strings all along. Was I able to connect all the pieces? No way! There were like, six sub-villains before we got to the real villain. I couldn't keep the names straight.
But like, DC, please bring back this version of Alfred, okay? He's superb.
When Batman isn't thinking hard or joking with Alfred (who is just delightful here), he's punching the hell out of someone. Bryan Hitch does a lot of heavy lifting on the artwork and its generally great. The shift from all dialogue to no dialogue can be startling though. And the issues seem to end mid-sentence, which must have been odd outside of this collection.
12 issues is definitely too many - I lost interest about the same time they introduced the villain who was pulling the strings all along. Was I able to connect all the pieces? No way! There were like, six sub-villains before we got to the real villain. I couldn't keep the names straight.
But like, DC, please bring back this version of Alfred, okay? He's superb.
Read
March 25, 2022One of the last Warren Ellis books to get underway before he was unveiled as an industrial scale fuckboy, and also I hate modern Batman, so it possibly shouldn't come as a surprise if it's not my favourite read ever, but dear heavens. Why did I even embark on this? Well, it has Bryan Hitch on art, so that's the team which created The Authority and thus remade superhero comics for the 21st century, so some fool part of me hoped for a return of the old magic. And to be fair, there are moments when the Ellis-isms do work: of course Bruce Wayne – and Lex Luthor – would have had their corporations get into DC Earth's equivalent of the Alexa market, given the surveillance possibilities. Elsewhere, though, we get things like Batman always doing his detecting by putting himself in the victim's place, which seems more like a gimmick from one of Ellis' many, many detective books which ended up incomplete because he was too busy messaging every alternative girl on the internet. Alfred, played by a drunk David Niven, fulfils one of the standard Ellis character roles, the older man who speaks his mind, and occasionally the results are amusing: "But imagine how much more productively you could use your time, sir. Philanthropy. Livestreaming. Perhaps you could participate in one of those reality shows where you find love in an exotic locale like New Jersey*. Competitive mustache growing. A drinking problem. Making things out of ham." Too often, though, he lapses from waspish into outright insubordinate in a way which undercuts the character's baseline butler-ness. Making him a mouthpiece for the same tired observations every online wag thinks they invented about Batman as a billionaire beating up poor people is mildly trying, but having him lounging around with his besocked feet up on the table? You might as well have Jeeves on a ragga tip. And then Batman himself frequently ends up with much the same catty tone, as in the big brawl where after various rough treatment, he tells his assailants "Gentlemen. I am now in a mood." That's the only dialogue across two pages, by the way, unless you count one of the goons' pained "EEEEE." And that's speech-heavy compared to many of the silent fights which run across many, many pages, reminding the reader that while Ellis and Hitch made decompression work in that original Authority run, it was a storytelling technique that soon started to feel like a bit of a rip-off. And that back when comics were cheaper – nowadays, reading The Batman's Grave in singles would have set you back the best part of forty quid. The other noteworthy thing about the fights is how often Batman does really weird moves which give the reader an excellent view of his butt. A gesture of equality in light of all those accounts pointing out the weird sexualisation of superheroines? I guess it could be, though it's noticeable that the other default Ellis character, the tough and sexy female lead, is absent from this one; the lead cast is a right sausage party. Possibly Ellis knew his time as a standard bearer for feminism was passing and decided to stop trying?
So with all that established, what is The Batman's Grave actually, you know, about? Well, I was at least halfway through before I had any idea myself; before that it felt a lot like someone had fed a bunch of Batman comics from Shadow Of The Bat onwards into an algorithm, and then occasionally pasted shitpost content over the speech balloons and put that back into the comic proper. Sometimes with amusing results, granted, as when Gordon and Batman are trapped in Arkham by floods of minions with automatic weapons, and Batman still insists "No killing," to the entirely sensible response "You're an idiot." It must be admitted that the series does at least avoid that tendency which has tended to surface ever since The Long Halloween when a prestige creative team does 12 issues on a classic character, where all the classic villains get trotted out for another go-round. But the ones we get instead...I mean, does Gotham really need another psycho who looks a bit like a shit clown? And once the big bad is revealed, he's as boring in his look as his backstory. SPOILERS follow, if for some reason you care, but it's a guy called Scorn, who has hi-tech armour that looks like every other unimaginative set of hi-tech armour, and is basically Reverse Batman, having seen his parents gunned down by Gotham cops and then grown up to declare war on the city's law enforcement. Except that unlike Batman's slapped wrist 'war' on crime, he's actually fighting it as a war. Now, DC does already have a character with pretty much this origin, Prometheus, who was a lot more engaging. And for a much more topical take on it you have David Walker's version of Nighthawk, over at Marvel. But because that could very easily read as a BLM supervillain and get the character popular with exactly the sort of toerags who've rendered the Punisher so toxic by association as to be borderline unusable for a couple of years, the story carefully swerves so that Scorn is impeccably blond, and his dad at least was guilty as hell (a serial killer AND a mobster, just to be sure; I'm surprised we don't get a flashback to him trying new ringtones in the quiet carriage, just to really ram it home), and at that point what is the story even about beyond "We're not so very different, you and I', which as a motor for a Batman story has been exhausted for thirty years?
Oh, and if you're wondering about the title, that derives from scenes tacked on at either end which have basically bugger-all to do with what comes between, but seem to think they add a layer of gravitas. They do not.
*Obviously this contradicts the Giant Days/Batman crossover that John Allison is currently doing on his website, which says that Gotham is in New Jersey. Despite that being entirely unauthorised, you can guess which one I regard as canonical.
So with all that established, what is The Batman's Grave actually, you know, about? Well, I was at least halfway through before I had any idea myself; before that it felt a lot like someone had fed a bunch of Batman comics from Shadow Of The Bat onwards into an algorithm, and then occasionally pasted shitpost content over the speech balloons and put that back into the comic proper. Sometimes with amusing results, granted, as when Gordon and Batman are trapped in Arkham by floods of minions with automatic weapons, and Batman still insists "No killing," to the entirely sensible response "You're an idiot." It must be admitted that the series does at least avoid that tendency which has tended to surface ever since The Long Halloween when a prestige creative team does 12 issues on a classic character, where all the classic villains get trotted out for another go-round. But the ones we get instead...I mean, does Gotham really need another psycho who looks a bit like a shit clown? And once the big bad is revealed, he's as boring in his look as his backstory. SPOILERS follow, if for some reason you care, but it's a guy called Scorn, who has hi-tech armour that looks like every other unimaginative set of hi-tech armour, and is basically Reverse Batman, having seen his parents gunned down by Gotham cops and then grown up to declare war on the city's law enforcement. Except that unlike Batman's slapped wrist 'war' on crime, he's actually fighting it as a war. Now, DC does already have a character with pretty much this origin, Prometheus, who was a lot more engaging. And for a much more topical take on it you have David Walker's version of Nighthawk, over at Marvel. But because that could very easily read as a BLM supervillain and get the character popular with exactly the sort of toerags who've rendered the Punisher so toxic by association as to be borderline unusable for a couple of years, the story carefully swerves so that Scorn is impeccably blond, and his dad at least was guilty as hell (a serial killer AND a mobster, just to be sure; I'm surprised we don't get a flashback to him trying new ringtones in the quiet carriage, just to really ram it home), and at that point what is the story even about beyond "We're not so very different, you and I', which as a motor for a Batman story has been exhausted for thirty years?
Oh, and if you're wondering about the title, that derives from scenes tacked on at either end which have basically bugger-all to do with what comes between, but seem to think they add a layer of gravitas. They do not.
*Obviously this contradicts the Giant Days/Batman crossover that John Allison is currently doing on his website, which says that Gotham is in New Jersey. Despite that being entirely unauthorised, you can guess which one I regard as canonical.
December 12, 2021
Отличный Альфред, просто замечательный: язвит, подкалывает, шутит и стреляет. В остальном - ну довольно стремная линия злодея, который «как бы» антибэтмен. Слишком много драк, слишком много пафоса, но Брюс неплохой и - еще раз - Альфред отжигает. Потому три звезды, а не одна.
April 4, 2022
It's good to see the Dark Knight Detective... you know, detecting, and Bryan Hitch's art is definitely the star here (as exposed by the numerous pages of action without dialog - a 12-issue collection took me less than 45 minutes to read), but Scorn doesn't make much of an impression as a villain, and frankly Ellis' take on Pennyworth is one of the worst I've seen. The repartee between Bruce and Alfred is the weakest link of the book, and really grated on my nerves.
This is not your omniscient, always-three-steps-ahead Batman - he makes mistakes, and gets beaten up a LOT, which does serve to humanize him a bit, but at the same time, also makes him feel a bit less like Batman - I kept expecting someone to tear off a mask and be Elijah Snow from Planetary. Ellis is usually much better at characterizations than this.
Ultimately, it's a fast-paced, fairly enjoyable Batman adventure, but it doesn't hold a candle to Ellis' better works. Not something I'd recommend seeking out unless you're a Batman or Warren Ellis completionist.
This is not your omniscient, always-three-steps-ahead Batman - he makes mistakes, and gets beaten up a LOT, which does serve to humanize him a bit, but at the same time, also makes him feel a bit less like Batman - I kept expecting someone to tear off a mask and be Elijah Snow from Planetary. Ellis is usually much better at characterizations than this.
Ultimately, it's a fast-paced, fairly enjoyable Batman adventure, but it doesn't hold a candle to Ellis' better works. Not something I'd recommend seeking out unless you're a Batman or Warren Ellis completionist.
February 25, 2022
This is really, really good. A five-star collection if there ever was one. If only some of Bryan Hitch's wordless action sequences were a bit easier to follow (especially the one at the very end...)...
March 28, 2022
Arranca muy bien pero se desinfla al final. La motivación del villano y esa idea de ser un espejo de Batman es interesante pero Ellis no lo desarrolla bien, como si tuviera un montón de ideas pero quisiera cerrar rápido la historia.
Por otro lado Hitch está prendido fuego como hace mucho no lo veía.
Por otro lado Hitch está prendido fuego como hace mucho no lo veía.
January 31, 2021
Interessante opera di decostruzione orchestrata dal solito schietto Ellis.
L'autore applica la sua solita "pulizia" degli elementi di contorno per narrare l'essenza del personaggio, senza interferenze esterne.
Il ritmo della narrazione richiama quello delle serie tv, quasi cinematografico.
Consigliato.
L'autore applica la sua solita "pulizia" degli elementi di contorno per narrare l'essenza del personaggio, senza interferenze esterne.
Il ritmo della narrazione richiama quello delle serie tv, quasi cinematografico.
Consigliato.
January 31, 2021
Not a bad story, but it’s one of the most decompressed comics I’ve read in years. It’s not an exaggeration to say this could’ve been half as long without losing a single plot point. Bryan Hitch is always great for big action sequences, though, so at least the padding looks nice.
June 7, 2021
This was all over the place, but at the end of the day I did enjoy it. I really liked that this emphasized the detective elements that aren't always included and made it more of a mystery. I don't know how I feel about the ending, but I read this way faster than I thought I would.
December 15, 2021
A bit of a mixed bag.
The plot felt a bit light for 12 issues and could have easily been compressed. Some of the asides by Alfred were amusing but quite out of character.
The art on the whole was good and Hitch draws a particularly impressive batmobile.
The plot felt a bit light for 12 issues and could have easily been compressed. Some of the asides by Alfred were amusing but quite out of character.
The art on the whole was good and Hitch draws a particularly impressive batmobile.
December 18, 2021
2.5
Historia entretenida y autoconclusiva, con un Batman detectivesco y un Alfred muy sarcástico.
Un nuevo villano está atacando al sistema legal y policial de Gotham. Nada nuevo, pero se lee rápido y cierra en este volumen
Historia entretenida y autoconclusiva, con un Batman detectivesco y un Alfred muy sarcástico.
Un nuevo villano está atacando al sistema legal y policial de Gotham. Nada nuevo, pero se lee rápido y cierra en este volumen
April 14, 2023
I really like the art and the concept of Batman becoming victims to solve the crimes. I found the plot and artwork a bit hard to follow at times. I also didn’t LOVE how cheeky Alfred was, but I still like the refreshing take on his character. Good story!
April 7, 2021
A New classic. Some of the best Batman and Alfred interactions ever written. A compelling mystery, psychological drama, and balls out action story all rolled into one.
September 1, 2021
Good investigation
January 9, 2022
Batman should never be quippy, and while I appreciate something attempting to be deeper than just another Batman story, this is an ultimately unsatisfying read.
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