The Batman’s Grave #3: Throwdown at the McMansion

Ellis and Hitch are at it again, producing a fast-paced and enticing Batman narrative that takes a fresh look at this eighty year-old character. As noted with the last issue, there is a long stretch of story sans dialogue as Ellis allows Hitch to take the reins and carry the story forward. Hitch’s pencils are as sharp as ever. His Batman is sleek and elegant and the amount of background design work in this series is second to none. The McMansion fight sequence is a wonder to behold.

After taking an issue off, Ellis returns to the notion of Bruce being only able to “think like a victim” to great effect as he places himself in the mind of the grace fallen Turton to solve the case of his suicide turned murder turned suicide. The narrative beats here scream of Ellis’ work. Chemical analysis, disdain for capitalism, and a look at cutting edge technology and science that stays within the realm of possibility—all of these are mainstays of an Ellis narrative.

Three issues in and the slightly odd demeanor of Alfred is quickly becoming normalized. Some die-hard fans may continue to question this particular version of Alfred but the reality is that he serves the narrative well. Ellis’ Bruce is dry in his execution and Alfred provides all of the flavor in the textual portions of the narrative. With the supporting cast stripped to bare bones, it only makes sense here really to have Alfred serve the functions of comedic relief, wit, and scathing sarcasm often filled by the rich tapestry of Bat-fam characters not present. The title of the series, The Batman’s Grave, still is an elusive plot device with the exception of the opening pages of issue #1, but it seem fairly clear that the relationship presented here between Bruce and Alfred will play a major role in the fulfillment of the overall goals of the story.