Bryan Hitch delivers some awesome visual moments throughout this issue. The fight between Batman and the mercenary is visceral, beautiful and highly detailed. This was a great looking issue and Hitch masterfully conveys emotion and the bond between Bruce and Alfred with subtle facial expressions and sly smiles. Read Full Review

Another high class issue, The Batman's Grave #3 is a must have purchase amongst this week's offerings from DC. Despite walking down some well worn paths, there is an inherent freshness and spontaneity to it that draws the reader in and provides a lot of intrigue. With pacing that is done to perfection and the aforementioned perfect combination of action and thought, this is shaping up to be one of THE titles of the last 12 months. Read Full Review

The Batman's Grave doesn't have a central villain or a storyline that will eventually lead to a dangerous plot to destroy Gotham. It's much more. The delicacy of Ellis and Hitch's approach to the subject of Bruce's extracurricular activity is the book's overarching theme. Each outing has gotten more difficult for Batman. If that trend continues, well, we're only in the third issue. Nine more investigations with increasing danger make a strong case that Alfred might have the right idea after all. Read Full Review

While the layout to this issue may seem a tad formulaic, it does give both creators a chance to stretch their legs and create a solid Batman story that has nearly everything a Bat Fan could ask for. Read Full Review

Hitch, of course, excels most when he has Batman duke it out, and while I'd say that he and Ellis are getting diminishing returns with their lengthy widescreen brawls, there's still a sense of weight and power that we can feel with every blow. Read Full Review

The Batman's Grave is the definition of a slow burn, and a story that is most likely hindered by a monthly release schedule. If you can get past the impacts that publication schedule has on the story at large and remember that this is still the rising action of a larger story, then you'll most likely appreciate this book for the detective work, exploration of relationships, and overall character study of Batman, Bruce, and Alfred. If you're not able to look past this, then you'll probably want to trade-wait this title because the monthly issues will only feel slow and unimpactful for those seeking instant, bombastic gratification. Read Full Review

Ellis has always been an offbeat writer, and it feels like this comic is half him spotlighting his writing, half spotlighting Hitch's brilliant art. But I'm not sure they work as a single comic. Read Full Review

Overall, The Batman's Grave #3feels like a generic Batman story that is not able to match the hype it created in its first issue. As the story goes on, it is unclear where the elements and themes first teased are. We haven't seen anything more about Bruce's morality or even Vincent Stannik's murder and Bruce's connection to that tragic death. If you are a huge Batman fan this might be a must for you but there are much better Batman detective stories including Black Mirror, Gotham by Gaslight and even The Long Halloween. Read Full Review

Overall, Batman's Grave continues to provide very little reason to check in on this title from a month to month basis.  Issue three mimics issue two in many respects, and if you enjoyed issue two that would be great, but I did not. There is no reason yet provided to be interested in the characters moving this story forward, and while it feels like Ellis is trying to set up a mystery here, I don't know what the question is to that mystery to attempt to solve it myself, making feel totally disconnected from the story at play here. Hey, at least Batman looks good doing it right? Read Full Review

Ellis writes a fantastic Batman. Would love to see him on a monthly Bat-book.

THE GOOD:

-This was a fantastic issue. I loved it.

-I love the storyline here.

-The detective work is just great. This is the type of Batman I love.

-Hitch's art is really damn good.

-This issue was perfectly structured. Plus the pacing is way better than last issue.

-The action scene was great. Something about the flow from panel to panel is really satisfying.

-I love this take on Alfred. Again, it's different, but I like it.

THE BAD:

-The end felt abrupt, and that final line is cheesy as hell.

This was a good issue, but perhaps slower than the other two so far. Batman's being a detective and that's cool. The action looked a bit off this time around. It mostly all connected, but there were a few instances where the art didn't translate the action. And since pages are sacrificed for action in this series, they have to be astounding. It reminds me, in a lot of ways, of Warren Ellis's Moon Knight, as that was also an action heavy series. But that series had Declan Shalvey, an artist with a style befitting the gritty tone of Moon Knight. This series has Bryan Hitch. Hitch makes some pretty art, I cannot deny, but I don't know if he's the best fit here. That's my only complaint, but it's a hefty one.

Fantastic characterisation and interesting story, though, as always, it's slightly butchered by being very decompressed, though it really allows Hitch's art to shine this way.

My initial thoughts were it felt like Warren Ellis is barely even trying. Most of the story takes place in the batcave, across several issues, where Alfred is sassy to the point of approaching antagonistic behaviour toward Bruce. Then I realized the one who really deserves the blame for not trying is Bryan Hitch. So much of the page count estate is taken up by action that is awkwardly framed and flows poorly, it is completely embarassing when compared to the action in Warren's The WildStorm, which honestly had some of the greatest in all of comics. I once again loved the theatrics of this Batman's detective work.

Disappointing, but not bad in short.

Good action and caustic dialogue From Alfred. But the issue felt like a letdown, not much advancement or story

Socialistic overtones on page 4 gives this book an automatic zero. Then there is the 8 pages pictures with no words sequence that drives the book into the negative scoring realm. Save your money, garbage book that could be good if not weighted down by the authors poor choices. 0/10 score