Eh, really good series, though.
And I actually enjoy the widescreen "cinematic" fights that were complained about earlier (and have become a signature for Ellis).
Negatives -- a little too much deconstructionist crap, particularly from Alfred. Don't get me wrong, Alfred's always been sarcastic but this was dialed up to a 10 here such that he finds the Batman concept to be completely absurd, with his viewpoint somewhat wrapped in woke ideology. ("Why don't you just buy Gotham" type thinking). There was some deconstructionist BS with Gordon, too. We get it -- you don't have Batman phone number!
But otherwise, I liked it. I especially liked the take on Bruce's detective skills, in which he can get into the mind of the victim. Similar to how Will Graham from the Hannibal books can get into the mind of a killer. (This isn't the only analogy that can be used, given all the crime shows that have popped up over the past coupe of decades; I believe the CSI guy could also map and recreate a crime scene in his head. I believe Dexter could, too). I liked it and I like the contrast of Batman being able to only do it from the victim's perspective.
Was ok. Pretty decent series, though I don't think it quite stuck to landing.
For me personally, high points were - the interaction between Bruce and Alfred; the detective work (and its portrayal); most combat scenes and the fact it was a Batman book with no additional Bat-Family characters.
While the theme was fine, think the scale was a bit too grand for my taste. Bat Hounds and whatnot. Also the parallels with the happenings of the real-world at the time (and still) took a bit of the enjoyment out of it.
I actually liked, and to a degree, shared Alfred's view. Not that the Batman concept is "completely absurd" but with his resources, there are arguably more effective ways of executing it.
Yeah, I think we mostly agree. The ending was crap but I feel since it was highly *******phed -- as in, could predict it before reading issue 1 -- it landed softer. The quality of the series also diminished as it progressed, especially the last third or so, leading into the crap ending.
Our disagreement, if there is any, is basically our relative grading scales. For me, comics is full of bad to mediocre writers. I like the first two-thirds of this series better than anything I read from King, Tynion, or even Snyder. Give me Warren Ellis Batman over those guys anyday, and so despite the rough final third, I probably give this series a 7.5 out of 10.
Reading the last few posts, I probably will pick up the trade. Any thoughts when that'll drop?