Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Bryan Hitch
Published by DC Comics
Sometimes, less is more. Other times, less is less.
The 10th installment of Warren Ellis’s Batman mini-series is low on story and dialogue. Scorn’s vendetta against Gotham’s criminal justice system has turned its attention to Bruce Wayne.
The billionaire playboy is the most significant contributor to the GCPD pension fund, which means he’s a part of the problem.
A Scorn agent breaks into Wayne Manor and meets an unflinching Alfred who riddles him with bullets.
Don’t worry; they’re rubber bullets, so no blood stains to scrub out of the carpet. Bryan Hitch illustrates Bruce struggling to remain conscious while taking a shower. It is a decent way to show his injuries catching up with him.
However, there is nothing that made me care about Bruce’s struggle here.
No journey to offset the apparent spoiler that he’s not going to die. The moment is inert as Bruce fails to heed Alfred’s advice and throws on the Bat-Suit to fight crime.
However, he had time to admonish Alfred for having a gun in the house. Now, before Alfred said anything, I was kind of disappointed in Bruce for getting on Alfred’s case.
Not everyone can be Batman. Alfred calmly reminded Bruce that he’s an older man who needs something extra to defend himself against someone who quickly got past all of the state-of-the-art security measures of Wayne Manor.
Scorn is getting sloppy, but instead of seeing why, we’re told why which doesn’t work.
In this series, there is lots of artwork with no word balloons that generally speak for themselves. This time, there were just well-drawn pictures with no soul. The Alfred stuff is fun, but it’s not enough to justify being the focal point.
Throughout the series, it felt like Ellis hasn’t had a lot to say.
In this issue, that notion finally catches up with him.
Rating: C
