I didn't know Ellis was writing Batman. He must need the money. Ellis really turns up his nose at superhero comics and the two main publishers.
He did a Batman story a long time ago in “Legends of the Dark Knight.” I really didn’t care for it.
The Batman story for Planetary wasn't a straight Batman story obviously, and the Batman portrayed in JLA/Planetary was more like Sherlock Holmes than Batman. The character is subject to so many interpretations, some of which are great, and some lazy.
I was pretty impressed by a Scott Snyder Batman story recently in The Batman Who Laughs. I thought Snyder was a hack. But then we have this:
https://www.worldcomicbookreview.com/2019/02/28/the-batman-who-laughs-1-of-6-review/
Batman looks inside one of the coffins to find the 45 year old corpse of Bruce Wayne.
This is an other-dimensional Bruce Wayne, one who gave up being Batman when his back was broken by Bane. A wedding ring is missing from his finger, and a tattoo with the word “May” signifies to Batman a thought known only to him: that he and Catwoman had a daughter who would have been called May. “May is… May is the name I would have suggested to Selina if we had ever had a daughter. It evokes a new start. A new beginning.” Batman, looking at old recognisable scars and the absence of newer scars, calculates that this version of himself gave up crimefighting after being beaten by Bane, and looked to other ways to help Gotham City – through construction.
This dead version of Batman gives away secrets of his life through his face:
Batman: The lines around Bruce’s eyes…
Alfred: Smile lines.
Batman: And his mouth.
Alfred: Laugh lines.
Batman: Yes. It seems whatever life he built, he was…
Alfred: Happy.
Batman: [silence]
Alfred: Sir. Sir. Are you there?
Batman: I’m here.
It is a poignant scene. Batman sees himself as he might have been if he had given up his never-ending war on crime and settled down, raised a family, and become happy. Batman looks at a version of himself where he eventually recovered from the trauma of his parents’ murder, at a version who did not make the mistake of fighting on. Batman sees a Bruce Wayne who called it a day, and became happy in life.
I've got to say, for a character who has been interpreted and reinterpreted in so many ways, this one really got me.
On the other hand, we have Snyder's The Grim Knight which is basically The Punisher in a Batman mask -
https://www.worldcomicbookreview.com/2019/03/17/the-batman-who-laughs-the-grim-knight-1-review/
