Written by Grant Morrison ; Art by Lee Garbett; Cover by Alex Ross; Variant Cover by Tony Daniel

This is part one of the Last Rites storyline which presents a new take on some key moments in Batman’s history.This issue somehow ties into Final Crisis, the connection should become more apparent after issue 5 of FC is released.  Alfred is supposedly behind the walk down memory lane and there are some great moments from some Silver Age stories that are highlighted here.  There is also some comedy in the form of Alfred imagining what would have happened had another creature such as a snake or moth flown in the window instead of a Bat.  Now onto some spoilers..

The entire collection of memories appear to be the work of Dr. Simon Hurt since this story takes place during the 10 days that Batman was in isolation and what was going on in his mind at the time. We also get some sequences towards the end of what life would have been like if the Waynes had not been killed that night. While Batman is hooked up to the machine in the isolation chamber he is having genetic material siphoned off by the Lump, an amalgamation of Clayface and the Parasite. The goal of this is to create an entire army of Batmen to take over the world. The artwork is stellar in this issue and the writing and pacing is spot on . The flashback sequences summarize some key moments in history sometimes in just one panel, but do so in a way that moves the entire story forward in a very smooth manner. This issue coming just one week after the conclusion to RIP seems like a much more focused and better issue all around. It earns 5 out of 5 Batmen.