"It's said that if there were no God, we would have to invent him. Maybe that's what Wayne had done. Gotham City had produced legions of somnambulists, insomniacs, madmen and devils. It had to produce a nemesis if there was to be any justice.
But the saviour was as frightening as the menace he was sent to destroy.

He had rescued me from hellfire on the towers of the divine city and shown me redemption in its pit.
I just pray I never have to come close to him again."

imo these lines are a perfect summation of Bruce Wayne & Batman.

Another fun What If? story. I like what they did with the character re-creations, although I wouldn't have minded if they had made some of them a bit stronger, personality wise.

Fun and dark but doesn't really feel authentic the way that Year One or by Gaslight feels. Also I hate the format, it looks like I've got a Thomas the Tank Engine book on my shelf.

Another of the elseworlds, and it was good. The noir setting worked perfectly with Dick Grayson as the narrator.

It allowed them to present batman as another different and mysterious character in Gotham. I also liked how the bank of villains are designed to have a link with their names and their work.

It felt like a detective comic. There was a mystery. Lots if people stuck in the maze. The act somewhat glorifies Selina Kyle, by showing she has secrets on all of the Gotham underbelly. The Selina as we know from the characters interacting, doesn't come out as powerful as she is shown to be.

Overall, I liked it. I've always been a fan of noir, so I guess the rating can have some bias, since I'm predisposed to like this genre.

A fun little Elseworlds tale, mostly improved by Michael Lark's fantastic art and a few little tricks that Motter pulls. Namely, inverting the status of the various villains (Joker's a bottom-feeder, while Clayface is a kingpin) and a few little plays-on-words. A nice diversion.

I adored this Elseworlds tale of Batman and his search for the killer of Selina Kyle. Most of the main villains make a cameo in some fashion, and it's a solid, noir whodunit. Excellent!

One of the best Elseworlds graphic novels for me. And what made it so? The plot fits, the characters are well-made, and it's a detective story.

Some of DC's best collaborative works have come out of Elseworlds. Nine Lives is one of these. Batman virtually returns to his era of origin, the snappy hard-boiled 30s/40s, home of the gangster and noir genre. It's no wonder that he fits so seamlessly into the gritty, seedy world.

Selina "The Cat Woman" Kyle, owner of the Kit Kat club, has been found dead in mysterious circumstances. Turns out she has quite a long line of conquests and "supporters" all of whom have their own secrets. Dick Grayson steps into a Phillip Marlowe kind of shoe with jarring awkwardness as her former PI. The Rogue gallery as we know them are a little different as only Elseworlds could mould them, but are none too dissimilar to their canon counterparts. Bruce Wayne is a murder suspect among them, but the narrative takes an intriguing turn when his alter ego encounters Dick.

The art complements the era beautifully with a limited and muted palette of dark shades, while the constant black background accentuates the cinematic air of each panel. The unusual landscape layout of the pages also gives off a kind of visceral film reel/newspaper strip feeling, and lends the story a linear sequence that may seem too straight-forward (perhaps dull). These are minor issues – overall this is a richly satisfying story for the typical noir fan. Batman fans will also appreciate the subtle details and changes made by Motter and Lark.

I would love to see this as a DCAU movie.

Fun Elseworlds read. Would have worked better as a longer story with a more well-defined focus. The brevity of the book was to its detriment.