Warning: Spoilers for Batman #140!
Two of the greatest detectives in literature, Sherlock Holmes and Batman, have one surprising thing in common. Readers who have seen the BBC iteration of Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch will remember the title character having what he calls a “mind palace” – and a recent issue of Batman revealed DC’s premiere detective to have one of his own.
Batman #140 – by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles – contains the surprising fact that the Caped Crusader has a “memory palace,” essentially one and the same as Holmes’. In both cases, this is a manifestation of space deep within their psyche, a place where they can store things away from their conscious mind, and crucially, where they exert near-total control.
Batman’s memory palace, as depicted visually in the issue, is practically its own Bat Cave, equipped with several visual Easter Eggs that cognizant readers will take notice of. Most importantly, the memory palace allows Bruce to defeat Batman’s own worst enemy – himself.
Batman And Sherlock Holmes Share A Rich Interior Life
For Sherlock Holmes, the mind palace is a physical manifestation in his head of a storage space containing all of his memories, facts, and knowledge categorized as if it were an actual attic or file cabinet. Batman describes his memory palace as a place in his mind where he stores “mnemonic images.” In Batman #140, Bruce is overtaken by his split persona, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a far more deranged version of himself that is willing to kill. With Bruce trapped in his own mind while this alternate version pilots his body, intent on killing the Joker, Bruce activates his memory palace as a last resort.
Through a large stairwell connecting each floor to another, Batman’s memory palace includes many familiar items from the Bat Cave (i.e. Giant penny, portraits of Alfred, grandfather clock, Bat Signal, etc.). To prevent the original Batman from taking back his body, Zur secretly contacted alternate versions of himself from the multiverse, which Bruce recently traveled through. Those other versions of Zur hold Bruce back in his mind, giving the main Zur-En-Arrh time to kill the Joker. However, in his memory palace, Batman turns the table. As each of the Zurs hunt Bruce down, Bruce takes advantage of the fact that this is his own mind, an environment of his own creation, and he is in control.
An Ancient Technique Saves The Day For Batman
Bruce uses every possible psychological weapon, device, and gadget from his memory banks in his arsenal to defeat the horde of Zurs.
Interestingly, the method of the mind/memory palace didn’t originate through Batman or Sherlock Holmes, but is actually an ancient technique dating back to Greek and Roman cultures. Developed by 5th century Greek poet Simonides, the mind/memory palace was created as a mnemonic device to help remember names, faces, documents, items, and other things. In the present day, in Batman #140, Bruce uses this technique at the most critical moment. Batman doesn’t use this mind palace device to remember something in the real world, but to fight back against a mind which has betrayed him.
