by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
collects Batman #13-17
CHRIST THAT IS THE CREEPIEST COVER I HAVE EVER POSTED ON THIS BLOG
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whew.
The third arc of Snyder and Capullo’s run on Batman continues as the Dark Knight faces his greatest opponent after Joker went missing for one year. While the core of Death of a Family occurred within these pages of Batman, Joker’s return was felt throughout the Bat-family’s other issues (and even other characters such as Harley Quinn and Catwoman), so I would recommend an omnibus if you want to read them all (this review is just regarding the Batman issues)
If you’re a fan of The Killing Joke you will absolutely love this story, because this is Joker at his most bone chilling and grotesque, and gets at the core of Batman and Joker’s relationship. For reasons not particularly explained in the issue, Joker had his face taken off and…he found it and…reattached it… and it’s completely terrifying, as you would expect. During his first appearance at Gotham’s Police HQ, kills police officers in the dark while telling a joke to Gordon; he then kidnaps Alfred, the weakest but most beloved link of the Wayne family. For the next plot of his terrible scheme, Joker tells Batman he knows his identity and those of his family and threatens to kill them all — and even though Batman is adamant that the Joker doesn’t know he’s Bruce, plants the seeds of doubt so those in his family (the Robins (sans Stephanie) and Batgirl) begin to doubt him. 
This was a story I read in one sitting, as the tension quickly built as Bruce’s most trusted family ties unravel before him and Joker’s seeming absence over the past year has only made him stronger and more dangerous. Snyder does Joker’s legacy proud; horrific, unpredictable and disturbing is as the Joker should be; like any good Joker story, it returns to his origins as well as the bond between the caped crusader and the madman: why Joker keeps coming back and torturing Batman and why Batman can never quite bring himself to kill him. Bringing in the rest of the Bat-family as both Batman’s distraction and his greatest asset only adds to the texture of this most recent Bat story, though I would have liked to see each of their personalities more distinctly in these pages (but I suppose some would argue this was not meant to be a standalone, and that’s what the other surrounding issues are for.)
SPOILERS. For all that though it doesn’t feel like much is new in this story. We come to expect that grotesqueness not only from Joker, but from Snyder himself; and for it to end with only a few scrapes and bruises, and Joker falling off a cliff, perhaps the most cliche non-death in the book–just as Batman finally reaches his breaking point and is willing to end it, once and for all–felt immensely dissatisfying. I would much rather have seen Bruce face this dark demon of needing to kill his worst enemy, doing it, and living with those consequences. While we’re in the spoilers paragraph, I was very surprised that each member of the so-called “family” decided to have some alone time rather than come to Alfred’s bedside; Alfred Pennyworth who stitched them up on how many occasions? Perhaps this was the “death of the family” the title was actually describing (but more on the other reason later), but it seemed rather harsh.
As you may have read in my earlier posts, I have a love-hate relationship with Greg Capullo’s art. Spoiler alert, today it’s mostly hate! Capullo is very consistent and not at all over-exaggerated (no muscles upon muscles here), and the way he draws Joker is super haunting. But as in other issues, it seems that he draws “stock” faces with bland expressions even when they are at the height of emotional turmoil. Dick, Tim, Barbara and the others are in the Batcave are angrily challenging Bruce if Joker actually knows their identity–at least, according to the dialogue–but they seem incapable of talking without smiling. What??!?!
Bruce, Dick, Tim and Damian all look EXACTLY THE SAME. Is Capullo incapable of drawing White Man Face any differently? (Oh, I see, unless it’s Jason Todd who doesn’t show his face. Gotcha.) Plus Barbara wonders if Joker appearing at her door (in Killing Joke) wasn’t an accident, if he knew all along she was Batgirl – but she looks like she’s nervous about a date.
WHAT THE ACTUAL CRAP CAPULLO. Is this what Tim would REALLY look like when showing footage of Joker assaulting, torturing and kidnapping Alfred, essentially his grandfather? Really? HE IS GRINNING. Is Robin actually the Joker and we’ve been living in a Batman Beyond movie the entire time??! JESUS.
Spoilers again, but only if you’ve been living under a rock for the last year or so.
I will admit that, as I am catching up on Batman’s latest arcs, I have not yet read the issue in which Damian dies. I was surprised, considering the title of this story (as a parallel to “Death of the Family” in which Jason Todd meets his end, also by Joker’s hands), that it doesn’t happen here. Either the “death” of the family was meant to be the death of trust and unquestionable faith in Bruce, which was not very emotionally conveyed, or it is the impetus for Damian’s death, which you have to buy something else to read. Not that surprising.
I cannot promise that this shouts “instant classic”; to be fair, Killing Joke was one of my least favorite stories for a long time (as a resolute Barbara Gordon fan, she was treated horribly). But if you are looking for a good Joker story or catching up on Scott Snyder’s Batman run, I recommend it.
Reading Art 