Review – Batman #17
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Greg Capullo
*There are potentially slight spoilers ahead, depending on your definition of “spoilers.”*
After the 11-chapter epic that brought us the Court of Owls, it’s hard to believe Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and the rest of the Bat Family creative teams were able to cram so much story into “Death of the Family” in just five short months (with most titles getting 1-2 tie-in issues at most). Like the “Night of the Owls” before it, the only required reading was Batman and it ended where it all started in issue 17 of one of DC’s hottest titles. Did it payoff?
It would have been easy to kill the Joker or Alfred or to maim one of the Family. That’s probably what most people were expecting to happen. Joker was going to do something heinous and not everyone was going to make it out alive. In a somewhat unexpected move (semi spoiler alert), the Joker’s “demise” is no more permanent than in any other story and nobody dies. Everyone (including the Bat King’s Jester) survives, but not exactly intact.
After some amazing dialogue between Batman and Joker while the Family fights for their lives, we’re treated to a quiet epilogue not unlike the one with Bruce and Dick at the end of Batman #11. It’s during this scene that the real impact of the story starts to take shape. No, nobody lost an ear, but there’s some real damage done to the Bat Family. In a lot of ways, that’s a worse scenario for the characters. There are some fresh emotional scars on these characters and it won’t be a quick recovery.
If you kill the Joker or Red Robin, there’s nothing to stop them from coming back. It’s comics, after all. By crafting a story that leaves the characters with more emotional trauma than physical, Snyder has created a shift in tone that can be much more interesting to watch as it develops than simply another comic book funeral. Luckily, Snyder and Capullo have the support of an excellent team of writers and artists who took to this story extremely well and I can’t wait to see what they all do with their newly broken leads.
And of course there’s the looming threat of the Joker’s return. It won’t be any time soon, but any worries of “What can he possibly do next?” should be put to rest. There’s a lot to love in these pages (Capullo mastering not only the action, but turning in phenomenal work on the talking heads pages, too) and the Joker’s story is anything but over. He’ll be back, reinvented and more than likely with his face intact. Even the Joker got more than he bargained for in the trauma department. A severed face is the least of his problems now.
If the end of this issue is any indication, this very well could be the Death of the Family, at least as we as readers know it to exist. Some of the harsh truths brought to light in this story can’t be forgotten and that, to me, is much more interesting than speculating on how and when the Joker will come back to terrorize the city. There are definitely going to be some people disappointed with the relatively quiet ending to one of the creepiest horror comics I’ve read all year, but for me, it worked incredibly well. I give Batman #17 a perfect 5 out of 5 booby-trapped mutant tiger kittens. The future is anything but bright for Batman, but would we ever have it any other way?
Disagree entirely. If Snyder was writing Batman for another five years? Sure. But other writers will come on board (this and the other Bat-titles) and tell the stories they want to tell and if they involve the family working together then they will, as if nothing ever happened.
The story felt longer than it was and did next to nothing with the time it had. The idea that Joker doesn't care who Batman really is was interesting, but I don't really think it was anything new. Me the family just sort of overcoming the toxin was kind of lame.
This issue did nothing for me and this story as a whole seemed to lose its way somewhere after the first issue.
Can't disagree more. No matter who writes it, even if Snyder writes it for the rest of his life, the relationships within the family are going to get fixed. That's just how it works.
And as far as Joker not caring, I think it was put into effect in an incredible way here (re: flashback). It's not a new idea, but it was a new way of showing that. As for the toxin scene, these people have been dosed with so many variations of that crap, they've got to be developing a slight immunity to it. The only exception to that would be Damian, but I don't really see that as a problem.
I agree with Kerouac. I really didn’t care for this much at all. Nothing happened. Why wouldn’t Joker just cut off their faces? This is the Joker. All this deception seems pointless. It’s not like I would want their faces cut off, but this was just stupid. Yes, I know Joker likes to play games, but he’s also ruthless. I truly think he’d just cut off their faces.
I call bullshit on Joker not knowing that Bruce is Batman. His love for Alfred alone would give it away. And the things that have happened in Nightwing have made it fairly clear that he knows that Dick is Nightwing. If he doesn’t know that Dick is Nightwing then he’s the biggest dumb ass in the DCU. Also, the whole thing with Bruce going to see Joker with the card? No way would Bruce do that. If Joker didn’t know who he was, that would have given it away. Joker not caring is a damn cop out. UGH!
I just don’t like how Snyder writes Bruce. He’s too arrogant. In both of the stories he’s swearing that he’s right no matter what. I do not like that.
I think this arc was a waste of time. In the long run nothing really happened. Joker killed a few cops, kidnapped the Bat family, sort of tortured them, and messed with Batman a bit. I know others will argue that the fallout from this is big, but I don’t think the story itself was that massive or world shattering. I don’t think that the Bat family pulling away from Bruce was earned. I honestly don’t think, given the history of these people, that this event was traumatic enough for them to withdraw from Bruce.
I’m done with this book. Snyder lost me with issue #5, but I’ve stuck with it since. I won’t say there haven’t been things here and there that I’ve liked, but overall I really just don’t care for or about this book.
JM -
Two great points! Why would Bruce confront Joker, unmasked, with the card? And would this really – after everything – be what drove this family apart?
You actually just made me like this story even less. Or, at least, feel more justified in disliking it as much as I did.