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booksnarks 's review for:
Batman, Volume 3: Death of the Family
by Scott Snyder
I already read most of this story when I reviewed The Joker: Death of the Family. I gave that four stars because it was a collection of stories revolving around all the character so some stories were better than others; I gave this one five stars because it was great from start to finish, because it centred around Batman himself.
Whenever Joker appears in a Batman story arc chances are that the story will be great, and this one doesn’t disappoint. After laying low for a year, the Joker once again appears in Gotham to wreak havoc, but this time he only has eyes for the Bat Family. This is a Joker like we’ve never seen him before: his face is cut off and he has reached new levels of insanity. The entire thing is just insanely creepy, and it was well done. This is the Joker, he has killed and hurt so many people, that, when he made his grand return, the stakes needed to be higher. His madness needed to greater. And I think this particular story arc was successful in achieving that.
I love that this arc revisited the old question ‘why doesn’t Batman kill the Joker?’ No matter how many times it’s done, I love delving into the question if it’s done properly. And here it is. Joker has his own answer to that question, an answer that I in no shape or form believe but that nonetheless affects the Bat Family as they start doubting Bruce’s intentions. I do believe that Batman simply doesn’t kill because of his moral code, because it would be too easy to kill the Joker and then everyone else who is as crazy as he is.
Death of the Family is the best Batman story to come out of the New 52 so far, and really, I think we can classify it as mandatory reading in the Batman canon.
Whenever Joker appears in a Batman story arc chances are that the story will be great, and this one doesn’t disappoint. After laying low for a year, the Joker once again appears in Gotham to wreak havoc, but this time he only has eyes for the Bat Family. This is a Joker like we’ve never seen him before: his face is cut off and he has reached new levels of insanity. The entire thing is just insanely creepy, and it was well done. This is the Joker, he has killed and hurt so many people, that, when he made his grand return, the stakes needed to be higher. His madness needed to greater. And I think this particular story arc was successful in achieving that.
I love that this arc revisited the old question ‘why doesn’t Batman kill the Joker?’ No matter how many times it’s done, I love delving into the question if it’s done properly. And here it is. Joker has his own answer to that question, an answer that I in no shape or form believe but that nonetheless affects the Bat Family as they start doubting Bruce’s intentions. I do believe that Batman simply doesn’t kill because of his moral code, because it would be too easy to kill the Joker and then everyone else who is as crazy as he is.
Death of the Family is the best Batman story to come out of the New 52 so far, and really, I think we can classify it as mandatory reading in the Batman canon.