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A review by rhganci
The Joker: Death of the Family by Scott Snyder
2.0
Batman is big. Bigger than astronauts and baseball. He's so big that each of his stories in the New 52 have been family-wide crossovers that interrupt all other happenings in Gotham City and points nearby. The Night of the Owls featured lots of interesting character meetings that really showed the diversity of the team; for example, Batgirl's harsh words to Red Hood following the first encounter with Mr. Freeze really stood out as her appearance and chastisement of Jason took place in the Red Hood and the Outlaws book, substituting its lighter tone with the thoughtful introspection of Gail Simone's Batgirl. Unfortunately, it is exactly that kind of contrast that is missing from THE JOKER: DEATH OF THE FAMILY, which is a fairly useless volume that collects a series of background narratives that inform the uninformable Batman, Vol. 3, in which the principle story takes place.
As the crossover event really only requires breaking stride when you get to Batman #17, the editor of the Bat-family arranges THE JOKER in a series of character-specific chapters that echo each character's solo book; for example, the Batgirl sections are published exactly as you might find them in the Batgirl, Vol. 3 collection that bears the same title. The same is true for each member of the Bat-family, from Catwoman to Red Robin, and includes prior to each character-chapter a few issues of Detective Comics that tell of the aftermath of the Joker's self-mutilation and escape from Arkham Asylum in Detective Comics #1. Once you've read all of these vignettes, Batman #17 appears as it does in each collection bearing the same subtitle of this book, and ends with Batman & Robin #17, which was only somewhat related to the "Death of the Family" story when it appeared in its own trade back.
The issue with this volume isn't in its collation of the material, it's that the core narrative material of "Death of the Family," the story that makes it as great as you've heard it is, does not appear. Batman's involvement in this volume, is relegated to exposition and conclusion, but his investigation and run-ins with the Joker from his own book are nowhere to be found. This makes for a volume in the Bat-family that almost seems to neglect Batman himself, and as a pricier collection in the trade paperback world, even the fact that the title doesn't name "Batman" specifically doesn't excuse the fact that DC is selling a story without its core component. I'll raise the other eyebrow at the fact that the core component in question is a Batman story that will likely go down in the history of the character as one of the half-dozen finest ever told. Its absence is without warrant, and as such the context and value of the entire volume is greatly diminished.
As with the other "Death of the Family" trades, this one is only necessary for completionists, but even a completionist might not need this one, should he or she be already reading these episodes in their character-specific collections. This volume simply collects issues that appear exactly as they do throughout the entire event, and as a reader of most of them I found this to be a decidedly unremarkable read and without a doubt the least value-oriented collection from the New 52 library to date. Even if the book is really about the Joker and not the heroes, the best content involving the Joker is the very content trimmed from this collection. I can't suggest this volume but for those dead set on collecting all of the Bat-books from the New 52, as I count even myself among those who are disappointed for having invested in it.
As the crossover event really only requires breaking stride when you get to Batman #17, the editor of the Bat-family arranges THE JOKER in a series of character-specific chapters that echo each character's solo book; for example, the Batgirl sections are published exactly as you might find them in the Batgirl, Vol. 3 collection that bears the same title. The same is true for each member of the Bat-family, from Catwoman to Red Robin, and includes prior to each character-chapter a few issues of Detective Comics that tell of the aftermath of the Joker's self-mutilation and escape from Arkham Asylum in Detective Comics #1. Once you've read all of these vignettes, Batman #17 appears as it does in each collection bearing the same subtitle of this book, and ends with Batman & Robin #17, which was only somewhat related to the "Death of the Family" story when it appeared in its own trade back.
The issue with this volume isn't in its collation of the material, it's that the core narrative material of "Death of the Family," the story that makes it as great as you've heard it is, does not appear. Batman's involvement in this volume, is relegated to exposition and conclusion, but his investigation and run-ins with the Joker from his own book are nowhere to be found. This makes for a volume in the Bat-family that almost seems to neglect Batman himself, and as a pricier collection in the trade paperback world, even the fact that the title doesn't name "Batman" specifically doesn't excuse the fact that DC is selling a story without its core component. I'll raise the other eyebrow at the fact that the core component in question is a Batman story that will likely go down in the history of the character as one of the half-dozen finest ever told. Its absence is without warrant, and as such the context and value of the entire volume is greatly diminished.
As with the other "Death of the Family" trades, this one is only necessary for completionists, but even a completionist might not need this one, should he or she be already reading these episodes in their character-specific collections. This volume simply collects issues that appear exactly as they do throughout the entire event, and as a reader of most of them I found this to be a decidedly unremarkable read and without a doubt the least value-oriented collection from the New 52 library to date. Even if the book is really about the Joker and not the heroes, the best content involving the Joker is the very content trimmed from this collection. I can't suggest this volume but for those dead set on collecting all of the Bat-books from the New 52, as I count even myself among those who are disappointed for having invested in it.