Judge not, lest ye be judged #4 September 5, 2019 – Posted in: Books – Tags: ,

Batman: Death Of The Family

Our friend Nikos Michalopoulos read it Batman: Death of the Family and judges. 

The Batman: Death Of The Family was the third volume in the series"Batman", which was published between 2011 – 2016. The volume contains 5 issues of the series, #13 – #17. Author is the legendary Scott Snyder and project manager o Greg Capullo.

This story was an attempt by Scott Snyder to bring him back Joker, because he himself was absent from Batman stories for an entire year. This grand return was made with the maniac's face literally ripped from him and his design being one of the most perverse ever written.

First, Snyder manages in a very clever way to show a new side of Batman and Joker's relationship and change their dynamic quite a bit. In particular, in this story, it seems that the Joker's main motivation is the love to Batman. He sees all his allies as making him weak, and tries to help him in his own sick way. That alone is quite a feat, because this relationship is so famous and has been explored so many times by so many writers that it wasn't certain that Snyder would deliver something original, but he did.

It is worth noting that the author himself, before working on Batman, had become known for his work in the genre of horror comics. The way he wrote the story partly reflects this, especially the amazing atmosphere he creates, which is dark and brooding. The dialogue between the antagonists is equally beautiful and written in a way that perfectly expresses their sick relationship.

A pleasant detail of the story is the references it makes to other important stories like the Batman: The Killing Joke and Batman: The Man Who Laughs in the form of flashbacks. This shows that Snyder really knows and understands the material he's working with, even though he decided not to give a definitive answer to questions like: “What is the true identity of the Joker?”, “What is his story?” etc (unlike other stories, such as those mentioned above), thus maintaining the mystery that characterizes the maniac.

Capullo also did an amazing job with the design. His style is detailed and truly creepy. Furthermore, the Joker never looks funny or happy or dumb, even when he tries, but always menacing and terrifying. The reader is never given room to forget who the Joker really is or how dangerous he is. The most beautiful and creepy detail of all is that the "mask" the clown wears is his own severed face. In particular, as the story progresses the mask wears out and towards the end it turns a disgusting yellow color. It's these little details that show how good a job someone has done in terms of design and how talented they are.

Personally, what I loved about the story is the new side that Snyder explored in the Batman/Joker relationship as well as Batman's relationship with his companions, which, in an interview, he expresses as follows: “The point of the whole story is, essentially, Joker telling Batman: “You love me more than your family, and I'm going to prove it to you. You love me more because you don't kill me. That way, you leave the key under the rug and the window open for me to come in at night and kill them when they're asleep. You want this to happen.” It's a really scary (and genius) way to think about the relationship between these two, as well as the hero's relationship with his family, and that's what lends to Death Of The Family a deeper feature, which comes very close to a psychological thriller.

Overall, the Batman: Death Of The Family is one of the best and most important Batman stories ever written. Snyder manages in a very genius way to change the dynamic of one of the most famous couples in pop culture and to give the story a character quite psychological. Also, Capullo created a very scary and creepy atmosphere, which keeps the reader on their toes. Finally we note that due to the very dark themes, the suffocating atmosphere and the dark character that is the Joker, this story is not for everyone. Those who are easily affected by them should avoid it. For the rest, I highly recommend it.

The comic will be released on 8/9/2019 in three parts together with the newspaper Sunday Nation.