In this week’s Batman #14the Joker told Batman his deadly endgame! Bruce’s friends and allies are all marked for death. Only one of Batman’s friends knows what’s happened to Alfred (for now.)
DC Comics revealed this image from inside Batman #15 by Greg Capullo. Barbara, Dick, Jason, Damian and Bruce are gathered in the Batcave to learn the horrible truth of Alfred. As Death of the Family continues it appears friendships and alliances are staring to break and crumble.
Which ally will die? Will a member of the Family break Batman’s rule and kill the Joker?
The Joker’s is attacking and shocking Batman’s allies in Death of the Family but in this week’s Batgirl #14 Gail Simone crafts a killer revelation I didn’t see coming. Barbara’s mother has been kidnapped in a way design remind the heroine of last life changing encounter with the Joker. The villain’s creeps come after her but this is a very different Batgirl. After a year of fighting damaged enemies Barbara sees a chance to really let loose on the kind of criminals that choose to follow a madman – and it’s sweet to see her in action.
I love this issue’s waves of action and emotion. Barbara is crushed by a mysterious caller and flashes back to her worst nightmare but rallies to face the Joker. Barbara’s goodbye to Alysia is symbolic of the end of her life as we know it.
Barbara is no longer a victim but will she take a dark turn in her showdown with the Joker? Could she kill him? Could this be the real meaning of Death of the Family ?
As Batgirl confronts the Joker she learns the real enemy that set her up. This is a huge reveal for fans of the series. Simone takes this long running plot thread, wraps and tugs hard. The biggest twist comes in the form of a sick move by the Joker in the final panel.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are making the Joker more terrifying and twisted than you’ve ever seen him in Death of the Family. In the first chapter the Joker turned Gotham Central into a slaughterhouse and made a surprise attack on Bruce’s oldest friend. This week’s Batman #13 picks up with Batman in a deathtrap at the scene of the Joker’s birth. Bruce soon learns the terrible truth. Alfred is in the Joker’s clutches.
There is a truly chilling moment when the Joker is torturing Alfred. We never see it. Bruce hears it. I felt it.
After a confession to Nightwing, Batman races to save the next victims but in every circumstance the Joker has beaten him. The Joker is revisiting scenes of his old crimes and putting a theatrically sick twist on each one.
The Joker reveals to Batman the bizarre reason behind his comeback and new campaign against Batman’s allies and friends. But there are two huge declarations from the villain that set the stage for Death of the Family striking into the other Bat-family books.
Snyder and Capullo have orchestrated a chapter of psychological and visceral terror with the Joker’s painfully personal attacks. This creative team delivers a disturbing thrill ride that only gets more twisted from here.
The Joker’s comeback campaign against the Batman family rips through Batman, Batgirl and Batman and Robin books this week! DC Comics is teasing the final issues of the Death of the Family storyline coming in February 2013.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo deliver the final showdown between the Joker and Bruce in Batman #17. Who lives, dies and laughs last?
The Joker will have his own cult? In Detective Comics #17 Batman will track down the League of Smiles and encounter new villains with ties to Arkham Asylum.
Batgirl #17 courtesy DC Comics
Gail Simone has Barbara Gordon dealing with the aftermath of the Joker’s reign of terror in Batgirl #17 and looks to pull the trigger on a storyline she’s been building up to: the attack of Barbara’s own brother. DC promises this issue will change Batgirl’s status quo in The New 52.
Death of the Family will have a devastating effect on the men who were Robin. In Nightwing #17 how will Damian Wayne reach out to a defeated Dick Grayson. In the aftermath of the storyline Bruce will confront Jason Todd in Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 by Scott Lobdell.
The Joker’s terrifying comeback continues in three Batman family books this week! Last month the Clown Prince of Crime invaded Gotham Central and left a wake of death. In the final panel of Batman #13 we finally saw the Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s horrific new take on the classic villain as he attacked Alfred at Wayne Manor. The cover of this week’s Batman #14 shows a chilling image of the Joker in his own makeshift Batcave-like control center watching his targets.
Batman and Robin #14 courtesy DC Comics
One of those targets will be Damian. The renegade Robin sets out on his own mission. What sinister plan could the Joker have for Bruce Wayne’s son? This week’s Batman and Robin #14 could be a critical tie-in to the Death of the Family event.
Another Bat-family target is Barbara Gordon. Her mom has been abducted by the Joker’s gang. As discussed at GeekGirlCon, Gail Simone has made Batgirl a story of overcoming trauma. Barbara has come so far and in this week’s Batgirl #14 she must face the psycho that left her paralyzed in their last encounter and threatens her real family now.
Batgirl #14 courtesy DC Comics
As a huge Barbara Gordon fan the Joker’s plan for her could be the most compelling for me. I have been thinking about what Death of the Family could really mean. Could a member of the Batman family be pushed so far that they kill the Joker? I hope Barbara doesn’t kill but I would love to see her unleash some severe punishment I.E. beat the hell out of the Joker!
Death of the Family will continue in upcoming issues of Catwoman, Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Nightwing.
The Joker returned in Batman #13 and will target all of Bruce Wayne’s allies in the Death of the Family storyline. DC Comics presented a Death Comes to Gotham panel at New York Comic Con will Batman family creators and chilling new art from the titles. Batman writer Scott Snyder revealed the thinking behind the foe’s plot against his rival.
Batgirl #16 courtesy DC Comics
Snyder said the Joker believes he is Batman’s court jester and it’s his job to challenge Batman because “He believes if Batman survives them he comes out stronger, he’s a better king.”
courtesy DC Comics
“A year ago he allowed his face to be cut off…and he also has a secret on Batman that’s going to come out later on,” Snyder said adding, “Joker [says to the Bat allies], ‘You don’t deserve him….I’m going to show you how he loves us more than you and he wishes you dead, and then we’re going to make you dead.’”
Batman and Robin #16 courtesy DC Comics
The covers were chilling: the Joker wearing parts of the Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl costume like trophies, a Nightwing cover showing Dick in makeup and grinning like the crown prince of crime, Batman and Damian fighting each other while looking like they’ve been possessed by the Joker, Red Hood and Batgirl appearing like they’ve been Jokerized.
Nightwing #16 courtesy DC Comics
Will a major ally be killed by the Joker? Barbara Gordon and Jason Todd have suffered the most at the hands of the villain. Will these heroes be pushed to seek the ultimate payback? Batman doesn’t kill but will Bruce or one of his friends be pushed beyond the moral line by the Joker’s actions?
Teen Titans #16 courtesy DC Comics
Bruce may never be the same after what happens to his closest friend – if you read the shocking ending of Batman #13 you may what I mean.
Gail Simone delivers a gripping showdown with a new villainess and sets the stage for Barbara Gordon’s “reunion” the Joker in Batgirl #13 this week. Knightfall is Simone’s most twisted of the the new rogues gallery she’s crafted for Batgirl. Knightfall is in many ways the kind of vigilante Bruce Wayne could have easily turned out to be. Part of Simone’s brilliance is that all the enemies she’s created this past year are damaged just like Barbara.
Batgirl suffers in this issue. She’s beaten, gutted and bleeding but Barbara won’t back down. The Batgirl/Knightfall fight is brutal. What I love is that Barbara is determined but not cocky. Batgirl knows she could be one slip away from dying but Barbara knows if she can save a victim it’s worth the suffering.
This issue is a prelude to Batgirl’s role in the Death of the Family crossover. In a scene that’s eerily similar to that horrible moment in The Killing Joke, a member of Barbara’s family is attacked by the Joker’s enforcers.
Barbara’s reunion with the Joker will be chilling and thrilling but Simone is looking beyond that showdown as we seen all the new enemies from the past year gathered into what could be Batgirl’s own version of the Sinister Six.
Batman #13 courtesy DC Comics, a Buzzfeed exclusive
DC Comics, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo unleash the Joker on Gotham City as Death of the Family kicks off this Wednesday. Buzzfeed has an exclusive first look inside Batman #13 in which the clown prince of crime emerges in the Gotham City Police Department.
The Joker has been missing for a year. The villain’s carved off face was left hanging in Arkham Asylum back in Detective Comics #1. Greg Capullo captures the shock and horror on Jim Gordon’s face as he realizes the foe is back. In the New 52 continuity the Joker shot Barbara (just like in Alan Moore’s classic The Killing Joke) but in the reboot Barbara recovered to become Batgirl again. It’s chilling to see Joker taunt Commissioner Gordon about Barbara.
Batman #13 courtesy DC Comics, a Buzzfeed exclusive
The Joker will target every member of the Batman family (and some enemies) in this new arc. With a title like Death of the Family perhaps the Batman alliance of heroes will be left broken.
I can only imagine the Joker by Snyder and Capullo – the team that gave us that creepy kid in the Owl mask saying “hurt him some more” as Batman was tortured by a Talon.
For more of the preview pages here’s the Buzzfeed link.
