Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family

Scott Snyder is a true master of horror & he has made the Batman series t a truly horrifying tale that you almost don't want to read with the lights off.  This is perhaps Snyder's first misstep in that he didn't quite stick to the landing of this story-arc.  This was supposed to be his big Joker story & Scott Snyder mined the hell out of the archives for this tale.  However for all of the set up that we were given the pay off just wasn't there in the end or it was there but it was done in such a way that it went over the casual readers heads much like the ending of The Killing Joke by Alan Moore.

From the start this story is a punch to the gut with the Joker showing up at the Gotham City Police Station.  That entire scene is chilling & down right scary like the opening scene in the first book of the Song of Ice & Fire series.  The Joker in a room full of police officers & just snapping necks while the lights are out all the while Jim Gordon is trying to find him to shoot him.  Just like in the Dark Knight the Joker targets the mayor but it is only a diversion from who his real target is.  The story even goes back to the origin of the Joker that was crafted in The Man Who Laughs story-arc by Ed Brubaker.  As Batman tracks him down to Ace Chemical only to be tricked by Harley Quinn, while Joker strikes in Bruce Wayne's very home at Alfred.

During this entire story this interpretation of Joker is always one step ahead of Batman & his motivations read like he is obsessed with Batman in a romantic stalker type fashion.  Joker maneuvers the other players into position with ease  demonstrating why he truly is Batman's greatest rogue out of all of them.  His confrontation with Penguin is a great piece of writing.  Once the Joker makes it clear that he is coming after all of the Bat-Family that supports Batman, Bruce Wayne decides to tell the the story behind the giant Joker card in the Bat-Cave.  This is all leading up to the big show down between Joker & the Batman at Arkham Asylum where Joker has prepared everything.  The big reveal of what the Joker has done at the end would have been game changing & the most heinous thing he has ever done but it was an illusion the punch line of this story is that the Joker wants to take away the safety net around Batman to make the Bat-Family mistrust Batman himself.  To that end this was a successful story but it felt like a cop out compared to the build up that Snyder put into this story which was alluding to a more grisly ending.  The magical touch that really makes this story pop is Greg Capullo's art along with the rest of the art team on this book.  There is no doubt that the team of Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo is one of the greatest things to happen to DC.  They complement each other so well.  If you are a fan of Joker stories this is not one to pass up.