There’s a storm coming. And while the opening pages of “Batman #13” make that abundantly clear, thank the new gods that Scott Snyder stays away from that and any other cliches when it comes to kicking off his Joker opus. A Joker that feels perfect, while not being quite exactly like any other Joker we’ve seen before.
Light spoilers, y’all.
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Greg Capullo
Backup written by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Backup illustrated by Jock– The Joker returns in “DEATH OF THE FAMILY”!
– He crippled Batgirl. He killed Robin. What will The Joker do now that he’s returned to Gotham City?
– What must Batman do to protect his secret identity and that of those who fight alongside him?
We see the beginnings of that “storm” through the eyes of Commissioner James Gordon, a man who has been personally affected by the Joker’s mayhem moreso than any of our regular cast of characters. Of course Snyder pits Batman against the Joker before the issue is over, but our human link to the Joker’s darkness has always been Gordon. Focusing on Gordon makes the trials that our villain runs the characters through all the more heartbreaking, while it’s making Batman’s emergences from the shadows more impactful.
There’s not much of a build-up. There doesn’t need to be. The Joker comes out of nowhere and turns Gordon’s world upside down – physically devastating the G.C.P.D. precinct from the shadows. Bruce Wayne says he knew this day would come and yet everyone looks so woefully unprepared for it. All Gordon, or anyone, can do as The Joker stays 3 steps ahead is hold their head in their hands. That includes the reader too, as we can’t pin this Joker down either. As the title of the arc indicates, The Joker is coming after the entire Bat Family. This fact is positively frightening when you consider that he’s already done enough damage in this issue. The fact that he is aiming high enough to take out all of Gotham’s greatest defenders makes the stakes all the higher.
The main question on everyone’s mind was just exactly what would characterize Scott Snyder’s Joker? We got a short stint with him on Snyder earlier run on “Detective Comics”, but he was a diversion then – he was not the true villain of that story. Here, everything centers around him. Snyder lets his presence dominate every scene & every single conversation. Over the years, The Joker has been played to the hilt as everything from pure comedy to grim madman and much has been made about the Joker’s “multiple choice” origins. He’s such a dynamic and classic character that a good writer can write him in nearly any manner and have it come off well. Snyder chooses to present him mostly as a cackling, psychotic loose cannon with just the right amount of stand-up comedian thrown in for good measure. In the backup, Snyder and Tynion IV show us that when he’s not “on-stage” he can be equal parts charismatic and eerie when he needs to seduce Harley Quinn back into the fold. Snyder’s Joker is unique in that he is one person while he’s performing and someone else when on a smaller stage. And all of it feels just right.
Greg Capullo’s ability to stage a tense and sensical action scene was a revelation in “The Court of Owls” storyline. If you can believe it, this is the best issue of “Batman” that he’s lent his pencil to yet. Capullo rises to every challenge that The Joker affords him. The lights go out at the police department: Capullo uses Gordon’s flashlight to highlight and conceal the villains’ terrible actions. When the Joker uses a painted-up victim as a puppet for a video broadcast of his villainous intentions, Capullo cleverly hides the Joker in shadows, making the most terrifying thing on the page something that the reader can barely see and barely takes up any space. Every page is packed with interesting panel layouts and inventive ways to create intense violence and horror without being too gruesome or showing, well, almost anything. The Joker has already has double-digit murders to his name by the time issue #13 ends, while almost none of them are on-panel. The effect is actually far creepier than if we were allowed to see any of them. Greg Capullo is no less than a master of the craft, at this point.
Continued belowThis is all without mentioning the backup efforts of Jock, whose visual depiction of Harley Quinn’s devotion and naiveté is heartbreaking. Though Capullo is the main event, there are few that match Jock’s ability to use negative space to create a mood. Harley’s willful manipulation by the Joker is depicted with a hint of tragedy by placing Harley Quinn in large, empty panels.
Snyder and Capullo choose to pay homage to the clashes of Batman vs. The Joker from issue #1, all those years ago, up to the present day. References and visual cues to “The Dark Knight Returns”, the Nolan films, and the animated series are flawlessly spun together for the beginnings of a story that looks to stand among them one day. Though so much feels familiar, this world is all their own. “Batman” #13 is a modern comic for modern sensibilities, a Joker that feels all their own, that very much still inhabits the decades long canon of DC Comics’ most popular and enduring character. Enjoy it. It doesn’t happen often.
Final Verdict: 9.8 – Buy it. Against an unfathomable amount of hype, Snyder and Capullo are clearly bringing their A+ games.
