Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Batman, greg capullo, scott snyder

Reading Batman #13 – The Return And The Return And The Return Of The Joker

There's a lovely scene on the first page of Batman #13. I don't know if it's intended, I hope it is. We see a van being driven into Gotham in the rain. It's lights are off and then they turn on, from behind, two red points of lights staring out of the dark. I've always seen faces in the oddest of objects, but this was the Joker staring at me, out of the black.

This return of the biggest, baddest Bat villain after he lost his face in Detective Comics is teased with, played with, nudged at. It starts with a game that Commissioner Gordon is playing with his men, and it's notable that when the Joker comes out of the darkness, that's all he's doing as well. Playing.

Scott Snyder is also hitting the old time Batfans here, with very specific examples and characters that go back to Batman #1… the first time around, and the first death by the hands of the Joker… you can get some background here. And it seems like he is recreating his original hit. Which he does, just not in any of the ways the police or the Batfolk are expecting.

It's not the only nod to the Joker's past here. There's a reference to the Joker in The Dark Knight Returns, using television screens to communicate part of his mission, and again finding different ways to hide his face.

There's the use of the Red Hood identity, again hiding a face, straight out of The Killing Joke, as is the rain which begins the story.

And then there's Harvey. Always Harvey. But things have changed.

And with that title, with the character's history, we are naturally drawn to A Death In The Family, and the Joker's history of causing pain and death to thoie that Batman loves, and surrounds himself with. Batman knows this. So does everyone else. And we know that all these characters have Joker-faced targets on their foreheads. But which one will come face to -ripped-off-face with the JOker in the first issue? It's not the Batman…

This is a dangerous Joker, a playful Joker and most deadly and disturbing when the two combine. There is a plan here, and no one has a clue what is going on. Batman is pushed one way and another, taking his focus off what matters. And it all begins to fall apart.

The Joker's face is a key point here, ripped from him and now strapped back on again, seeing him for the first time is kept from us, with all manner of devices stopping us getting a good look, from shadows to puppets. And then you get that last page…

It works. Joker is really creepy, something I haven't felt for fifteen years or more. And then, to justify that extra dollar, you get an extra Harvey Quinn story that ties in with the whole narratives and redefines her in relation to the Joker. And yes that's pretty fucked up too.

The whole comic, of course, gains a deeper sense of unease after the recent shooting in Denver, and the gunshots in the dark unconsciously echo that, given the context. But this isn't random, this isn't some unfoscussed rage, this is something very cold, very calculated and incredibly specific. The Joker is playing his game with everyone around him and we become voyeurs.

Batman #13, the first part of A Death of The Family, by Scott Snyder, GReg Capullo, Jock, Jonathan Glapion and James Tynion IV and is published by DC Comics on Wednesday.

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