Not to be confused with the "Death in the Family" from some decades ago, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's 2012 "Death of the Family" Batman story is sure to go down as one of the best, perhaps even the best, Joker story of all time, up there with the likes of the aforementioned story, "The Killing Joke," and others. It was the introduction of Mr. J into DC's New 52 and boy was it one to be reckoned with, affecting not only Batman but all of the members of the Bat-Family including their associates, such as Red Hood's Outlaws and Red Robin's Teen Titans at the time.
If ever there was a moment in time where you were questioning if the Joker was serious, if ever there was a moment where you wondered how the Joker, as silly as he acts, can constantly go toe-to-toe with one of Earth's greatest detectives and superheroes, this is the story for you. The Joker in this story is constantly one step ahead, and is constantly playing with not only the mind of Batman but also the mind of the reader. I felt pretty messed up going through this story for the first time.
It read like a horror story. You never see the Joker's face until about halfway through and even then that itself is rather horrifying. The dark colors and areas that Batman goes to in order to track down the Joker is also pretty creepy and let's not forget the very beginning of the storyline where the Joker invades the police station, with all the lights off, and the only thin we can see are the white dialogue boxes with Jim Gordon's plain font and the Joker's mangled, scratched font. Even if you've never read a Batman comic to see that font, you know from the get-go who the villain is.
Simply put, this is a story that any fan of Batman/ the Joker has already read, but it's a story that must be read by all comic fans. It's not about the super heroes and the powers. This is about a single man destroying the life of another because he has some sick fascination with him.
The story truly is Batman vs. The Joker down to its core, but when you realize why, it gets even worse. To get into the backstory, just to set you folks up who haven't read it (you need to, seriously!), the last time the Joker was in Gotham some years ago, he was thrown in Arkham but escaped after he had the Dollmaker peel his face off. I kid you not. Now the Joker has come back to Gotham to relive his life with Batman, going through the various places in past comic lore they've been.
It's a really interesting look into the past of the Batman stories so if you're aware of the two's mythos very well you'll have a blast watching the events unfold almost exactly how they did in the past. Yet still, even though Batman is aware of this, the Joker stays ahead of the game. You become aware very quickly how in-depth the Joker has planned this out.
As the story progresses, you find out that the Joker has done this for one reason: he feels that he and Batman are essentially partners. There's almost a sickening romance, not literally but figuratively, budding in that the Joker does love Batman. He feels that the Bat-Family is ruining him and thus Joker, as his trusty partner, wants to make him stronger by doing whatever it takes to ruin them. And it, well, it's sick what he does.
Out of the goodness of my heart, I simply cannot spoil the events of the story because it's just so engrossing and frightening but good. It is written so beautifully. All of the events flow. It's one of the standout stories of the New 52, if not the standout story. It was self-contained and that was all it needed to be. It started and ended masterfully, and lived up to its name. By the end, you feel complete but empty at the same time. Again, no spoilers, but the final page is something that can deliver chills and makes you wait for the Joker's imminent return to Gotham...which has already begun and let me tell you that the end of Batman #35 was something else, man.
There's also an interesting secret at work throughout the story that is never really resolved, though Batman and Alfred think it is, that adds an extra element to the relationship between Batman and the Joker, almost another level of intimacy. I'm coming to realize how much like lovers I'm projecting these guys as but, I mean, it feels like the two are in a never-ending dance of death with each other. Sure, the events of "The Dark Knight Returns" see an end to that dance but this is the new continuity! Nothing's over until we get another reboot.
I don't do a rating scale, because that's no fun, but if I were to hypothetically do one, I'd have to give this story an easy 10/10. From start to finish the story is enthralling and leaves you begging for more Joker in the New 52. Or it'll provide you nightmare fuel, because that's what the Joker does. It lives up to what Heath Ledger's Joker said of the two in The Dark Knight: "You complete me."
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