When it comes to Batman the stakes are never higher than when the Joker is involved. He is the ultimate bad guy! And It’s been a while since the Joker has been around, but that will soon change. The last time we saw him was in the first issue of Detective Comics almost one year ago in which he cut his face off and disappeared. We were left wondering where and when the Joker will pop up again. Will he have a new face? We have seen the cut off face once since Detective Comics #1 and that was in Suicide Squad in which Harley Quinn breaks into the Gotham police department and steals it because she thinks he’s dead. She then goes on to tie up Deadshot, put the face on him, and pour her feelings out as if she were talking to the Joker to get closure. It was a moment in comics that made me feel icky! I also wonder if Harley will show up in this story and what her reaction will be when she finds out her “Puddin” isn’t dead.
Now that the Joker is returning I’m sure he has some sort of master plan in the works and we’ll find out what that is in “Death of a Family” this October from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. DC’s blog gives us a couple of hints of where the story will be going:
“The Joker will come out of the dark in a horrifying, unnerving, and huge way. And the grave consequences of his reemergence will be felt by not only the Bat-family, but by all of Gotham City. He crippled Batgirl. He killed Robin. What will The Joker do next? And what must Batman do to protect his secret identity and that of those who fight alongside him?”
Both creators seem to be pumped to be working on this story, here are their thoughts that they shared with DC’s blog about the upcoming story.
Scott Snyder:
“Joker is my favorite villain of all time,” Snyder told THE SOURCE. “Not just in comics. In everything – film, books, TV. He’s the greatest, hands down. So this story is something extremely important and personal to me – something I’ve been building in my head ever since I started working in Gotham. Basically, this is my big exploration of the Joker, my ARKHAM ASYLUM or THE KILLING JOKE, only bigger in scope. Bottom line: it’s the biggest, baddest, most shocking Joker story I could tell. This is Joker completely unleashed. He has been away for a full year planning this revenge, watching, plotting, setting things up. And now he’s back. He has his traps set, his knives sharpened… And wait ’til you see him. Greg’s sketches literally gave me chills. Point blank: This is Joker like you’ve never seen him before. He has a mission. He has a secret. And he has a serious axe to grind with Batman. It isn’t going to be pretty, but it’s going to be a wild ride. Thanks for taking it with us.”
Greg Capullo:
“When Scott told me that he’d written a Joker story for our next arc, I couldn’t contain my excitement,” added Capullo. “Talk about a dream come true! For me, the Joker is the ultimate rogue and the villain I most wanted to draw. I gotta tell you, after hearing what the story is about, this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare! A macabre and bloody, flesh crawling nightmare. We hope you’ll have the nerve to face what’s coming. Warning: It ain’t for the faint of heart!”
This news has me really excited. Batman from Snyder and Capullo has undeniably been the best book of the DC relaunch. If you haven’t been reading this I highly suggest picking up the first collection, which just came out. Batman Vol 1: The Court of Owls collects the first 7 issues of Snyder and Capullo’s run and is some of the best story telling I’ve ever seen in comics. And with that I’ll leave you with a teaser for the story, drawn by Greg Capullo.
