Batman #14 (spoiler-ish)

Planeis

Pat's Stuff

Batman #14: Funny Bones Review

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
Just as a warning, this review will contain some light spoilers, but nothing major.



I felt like Batman #13 was too violent. I understand what they were trying to do, but for my tastes it went one step too far. I was hopeful that this issue would tone things down, and I was not disspointed.

The Art: 7/10

Penciled by Greg Capullo and colored by FCD Plascencia I have to say I really enjoy the art of this issue. Greg Capullo's art is detailed and clear without resorting to drawing a thousand lines on everyones faces like certain other artists who shall remain nameless. Backgrounds are rich, detailed and interesting. The colors are great. Sometimes they pop, sometimes they are subdued. Love it.

Story: 6/10

Giving it a 6/10 might sound like an insult, but I'm grading on a curve here because writer Scott Snyder has already proven that he's a good writer and is very capable of telling a good Batman story. The beginning, picking up right where Batman #13 left off is tense and exciting. An escape scene for Batman could easily resort to cliche, but I felt it was very tense and Batman of course proved once again to be resourceful.

My only real beef with the story is what happens to Jim Gordon (slightly spoilerish moment coming up). Without saying what happens to Gordon it was a little unclear how Joker was able to get to him and what REALLY happened to him. I can see if the writer wanted to be mysterious without saying how exactly Joker got to Gordon, but for me it made me feel like they didn't want to HAVE to explain it. Like maybe they took the easy way out. I know, maybe I'm being unfair, but thats just how it felt to me.

Liked the ending and without spoiling anything, I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that the Joker is bluffing. Anyway, can't wait to read the next part.

Torchsong

Batman has become one of the darkest comic book rides I've ever been on. I'm loving the hell out of it. I don't think he's going to top the bit with Joker and Harley last issue as far as the "damn!" factor goes ("Harley...when did I *ever* say I found you attractive?") but I think the gauntlet Ledger threw down has been picked up by Snyder.

fredzilla

I'm only getting the main title (through DCBS w/ monthly shipping), but can anyone tell me if the whole Death of the Family storyline must be read through the Batman-family of titles to get it all or am I okay with just the main? I didn't want to add any books that I wasn't too sure about, yet, I'll probably pick up the storyline in trade if it's all collected that way. Thanks!

Chuck_Melville

fredzilla said:

I'm only getting the main title (through DCBS), but can anyone tell me if the whole Death of the Family storyline must be read through the Batman-family of titles to get it all or am I okay with just the main? I didn't want to add any books that I wasn't too sure about, yet, I'll probably pick up the storyline in trade if it's all collected that way. Thanks!

I don't know if you need to read them all to get the whole story, but I'm taking no chances and am dropping the only Bat-title I'm still reading that's having a crossover to the story arc.

David_D

I agree that Batman #14 was great. And, relative to the discussion we had around #13, there was at least another mention of the mass killing of police officers by the Joker, as Gordon is still haunted by that, and I think they are giving that some weight in the story. All in all I like that they are treating the return of the Joker as a big, big deal. A crisis, and much harder to handle than Batman's more predictable villains. I agree with @Torchsong that they are trying to capture some of that dangerous, chaotic feeling of the Joker of The Dark Knight film.

I got the feeling from the end of this issue that we might be heading in Tower of Babel territory. I may be jumping the gun, but I get the feeling the Joker found Batman's countermeasures against the rest of the family, and will be using them against them. I hope I am wrong, as I think that would be too easy of a way to make tension between Batman and the rest of the family.

I am only reading Batman, and I don't plan on reading any of the other books that are tied in.

If no one else minds the spoilers, could anyone who is reading other Death in the Family books tell us what has been going on in those?

Planeis

Batman is all I am reading. If my library had the others Id get them.

fredzilla

If each title is standalone in that it doesn't rely on the others to tell its story, a bigger deal needs to be made of this. I like events, but I don't like company-wide events that hijack a regular book to tell a mediocre story that will only "change the status quo" for a few months. This sounds like they're doing it right.

David_D

fredzilla said:

If each title is standalone in that it doesn't rely on the others to tell its story, a bigger deal needs to be made of this. I like events, but I don't like company-wide events that hijack a regular book to tell a mediocre story that will only "change the status quo" for a few months. This sounds like they're doing it right.

Snyder has certainly been vocal about making sure his book stands alone, though of course creators say that sort of thing all the time so I wouldn't blame anyone for being skeptical. However, I found that just reading the Batman issues of Court of Owls completely worked for me. I am sure things happened in those other books, but whatever it was I didn't need to know it just to read those Batman issues.