This Week in Comics 10/10/12

This was a pretty slow week for me as far as my comics coming out. Usually once a month there is a week where I only have one comic come out. Luckily this week it was a comic that was able to fascinate me enough to where I did not really care that there was only one this week.

Batman Issue 13 Death of the Family (Snyder and Capullo)

The Joker has returned! And he is scary as shit!

First of all, I want to state the obvious. Snyder is an amazing writer! Maybe the best comic book writer out there right now. Hard to argue. 

He comes through with another incredible issue, his best so far in my opinion. 

I think everyone that has read Batman since Snyder started has been waiting to see his take on Mister J. Readers were not disappointed.

He managed to write the scariest Joker I have ever read. Roaming around in the dark police station breaking necks while having a dialog with Gordon, telling Gordon that he hides under Gordon's bed while he sleeps are both prime examples. But we are just getting started.

There are also some things that scream Joker. The T.V. scene has been done before, even in The Dark Knight. But that being said it was still good to see that Snyder can write a terrifying Joker and still keep to the roots. Also Batman being hit with the giant hammer when coming after "Red Hood" was a classic Joker move. 

Snyder has managed to take Joker to the next level. He clearly seems to have a few more screws loose after having his face cut off and running away for the last year.

Joker has returned better than ever. His dialog with Harley Quinn toward the end of the issue sums it all up. Harley can see the change in Mister J and she is legitimately scared of him.

The other thing that really completes Snyder's work on Batman is Capullo's  artwork. Now I will be the first to tell you that I know nothing about art, but to me the rough look really seems to work well. Snyder really likes to write dialog so I would imagine being an artist with him could be difficult. However, Capullo still manages to paint a great picture of what is going on.

The art is really a story all on it's own. Capullo purposefully hides Joker's face from us. In doing so, building up the suspense and adding to the psychotic dialog of Joker. Capullo then ends the issue with a bang finally reaching a climax and revealing Joker's mangled face.

Final Thoughts: I know that to some Joker is an "old" character that seemingly every new writer sees the need to tackle but Snyder and Capullo knocked it out of the park. My favorite Joker.