Comic Info
Comic Name: Batman (Volume 2)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2015
Batman (2) #35
Reprints Batman (2) #35-40 (December 2014-June 2015). Batman is facing his great enemy when the Joker returns with a vengeance. The Joker has unleashed a virus which is capable of infecting everyone with madness. The Justice League was the first to fall to the virus, but now Gotham is in the Joker’s target. With plans for an ultimate revenge against Batman, the virus is loose and capturing the Joker could be the only key to stopping it…but the Joker has a surprise for Batman that he might not see coming!
Written by Scott Snyder, Batman Volume 7: Endgame is a DC Comics superhero comic book collection. Follows Batman Volume 6: Graveyard Shift, the series features art by Greg Capullo. The issues in the volume were also collected in The Joker: Endgame and Batman vs. Superman: The Greatest Battles.
This is the big one of Snyder’s run on Batman, and it feels that the series really has been leading up to this volume. The New 52 reenergized Batman, and Snyder decided to push it one step further here.
I really like Snyder’s run but on occasion, he is a bit hard to follow. I had some issues with time in this volume with flashforwards and flashbacks and it sometimes made the tale difficult to keep up with These complaints are rather minor in the big picture of this story and it does feel like a real, well-planned event series.
Batman (2) #40
The collection finally answers the question of what would happen if Joker learned Batman’s secret identity. It was teased in Batman 3: Death of the Family, but here, it really plays out. Snyder’s Joker is completely ruthless and twisted and more akin to the Joker of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke…but even more sadistic. He’s toying with Batman by allowing him and his friends to live through things…making it even worse. You could argue that books like this do show how some of the fun has left comics, but I did enjoy the ride.
The art for the series also continues to be top notch. I love Capullo’s Batman and this it has depth and texture. His design for the Joker also adds to the fear level…he isn’t just the smiling clown with green hair here…he’s physically terrifying as well (a preview of the Jared Leto Suicide Squad Joker in my opinion).
Batman 7: Endgame does really feel like the end of the run. With the New 52 ending it almost feels like Snyder should have saved this storyline for the ultimate battle…instead, Batman moves on without Batman and a shockingly different direction in the next volume. Batman 7: Endgame is followed by Batman 8: Superheavy.
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