Okay, read Batman #17. Overall, I didn’t think Death of the Family was a bad story. However, with regards to this particular issue serving as a conclusion to the story? I am in total agreement with those who describe this issue as a massively disappointing let-down with no real pay off whatsoever. And this is coming from someone who regards Scott Snyder as one of today’s best comic book writers.
Sure, Greg Capullo’s art was fantastic as always, and I thought the beginning of the issue was especially intense. But if you really take a closer look, all this is story did was recycle and reuse aspects of the Batman and Joker dynamic that were already there, and whatever additions Snyder attempted to add were not only needlessly bungled, but, IMO, missed the point.
For example, we finally learn why the Joker had his face removed just so he could wear it like a mask–”So [Batman] can see that he smiles on the inside as he does on the outside” i.e. that he doesn’t hide who he really is. Except we readers already knew this on the simple basis that the Joker looking like a creepy clown was not a disguise, that this is what makes him terrifying. His wearing a “mask” made of his own flesh actually undermines this very point that the Joker makes.
Second, the Joker challenging Batman over why he doesn’t just kill him, saying his reasons for not doing so are bullcrap, with Snyder suggesting this is partly true when Bruce tells Alfred that if he does kill the Joker that someone worse will take his place. This is of particular annoyance to me because we already know the answer to the question of “Why doesn’t Batman just kill the Joker?” (and not just because of the conventions of serialized fiction). Anyone who has read Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, or have seen Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight have had this question answered: The Joker believes that anyone, when properly pushed, is capable of losing control and abandoning their morals, rules and principles, thus saying this makes those morals, rules and principles nothing but “bad jokes.” Batman, however, refuses to lose control, standing by his code to never resort to committing murder no matter what. Because Batman knows full well that if he consciously takes a person’s life, including the Joker’s own life, then it “proves” that the Joker was “right all along.” And guess what? The Joker also knows this. That’s why he “loves” Batman because he sees him as a challenge. Even although he’s insane, wouldn’t mistake Batman’s refusal to kill him as a sign of “love” as he claims here.
Then there’s the point about how even though the Joker knows Batman is really Bruce Wayne, he doesn’t really care because he knows Batman is who Bruce really is–again something we already figured out beforehand, especially if one has read Grant Morrison’s Batman R.I.P. Except Snyder adds the utterly ridiculous revelation in that Bruce willingly revealed himself as Batman to the Joker at Arkham Asylum years ago, which just makes Bruce out be a over-confident moron. Same with the revelation that the Joker’s biggest fear is that Batman has figured out his real name, which completely contradicts previous depictions that the Joker doesn’t really care about his own past or his real name. After all, if the Joker doesn’t care about who Batman really is, why should he care if Batman really knows?
As for the resolution to the story? The Joker “dies” from falling from a great height even though we never actually see the body and Batman doesn’t bother to go down and investigate the bottom of the chasm to see if the Joker is really dead? How convenient! Oh, the Bat Family is bitter at Bruce for keeping such a crucial secret from them when he should’ve trusted them and told them what it was beforehand? Just like every other conclusion to virtually every major Batman event in last two decades? That’s the real reason why the ending is disappointing and why people are saying “nothing happened. Because what was sold as a Joker story to end all Joker stories is nothing but an overrated, over-hyped cliché.
