Scott Snyder (1) (1976–)

The Joker: Death of the Family collects Batman #13-14, & 17, Detective Comics #15-17, Catwoman #13-14, Suicide Swuad #14-15, Red Hood #13-16, Teen Titans #14-16, Nightwing #14-16, and Batman and Robin #15-17 from DC’s New 52 written by John Layman, Ann Nocenti, Adam Glass, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Gail Simone, Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Kyle Higgins, Tom DeFalco, and Peter J. Tomasi; art by Jason Fabok, Andy Clarke, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Fernando Dagino, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, Ed Benes, Daniel Sampere, Vicente Ciguentes, Mark Irwin, Timothy Green II, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Wayne Faucher, Pascal Alixe, Ale Garzia, Eddy Barrows, Andres Guinaldo, Eber Ferreira, Mark Irwin, Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, and Keith Champagne; colors by Jeromy Cox, Sonia Oback, Matt Yakey, Ulises Arreola, Kyle Ritter, Andrew Dalhouse Blond, Rod Reis, Pete Pantazis, and John Kalisz; and with letters by Jared K. Fletcher, Carlos M. Mangual, Sal Cipriano, Richard Starkings, Jimmy Betancourt, David Sharpe, Travis Lanham, and Taylor Esposito.

The Joker had seemingly disappeared after cutting off his own face, but now he’s back with it stapled back in place like a particularly gruesome fright mask. Having determined that Batman’s biggest weakness is his extended Bat-family, the Joker begins attacking them one-by-one to take away those nearest to Batman in order to supplant them as the center of Batman’s world. The Joker wants a stronger Batman to give his own twisted life meaning. He accuses the Bat-family of “blocking [Batman’s] light” such that he can’t shine on Joker. Further, Joker says, “The Batman I know and love has more Pez in the dispenser – but you all keep pushing his head back, reaching down his neck and taking more than you deserve until one day he’ll be empty and have no Pez left to give poor ol’ me.” The story follows the extended Bat-family, beginning with Batman before moving on to Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Batgirl, Red Hood and Red Robin, Nighwing, Robin, and finally a conclusion and epilogue tying the threads back together. It uses a particularly twisted story to highlight the Joker’s obsession with Batman, revealing why the Bat-family titles were the strongest of the New 52 relaunch.… (lisätietoja)

I am pleasantly surprised by how much I truly enjoyed this! I had flipped through it a couple times before, but just hadn't felt the urge to read it. But once I read the first few pages, I became hooked and really wanted to know what was going on. "Wytches" is about fear. The fear that comes with anxiety and depression; the fear of not raising your child well; the fear of being in a new place; and yes, the fear of things that creep in the woods.

-The story itself is engaging and really creepy- I had to force myself put this down a couple times so I wouldn't be reading about the Wytches at 1am. There are a couple questions that were left unanswered, but I get the distinct feeling Volume 2 will expand in those areas. Also, the narrative style was really cool- often, scenes would overlap with one another, and I'd be reading about a scene from 2011 and 2014 at the same time. It was neat to see how Snyder wrote them to play off of one another, and I think he pulled it off excellently.
-I LOVED the characters, mainly Sailor and her dad. They were both realistically flawed and so very human. I loved how the story had such a deep focus on their relationship and how they learned from each other and became stronger through one another.
-One of the things that pushed me away from reading this for so long was the art style- it just seemed to be too splashy and dotty, but once I started reading, I saw how well the style complimented the story. I actually grew to like the art a lot, and I think it's interesting to watch how the images become more vivid and distorted depending on what's happening.
-Additionally, the letters by Scott Snyder in the back of the volume were really great to read. They provided some interesting context to the story, and Snyder wrote about how "Wytches" had some very real and very personal relation to him. Definitely would recommend reading his letters (especially the first 3) after reading the story.

MINOR SPOILER AHEAD: The only thing that REALLY bugged me about this was Clara (the peg-leg lady). Why on earth did she have to break into the Rook home and attack the dad, just to make him come and find her at another location? Why couldn't she have told me everything he needed to know right there, instead of carving a weird map into his stomach?? I felt like that was a bit of a waste of time and space.

I can't wait to read Volume 2 now! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!… (lisätietoja)