And the award for most disgusting book cover goes to *drum roll* Batman: Death of the Family!!!!!

*audience cheers*

Already posted my thoughts about the book on Twitter, but I figured I'd dump them here too. I've had mixed feelings about this story over the years ranging from "love it" to "hate it". I loved it when I first read it because it was the first "event" comic where I read all of the tie-ins and it was the first Joker story I read where Joker not only felt like a threat but was downright *terrifying* (I didn't read Killing Joke until a few years later). Then I hated it because I felt it had too many fakeouts and didn't leave much of a lasting impact on Batman, the Batfamily, or Gotham at large. After re-reading it last night I don't hate it, but I don't think it's as good as it could have been either.

I like Snyder's idea that Batman's family and humanity are what makes him strong and compelling. I think this might be kind of a criticism of Grant Morrison's Batman, who was Snyder's predecessor on the book and a mentor for him at DC. I haven't read the entirety of Morrison's run on Batman, but the general consensus from what I've seen online was that Morrison focused on the idea that Batman was more than human. He was a myth and a symbol. When I re-read DotF, Snyder's Joker seemed to agree with that idea. From Joker's perspective, he and Batman both want to be myths and symbols. Because humans were vulnerable and could be hurt, but myths would never truly die.

"And there you are Batsss...chasing us, forever chasing! And why? Because it's what you want to happen. It's what you neeeed. Because you see, with us you're more! With us, you transsscend! With us you're always." - Joker cosplaying as Leatherface

Thus Joker wants to "help" Batman achieve this status of immortality by removing anything that would humanize him and make him weak. In particular, his relationships (well, relationships with anyone other than Joker). It's a neat take on the Joker and a cool theme that's never fully explored. What the book really needed was some moments demonstrating the opposite. That Batman's relationships have made him a better, stronger, and more capable person. We only get 1 moment like that when Batman admits to himself the real reason he talks to Alfred on the way to battle isn't because strategizing helped him, but was because talking to Alfred comforted him and made him braver for whatever came next (*aww <3*). I wish there were more moments like that, but there isn't despite the fact that this story has tie-ins to 5 different on-going books.

There's still some great scenes and genuinely scary moments in the book (the opening sequence with Joker infiltrating the GCPD and taunting Gordon from the shadows. THAT was downright terrifying), but it could have been better if it had spent some time exploring those ideas. And in true comics fashion, it has no real lasting impact on Batman or the relationships he has with the rest of his family (seriously, something like this should have been *TRAUMATIZING*). As it is, it's cool I guess, but there isn't much substance to it. I'd love to see another writer take these ideas and run with them. Seriously. You could probably make an entire season of a show based on some of Snyder's ideas here.