Scott Snyder's Batman

[-Dom-]

Not sure if there's a more specific place to put this topic, but unless someone tells me otherwise; Anyone have any opinions on Scott Snyder's (and Greg Capullo's) New 52 run of Batman and Batman Eternal so far, as many fans (at least the hardcore ones) don't seem too keen, especially on Death of the Family, which I loved. As a conversation starter, does anyone think that DotF would've been praised or at least had better reception if the Joker HAD cut off all their faces, or at least had some kind of consequence.

[spoiler='That Image!'][/spoiler]

 

Or does anyone have any thoughts on Zero Year compared to Year One?

 

Discuss please!

[Fusion X. Denver]

People hate Snyder's run?

I love it, personally. The writing is well executed, the characters and plot engage, the themes are exemplary, and the art is top-notch too.

Death of the Family is also probably one of the best Batman stories I've ever read. I don't know where you're finding hate on it though; all I've seen and heard from people was praise about it.

I don't think actually cutting them off would be necessary; the whole charade was mainly a psychological attack on the Bat Family and the end result would be the same whether their faces were on or not.

Plus, I feel it'd be weird/inconvenient for all of them to have disfigured faces for however long until they'd get plastic surgery or something.

 

As for Zero Year, I don't have a preference comparing it and Year One. They both have their own perks/cons. It was a good story.

[-Dom-]

I agree with you that Death of the Family is one of the best Batman stories that I've read, with the Joker's relationship with Batman in this actually appealing to me more than the one shown in the Killing Joke. However, I'd thought fans didn't like the "face-cut-off" look for him, thinking it limited him, and the lack of consequence from the ending. While it is accepted as a psychological attack, the family isn't really dead, especially with the preview for Batman and Robin #34 (the Robin Rises thing) showing them back together in the cave:

 

[spoiler='Preview link']http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=23176[/spoiler]

 

But I agree with you on loving Death of the Family, though I think there could've been more consequences from it considering all the issues in different book it took to get to that conclusion. Zero Year's conclusion on the other hand was just perfect; I mean, the giant penny is used!

[Fusion X. Denver]

I think the way you're supposed to interpret Death of the Family is it's the "death" of the trust all of them placed in Batman. Even now with things sort of okay, there's still this underlying atmosphere that things aren't the same as they used to be (at least I felt that during the particular issue you mentioned).

 

Zero Year was great for the most part, I think it went on a tad too long, but that's a minor complaint.

[Ｍｒ．Ｒｏｂｏｔ]

People hate Snyder's run?

 

Mostly it's those annoying Morrison's fanboys or those hipster indie crowd.

 

If we're only talking bout the New 52 then Court Of Owls/Night Of Owls would be his best but if we're talking bout his overall batman and ongoing, Black Mirror would be his magnum opus. The ending and the bad timing for Robin's death on Inc really take me off of Death Of The Family but everything from the start was awesome and Joker is great in it.

[Phantom Roxas]

I've only read Court of Owls, but I liked it. The Court is a great group of villains, and I'm curious when we'll see Lincoln March again. Snyder is starting an arc titled "Endgame" in October, which will presumably include the return of the Court, and it's also going to be set after Eternal.

From what I understand of his detractors, it's not about Morrison fans being unsatisfied with Snyder. If anything, people think Snyder is worthy "successor" in regards to who oversees the main direction of the Batman line, and I think some actually prefer Snyder's style. I think it was even said that the ending to Batman, Incorporated's nod to Zero Year was a way of Morrison bowing out and properly passing the torch to Snyder, though that could have just been someone's interpretation. What people don't like about Snyder is that he apparently cannot write endings. His stories are big in scale, but because of that, when the time comes to end the story, he either doesn't end the story, presumably because he intends to continue that story at the later point, or the endings are unsatisfying. Personally, I felt that the Court of Owls story just stopped. I should get around to reading Talon, but if Endgame is the to make the return of the Court, that should be fun.

[-Dom-]

Not sure if this counts as necrobumping (I'll take the warning if it does) but I've just read Batman #37, part 3 of Endgame (oh my god!) and wandered what others thoughts on it were, or Endgame as a whole. It's very different from Death of the Family, that's for sure, and it looks like it might even be better the way things are going. I mean

 

(For some reason spoiler tags wont work for me so, following can be highlighted to read:)

The Joker becoming an unkillable devil throughout history seems a bit odd, but nothing's confirmed, and this could all be related to the fear toxin mentioned in #35 and 36. Even if the Joker is somehow supernatural, I'd actually be ok with that, the idea that he's a force of nature/pure evil, unstoppable and when he properly wants to f*** up batman's life, he will. The Joe Chill as patient zero reveal worked well, especially with the crime alley recreated scene that followed. Oh, and following from Joker's comment on knowing where Gordon's cigarettes were under the bed in #13, he literally comes out from under the bed to face Gordon! ahhh (the panel where you see his eyes under the sheet, just with the words "knock, knock" - chills). And of course, that final cliffhanger really makes me doubt what's reality or not in this arc, as surely no writer would dare have the Joker know who batman is? Overall, just another amazing issue in an amazing arc. Sure to be considered a classic in the years to come if it ends as well as it's started.[/spoiler]