Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Batman #39
DC Comics
Snyder, Capullo, Miki & Plascencia
Batman reaches the penultimate chapter of Endgame. This issue has more of what you've come to expect from Snyder and Capullo. It's a tense story backed with chilling visuals. The comic provides the finale to the backup story as well to round out the reading experience. Overall, this is another good issue of Batman in what is a classic run on the character.
Batman struggles to find a way to counter the toxin that The Joker has spread throughout the city. He's turned to every friend, foe, doctor and creature he can think of. This allows Snyder to tie much of his Batman run into this arc as pieces have come back into the fold that were introduced back in the first issue. Batman hits dead end after dead end. To compound things, the Joker goes on the offensive.
The Joker breaks into the Batcave. This aspect of the comic book was the weak point. Alfred attempts to defend the cave and is met with some grotesque violence. The two elements I didn't care for is that we've seen The Joker in the Cave before and it feels forced because The Joker's goal is to steal some of Batman's trophies. Does this seem like something The Joker would do as the city is bathed in his deadly toxin? Alfred has seen his share of battles over the years but the outcome here felt over-the-top in the DC way that usually ends up with character's heads in refrigerators or character's using dead cats as a weapon. It feels a little cheap and I didn't feel it added anything except shock to the story.
The comic sets up the ending as Batman formulates a very shaky and risky plan that involves plenty of friends. He's not taking any chances as he recruits others that are not-so-friendly to help. This part could also be nitpicked as to whether or not the characters would join Batman but in the context of Gotham going down in flames it seems relatively reasonable that they would help.
The visuals bring the book to another level. The pages towards the back as Batman brings together his army are fantastic. This is the first time I've seen Capullo draw some of these characters and they couldn't look better. The book simply has epic page after epic panel. Capullo has reinvented Batman visuals.
Batman is the best book DC publishes and there is no question about it. Snyder and Capullo have built something special together that won't be around forever. Whether you like the take on the character or the general direction that DC is taking Batman in, these stories are classics and you would be hard-pressed to find a better Batman book over the last decade. This is worth picking up.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
