This isn’t a hard one. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo wrap their Endgame storyline — the latest showdown between Batman and the Joker.
(SPOILERS if you haven’t read Batman #39)
The most compelling part of Endgame has been the questions about the Joker‘s origins — whether or not he’s immortal or … something. I imagine the resolution will be suitably ambiguous, but it’s an interesting notion, even if it’s a radical departure from what we’ve read or seen of the Joker over the last 75 years.
That’s what I kind of like about it. The longer I read comics, the more likely I am to accept oddball notions about long-standing characters.
Besides, I’m a firm believer in Make Your Own Continuity. For example, even though it fits better in the post-Flashpoint/New 52 Batman world, I still don’t consider Zero Year to be Batman‘s rightful origin — I still prefer Batman: Year One, even if elements of it no longer “fit.” So if I don’t like the resolution to Endgame, I can continue to lean on Detective Comics #168 (the core of which holds up, even if it’s ancient by today’s standards).
On the other hand, Court of Owls is a masterpiece and I’m willing to accept that Bruce Wayne might have a deranged brother (an idea itself lifted from an obscure Bronze Age World’s Finest story).
But back to Endgame. Snyder doesn’t always stick the landing on his final chapters, so I’m as curious about how this story ends as I am about how the Joker began.
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ALSO ON THE BATSHELVES THIS WEEK: There’s Convergence: Detective Comics #1, which is noteworthy if only because it features Earth-2 Robin‘s Silver Age duds:
Even Bill Sienkiewicz can’t distract from just how endearingly dorky this outfit kind of is:
Not to put too fine a point on it but it occurs to me that Robin‘s costume here is perfectly emblematic of where DC was in 1967. The older generation was still in charge of things, so it probably made sense to them that Robin would want to grow up to be like Batman.
A few years later, when DC‘s young turks started to exert their influence, Earth-2 Robin got a new, Neal Adams-designed outfit more in line with his desire to be his own man.
Holy generation gap!
Or maybe I’m overthinking it.
Oh, and also on the Batshelves is Batman Vol. 6: Graveyard Shift, the latest hardcover collection of the Snyder-Capullo run.
