OK, so, I'm going to run through December's "Death of the Family" issues sequentially over the next few posts, so get ready for some crazy.
Despite the length of this issue and the pages upon pages of dialogue that fuels it, I really only have four overarching comments about it and, really, this arc:
1) At this stage, Snyder seems to be focusing mostly on rehashing the conceit of the Court of the Owls arc, calling into question whether Bruce is as infallible as everyone thinks that he is. Although that arc got muddled in its execution, Snyder did manage to present the idea that Bruce had been so blinded by his overconfidence in thinking that he understood how Gotham worked that he missed the threat that the Court posed to the city. Unfortunately, Snyder never really clarified what the Court wanted with Gotham, since we got distracted by the saga of the Owlman. Moreover, I was never fully sold on the idea that Bruce would've missed the presence of the Court in Gotham. But, overall, Snyder did manage to make his point about Bruce and his overconfidence, even if it wasn't all totally believable or clear. Here, you can use "find/replace" for Joker and the Court, as Snyder is clearly calling into question whether Bruce understands Joker as well as he thinks that he does. We see it throughout the issue, but most particularly when Bruce is arguing with Dick et al. over whether Joker had infiltrated the Batcave years ago. Dick et al. seem to believe that it's plausible that Joker did get into the Cave, given the card that he somehow got in the water, and, as such, that he has been aware of their identities for quite some time. Bruce, however, adamantly denies it. Although he provides some pretty compelling reasons why Joker wouldn't have been able to do so, his argument mainly falls on the lines that Bruce understands the game that Joker is playing. He stresses to them that Joker just wants them to think he was in the Cave to drive a wedge between all of them, provoking exactly this fight. Joker has succeeded in getting them to doubt Bruce and the tension of this arc is clearly going to be whether or not Bruce is right in his assertion that Joker doesn't actually know.
2) But, before we get to the question of their identities, I want to address something that has been bothering me about this arc so far, namely, the infallibility of Joker. The argument over the card seems to imply that Joker stuck that card there specifically to raise this fight years later. After all, why would Joker mention it to Dick et. al last issue if he didn't know exactly the fight that it would produce? He wanted them to question whether he had been in the Batcave or not. Now, he might have originally done it just to get Bruce to question that, so he's now simply using that prank, if you will, for another purpose years later. But, still, his confidence that mentioning the card would provoke exactly the fight that it does raises the possibility that Joker has been planning this event across his entire relationship with Batman, an assertion that really stretches my ability to suspend my disbelief. How would Joker know that Bruce would one day be surrounded by Dick, Barbara, Jason, Tim, and Damian? But, before I dismiss that scenario too easily, DC hasn't exactly not done its homework on this front. After all, we were led to believe in "Red Hood and the Outlaws" #0 that Joker pulled the strings to turn Jason into Robin. What if Snyder is saying that he created the entire Bat-family, if only to strip it from Batman later? Even if Snyder isn't going that far, it seems difficult to believe the level of coordination that we're already being asked to buy. The card simply seems to push us even farther down that road.
3) Returning to the issue of the identities of the Bat-family, it seems somewhat odd to me that Snyder is having this entire battle with Joker turn on the issue of whether he knows their identities or not. I've never been particularly interested in that question in "Batman," because it was always a moot point. Even if Joker knew, he was never going to undermine Batman by using it against him, because it wasn't going to be fun. I mean, of every superhero, Batman has always had one of the flimsiest secret identities as a result of the presence of Robin at his side. After all, if Tim Drake guessed his identity from the transition of Dick to Jason and then the death of Jason, it stands to reason that Joker, with his obsession with Batman, could do so as well. (Of course, in the DCnU, Tim didn't guess his identity, as we learned in "Teen Titans" #0. I guess the #0s are one for two here, either way.) It just seems like he would have to know. In fact, I'm going to be more surprised in this arc if it's revealed that Joker doesn't know then I would be if he did know. In fact, if it's revealed that he doesn't know, I'm just not sure I'll buy it.
4) Speaking of obsession, I'm not sure where to go with this love theme. "Catwoman" #14 also played with this idea, with Selena feeling like Joker came after her as a rival for Bats' affection. I'm going to reserve judgment to see where we go with it, but I'm worried. Let's just say that I'm worried.
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