Morning light breaks over the great old city and they’re all out there; clawing at the doors, peering through the windows, begging to get in to satisfy their insatiable need. They’re all calling his name:
BATMAN!
No, it’s not the blood-thirsty, Jokerized victims of Gotham City I’m referring to, but the Bat-Crazed fans who can’t get enough of artist, Greg Capullo, and writer, Scott Snyder’s modern legends of the Dark Knight.
But how did we get here? As Batman puts it in issue 38 of Snyder’s New 52 run, “let’s talk history.”
Along with Batman, we fought our way through a hellish labyrinth set to instill paranoia and despair (Batman Vol. 1 THE COURT OF OWLS and Vol. 2 THE CITY OF OWLS). The, we faced off against our inner-most fears while a long-kept secret, finally revealed, tore the bonds of family apart (Batman Vol. 3 DEATH OF THE FAMILY). We battled for the soul of a darkened city within the grip of hopelessness and riddled with puzzles (Batman Vol. 4 ZERO YEAR – SECRET CITY and Vol. 5 ZERO YEAR – DARK CITY).
Through Batman’s eyes we’ve done all this, but the fight is still far from over. Bad news for Batman; great news for us.
“Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” Those words once delivered by Jack Nicholson’s Joker 26 years ago would coincidently be a fitting title to the Joker’s goodbye that takes its form in the ENDGAME story arc.
Scott Snyder has often-times compared his Joker to the devil himself. He’s the kind of devil that thrives off our misery as a mirror to the worst in us. He’s the kind of demon that whispers what we fear most into our ears – what we’re afraid to have exposed, to lose, or even to gain through means unforgivable.
It’s been said many times that the Joker is Batman’s mirror. And as Bruce gazes into that mirror, he is forced to come to grips with something he has always feared: uncertainty. Batman has uncertainty over who the Joker truly is and, more importantly, what Batman might have to do to ultimately bring the Clown Prince of Crime down.
Ironically, uncertainty is also what we, the die-hard readers of Batman, face as Snyder and Capullo near their contractual end with DC Comics on. There’s a sense of anxiety knowing that not only may Batman or the Joker be coming to their end, but the creative team may be as well.
It remains uncertain whether Capullo and Snyder will stay on the title beyond issue 50, but I assume that I can speak for everyone (or at least the thousands of us who fought alongside Batman for the last four years) when I say thank you for continuing to inspire us. Thank you for putting Batman through hell for the last four years. It has reminded and reinforced why we love the character as much we all do. We wish you success on whichever road you decide to take. We can only hope you allow your hearts to guide you on that road. We can only hope your hearts lead you back to Gotham.
