Clown Illustrations: Batman #15 Review

I’ve read through Batman #15 about four times so far, even though it is a middle part of a long crossover, meaning that even though there is some decent action and some forward plot motion here, there isn’t a hell of a lot in the way of real epiphany or resolution here. Sure, we learn the origin of that giant Joker card that Bruce keeps in the Batcave (and, based on that origin, that there is either a custom printer somewhere in Gotham who once hung up the phone and told his assistant, “Yup: Bruce Wayne is Batman. Or maybe The Joker. Either way, make sure the check clears before you start work,” or that Bruce is much arts-and-craftsier than I would have originally anticipated), and we discover how it’s at least possible that Joker knows the identities of the Batman Family, but it’s not like there are any big, sweeping moments that would normally keep someone reading and re-reading an individual issue of a comic book.

Instead, I found myself going over and over the book, wondering about what was actually going on in the heads of Batman and The Joker. We have Joker running around, attacking the people closest to Batman and his allies, claiming that he’s doing it to make Batman his best… but why? A razor-sharp Batman would make life infinitely more difficult for Joker, so what’s his motivation? And then there’s Batman, keeping at least one significant secret from Robin, Nightwing, et al, and trying to keep them away from the battle – despite the fact that at least Batgirl and Red Hood have, shall we say, intensely personal reasons for wanting to take Joker head-on – and apparently willfully ignoring some evidence that Joker might have the upper hand on him, all while implying that he thinks Joker is trying to prove a point… but why? And what point?

I kept rereading the issue trying to figure out what it is about each of these characters that is making the other act in ways that really don’t seem to be in their own best interests… and then I realized that, despite decades of reading stories about these two guys, that I’ve never really given that question a whole hell of a lot of thought beyond the obvious: “Joker is insane and kills a lot of people despite Batman constantly trying to stop him.” Which is fine as a plot engine, and one that has driven one hell of a lot of damn good comic books and movies over the years, but almost none of those stories ever made me think any more deeply about each character’s real motivations beyond that bullet point.

However, Batman #15, despite being a middle chapter, made me ask those questions. Which helped hammer home that Death of The Family is shaping up to be one pretty special Batman story.

Like I said before, there’s not a lot that actually happens in this issue: Joker escapes Batman on a bridge while vowing that the Batman family will die in three days – by Batman’s hand. Batman returns to the cave and is confronted by his entire coterie, leading to Batman revealing that there is evidence that Joker might have once been in the Batcave, meaning that there is a chance that Joker knows who Batman, and therefore everyone, actually is. Batman denies the possibility despite the evidence, leading to some unrest amongst the troops. Batman then follows the evidence and discovers that Joker has been planning something to occur at Arkham Asylum, leading Batman to, well, go there. Fin.

Even in the backup story written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, we don’t get a hell of a lot more detail. It’s a backstory, set in Arkham, with Joker busily intimidating guards into putting his master plan into action, and playing cat and mouse with Riddler, trying to recruit Riddler by implying he is the one member of Batman’s Rogues Gallery who is clever enough to “keep [Batman’s] mind… his most terrible weapon… good and sharp.” It’s an interesting little story that, frankly, tells us more about Riddler than it does about Death of The Family, and doesn’t do anything to move the main story too far forward.

So there’s not a lot of plot advancement really going on here, but what worked were the things that were unsaid, or merely implied. Snyder’s main story opens and closes with comments on how emotion affects the human eye, and implies that Joker feels (and Batman knows he feels) affection for Batman. Snyder plants an implication that Joker’s earliest crimes were actually an attempt to draw Batman out, and in the backup story, he has Joker recruiting Riddler because he forces Batman to be better. So the question I kept asking was: why would Joker feel that way? What’s the motivation? Which is a damn interesting question (and one I have some theories about), and which, frankly, is far more interesting that your standard death traps ‘n bodies Joker story.

Same questions apply to Batman: if he thinks Joker has some kind of point he’s trying to make, what’s the point? Why is Batman so committed to keeping the Batman family out of things, beyond the obvious (there’s a reason Joker always called the kid “Robin, The Boy Hostage”), to the point where Batman is willing to keep secrets from them that could actually serve to endanger them more? What the hell is Batman thinking?

And sure, none of these questions lead to explosions and cool Bat toys going off, but they mean that this is a story that is, first and foremost, about character. There is apparently something unseen and not yet obvious driving these two guys this time around, and it makes the story extremely compelling. Because let’s face it: Joker versus Batman with members of Batman’s entourage getting caught in the crossfire isn’t anything new. I have first-print issues of Joker shooting Batgirl in the spine and murdering Robin with a crowbar. But that question of why, for both of these characters, makes this one feel like something special.

Greg Capullo’s art continues to be a solid, moody match to Batman; his action is dynamic, his figures and backgrounds detailed, and is faces expressive. There’s one panel that really stands out: Bruce is in costume but unmasked, and yet Capullo shows him in a cast shadow that mimics the line of Batman’s mask, and yet shows us the fear on Bruce’s face, that visually demonstrates the character’s mental state as well as Snyder’s script does. With that said, there was one storytelling quibble: at one point early on, we see Batman rush Joker with his bare hands, and I needed to flip back and forth for a page to figure out that Batman took off his gloves to escape the trap that he was in. Yet we don’t see that happen; in one panel he has the gloves, in the next he simply doesn’t, so I had to stop and figure out what happened. It’s a small moment, but storytelling gaffes like this really bother me, and make it easy to pop out of a story.

This is a weird book to review, because for me it was more about what wasn’t there than what was. This book lived for me based on what Batman and Joker weren’t telling us. There is some motivation driving each of these guys bubbling just below the surface, and Snyder does a hell of a job keeping me interested in finding out what they are. This is a good comic, folks.