Batman #35 Review: Beginning Of The Endgame

What is “Endgame,” besides the latest Batman arc? Scott Snyder already promised that it wouldn’t be longer than “Zero Year” (which would be impossible, but still), but it could still be a bigger story. And it starts off that way, with Batman forced to fend off his teammates from the Justice League.

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We’ve seen the super prepared Dark Knight before. So many times, actually, that it’s kind of become its own trope. Yet Snyder manages to put a different twist on this showdown, both because the setup for this first chapter makes it not 100 percent clear what’s real and what might be in someone’s head, and because Bruce Wayne and us readers figure out around the same time that the Justice Leaguers aren’t in their right minds.

Who’s behind this attack? It’s pretty rare that a reveal is both awesome and obvious at the same time, but that turns out to be the case here. There’s also a brief scene of the post-Batman Eternal status quo for Bruce and Alfred, but it’s still hard to place this within everything else going on in other DC Comics. Shouldn’t Lex Luthor be in this JL team? Best not to worry about details like that, I suppose.

This is the first time I’ve seen Greg Capullo draw the other Leaguers, and he does a pretty great job with all of them. Diana looks both regal and powerful, Flash has the thinner build you’d expect from someone who runs all the time, and Superman doesn’t disappoint.

We’ll have to keep reading to see why this arc has the name it does — especially since it doesn’t appear to be the end of the line for the Snyder/Capullo partnership — but at least we know it won’t take us as long to get through it as “Zero Year.” Snyder promised.

We can talk about that reveal too, but first, please acknowledge …

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

Batman has used a gas bomb to clear the streets of Gotham City, and he challenges an unseen foe to take him on in a cool-looking armored battlesuit. Is it a vision caused by Scarecrow’s new and improved fear toxin? It could be, since he’s been struggling to get over it.

Still, there’s time for some laughs (remember that theme) with Alfred and Julia as Bruce talks about his plans now that he’s using the old Wayne Tower as a base. Watch for the Bat-Monorail, trademark pending.

Unfortunately, this happy moment comes to an abrupt end when Wonder Woman smashes through the window, and even though Batman makes it to the aforementioned battlesuit, he still gets gutted by Diana. Except not really, because it’s all in her head thanks to a reverse magic lasso of sorts. Keen.

Bruce has countermeasures ready for Aquaman and Flash, but Superman proves a little more difficult, as he should. Who’s pulling the strings? It’s actually kind of funny … Uh-oh.

Speaking of the Joker, there’s also a creepy backup story I’m not going to get into here, but it involves the Joker and has art by Kelley Jones. That alone makes it worth checking out.

Favorite moment: You’ve got to do a lot of prep work to deal with the Fastest Man Alive:

"I’ve put more money into this suit than about sixty percent of the world’s nations put into their respective militaries. And a good deal of that money went towards a protocol for one man …"

Final thought: I briefly considered that maybe this arc was called “Endgame” due to the price increase to $4.99, but that seems to meta to be true, and apparently isn’t happening for the rest of it now, so I’m leaning back toward an in-story reason.