Bam Smack Pow
Fansided

Batman #39 Review: What Desperate Times Call For

By Nick Tylwalk

facebooktwitterreddit

We’ve seen villains beat and even break Batman in the past. What we’ve never seen is anyone manage to get him to abandon hope and give up, but in “Endgame,” the Joker is getting close.

More from Reviews

Batman #39 shows us that even without a plan, the Dark Knight can never be counted out. Even though he might not want his greatest worry confirmed — that the Joker is some kind of immortal horror, one who happens to be carrying the only substance that can free Gotham City from the grip of madness inside his body — it’s not going to stop him from looking for answers, or even simply confirmation.

As Batman’s search leads him to places he’d rather not go, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo remind us of how awesome the supporting cast is. Alfred gets a heroic moment (albeit followed by some shocking horror), the extended Bat-family comes together, and Batman even gets some help from some truly unexpected places. Bruce makes a choice he’d rather not, but it’s not one that compromises his principles.

The Joker, who almost seems to be deteriorating right before our eyes thanks to Capullo’s pencils, goads Batman to a final confrontation while backed by some props that call to mind a famous scene from the first Tim Burton Batman film. This issue is a tight, gripping continuation of the overall arc, and if the conclusion turns out to be a dud, that would be one of the biggest surprises I’ve ever had reading super hero comics.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

Shockingly, the Court of Owls proves to be unhelpful. On his way out, Batman tangles with old school Talon Uriah Boone, demanding to know if the Joker was around 400 years ago. We never hear his answer.

Batman also gets some bad news from Julia Pennyworth about Alfred, who ended up tangling with the Joker in the Batcave. While he manages to score a partial hit with a shotgun blast, Alfred ends up getting his right hand chopped off when the Joker ambushes him from the shadows.

Julia manages to stash Alfred away someplace safe, but the Joker has already moved on to staging a parade with some items from the Batcave, including the T-Rex, the giant penny and the big Joker playing card. Using some code words, he dares Batman to come and get the Dionesium needed to synthesize a cure to the Joker plague from his spine.

That’s going to be difficult with a big portion of the city against the Dark Knight, and even Batgirl, Bluebird, Red Hood and Red Robin are skeptical. As Batman explains, that’s not the whole plan. He’s gathered some of his fiercest foes — Penguin, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Bane, Mr. Freeze, Clayface and Poison Ivy — selling them on the idea that Gotham City belongs to all of them, and that if they don’t take it back from the Joker now, it’s over forever for all of them.

Who’s in? It looks like they all are, but the Joker says he has one final trick that is his best one of all …

Favorite Moment: When Batman asks about Alfred, Julia reveals that he’s stable, but she had to slam the doors on him. Turns out that even after getting his hand severed, he was crawling back into the armory looking for another weapon to attack the Joker. Unreal.

Final Thought: It’s pretty rare that an arc reads equally well on a monthly basis and a collected story, and while we’ll obviously need to wait until “Endgame” is over to know for sure, it feels like that will be the case. We’ve come pretty far from the Jokerized Justice League of Part 1 and the zombie movie terror of the middle chapters, but it’s not slowing down, and this chapter kept up the quality.

Next: Previously ... our review of Batman #38

More from Bam Smack Pow

Home/Reviews