Scott Snyder brings an ambitious story to a close with some terrific moments combined with Greg Capullo's mighty pencils, though this issue opens with some stuttering steps. His take on the classic Batman/Joker dynamic has been a refreshing change especially with the no-holds-barred steps he takes.
I’ve seen a lot of back and forth across the net about how
to interpret the scenes. And that’s the beauty of the story – your opinion is
valid. And yours. And yours.
When Snyder set out to write the New 52 Batman, he went
about deconstructing Bruce and his legacy and then building him back up. Have
there been missteps? Yes, but compared to the resounding success of the overall
arcs, those are negligible.
SPOILERS FOLLOW………………
This is gonna be long. Brace for it…..
Bruce muses on his first meeting with the Joker – the
unknown head of the Red Hood Gang. One of the major things Snyder changed in
the Batman mythology was that instead of being a terrified hostage turned
victim, the Joker here has always had a little crazy in him – but we still
don’t know who he was beyond that Red Hood Leader persona.
Each nostalgic moment brings about more superstitious
musings. Was it destined to be like this? The first person who tried to kill
Bruce would be the person he’ll have to associate himself with for an entire
career fighting evil, a personification of the very chaos that stole his
parents.
We then go back to the present. As Batman and his
Bat-family, alongside the Rogues, fight to reach the Joker and stop his
massacre, we see him extract one skeleton from the large bobble-head like
figures – which I actually suspect may be Martha Wayne.
It’s gruesome, invasive and disrespectful – and totally what
Joker is going for here.
There’s an interesting sequence where Poison Ivy, Batman and
Bane combine to get the Bat to Joker. Batman manages to avoid the chainsaw and
attempts to remove the dionesium in Joker’s backbone that holds the antidote to
the toxin spreading across the city.
But one final joke – the Joker has tainted his own body,
leaving the dionesium unusable. And finally he taunts Bruce that there’s
another source left, hidden away but something he’s never reach – because he
wasn’t the Batman the Joker and Gotham needed.
Joke’s though on him, as removing the mask, we see its Dick
Grayson.
Even as Bruce goes deeper into the caverns following the
Court’s maps with Julia on top running interference so that the Joker cannot
blow up the caves, he regrets leaving them at the Joker’s mercy – knowing fully
well that this was a journey only he could undertake, alongwith the very device
that played a pivotal part in him putting on the mask.
There’s hesitation and uncertainty in his voice and
thoughts, but he manages to reach the dionesium pool. Julia remotely matches it
to Dekker’s formula, but before Bruce can get out, he’s confronted by the
explosives going on and a rampaging Joker.
This is Greg Capullo at his chaotic best. The fight is as
visceral as can get, with Joker slashing Bruce’s back after stabbing his
shoulders with two knives to create a smile. This is followed by Joker setting
Bruce’s face on fire, and Bruce chopping off half of the Joker’s face. It
doesn’t end, as Joker throws his cards into Bruce’s face, robbing him of an eye
and Bruce gores him with his mask’s ears.
In between, Synder lets both get some words in. Bruce taunts
Joker that his batarangs have been coated with a blocking mechanism that unless
Joker really was immortal, would render the healing dionesium in his body
inert. While Joker continues to reassert that he is immortal and that Bruce
should just give up and stop a hopeless crusade.
As Joker prepares to stab Bruce through his heart, being
unmindful of his surroundings leads him to get stabbed in the back by a falling
stalagmite – leaving his back broken.
And this brings about an unnatural turnaround, as Bruce
becomes the one taunting the Joker – who grows in fear after seeing the
dionesium pool caved in by the falling ceiling.
As Julia refuses extracts the eye from the cave containing the
dionesium sample, Bruce asks for forgiveness for not believing the Joker’s
words – for not letting go of his ego, for finally trusting others to carry on
his work. Joker has no victory here. The deadly gas he released at the parade –
Bruce already had an antidote for that.
Joker may have broken Bruce, but he couldn’t break Batman.
Cause Batman is bigger than just a boy trying to find sense after witnessing
death firsthand. Batman is Dick, Barbara, Jim Gordon, Alfred and everyone who’s
fought for Gotham’s sake so that it can see a
brighter future.
Even as the falling debris covers Bruce and Joker from our
sight, he tells Julia to take the eye up – while he rests with his friend.
Back home, Julia
watches hundreds of Bat-signals in the sky as a mark of respect for Bruce, but
Alfred cannot let go and refuses to sew his hand (Joker cut it off previously) back
on. After reading a letter Bruce left, Alfred muses on why might have gone
through Bruce’s head as he fought the Joker to the death.
The story of Batman is rooted in tragedy, a personal tragedy
– but over the years it became much more. Instead of revenge and rage, the
Batman legacy has been molded by the people who followed and helped Bruce –
starting from the GCPD to Damian Wayne. Bruce Wayne is Batman, but Batman isn’t
Bruce Wayne.
It is everyone who’s fought in his name, who’s been inspired
by him, who’s helped him – and that is something someone as small as the Joker
could never destroy.
Bruce Wayne is a mortal. He’s flesh and blood. But an idea
can outlive him – and how and when Bruce dies matters little. So, Joker’s
taunting of immortality falls flat on its face. Individual immortality is
trivial – Bruce never cared for it, never wanted it.
So, it’s fitting that Bruce uses Joker’s signature laugh as
his final word. The joke is on everyone who thinks Batman starts and ends with
one man. Something everyone who’s tried to kill Bruce has been missing.
That’s the joke. Ha.
SPOILERS END………………….
Batman:Endgame was an attempt to bring a close to one of the biggest rivalry in superhero mythos, and start something new. He can justifiably say he did it successfully. Only time will tell whether the fallout will be worth it.
So, I give it 8.5 out of 10.
+Some great visual displays by Capullo
+The climatic battle
+An intriguing ending
+Great exploration of themes
-Stuttering start to the issue
-Several characters are severely underused
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