The Big Event: Death Of The Family

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!

So we finally (sort of) got to the end of the epic Batman: Death of The Family story arc last week, and it has indeed been quite a ride. Scott Snyder and his fellow bat-family writers had a pretty major task on their hands, and although it had its little hiccups her and there, this story has been one of the best Batman arcs I have read for a long time. It has completely changed the bat-family, which hopefully means the aftermath will result in some interesting reading too.

The story is too big to write full spoilers for, so this is it in a nutshell. Death of The Family is so wonderful that I chose not to include the little intricacies. I sincerely recommend you read it yourself.

BEGINNING OF SPOILERS!!! The Joker returns to Gotham a year after having his face deliberately cut off. He kills some cops, gets his face back from the GCPD, reattaches it with hooks and straps, and goes on a rampage, targeting the Bat-family one by one, and also as a whole. Apparently he knows their real identities, and he's going to make the Family implode on itself because he thinks they make Batman weak, and it's ruining his 'game'. He kidnaps Alfred, and to save time let's just say he basically manages to get the upper hand on each and every member of the bat-family, but only after SERIOUSLY screwing with all of them. Batman awakens, tied up in a cave under Wayne Manor. The rest of the Family are bound and gagged, but obviously they all escape and Batman goes after Joker. Bats says he's been doing his homework, and he finally knows who Joker really is, but before he gets to tell him, Joker freaks out about it and ends up falling down a shaft, and disappearing. It ends up with Bruce calling a meeting, but the Family all cancel on him, and apparently go their separate ways. Bruce is naturally curious, and wants to know what Joker said to them all while he was unconscious, but Dick just tells him "It doesn't matter. See you around, Bruce". Oh by the way, Alfred ended up fine, and Joker doesn't know Bruce Wayne is Batman. END OF SPOILERS!!!

So no-one died. But we were never promised that anyone would. This is  Death Of The Family, and having read Batman #17, that is exactly what appears to have happened. Joker has gotten into the heads of Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Robin, and Red Hood, and whatever he said has them avoiding Bruce, and probably each other.

So was this all worth it? In my opinion, yes. Okay so the Catwoman and Suicide Squad tie-ins could have been so much better, or even left out altogether. There is also the whole 'how the hell did Joker find the time to do all this?' question, but for me, the big part of this story that is being overlooked is that Bruce says he finally knows who the Joker is! If this is true, then based on Joker's reaction (and assuming he's still alive), Bruce now has a very interesting ace up his sleeve.

Snyder and Co. have delivered a genuinely interesting, well written epic, that leaves so much room for development between every character involved that you can't help but be excited about where things go from here.