Joker: Death of the Family

I recently started getting into comics, but since I can't read them at school (apparently they aren't mentally stimulating and they don't use "hard" words) so I have to read them on the weekends when I have tons of homework. I still fit time for this book though, because it's due tomorrow on Monday so I just had to read it. I never like to spoil things, so basically you'll have to bear with my brief telling of how I enjoyed the story, but hope you like it anyway. (Warning: I may spoil unintentionally, I'm only trying to give you the basic situation.)

(BTW, it's divided into many issues, but I was able to get a full copy with every issue. A lot of reading, but really good overall!)

Part One: Batman

In this part of the story, we see that with Joker's return radicals run rampant in the city trying to be like him. He is an inspiration to them and they want to do everything in honor of Joker.  One such group, the League of Smiles formed by Dr. Byron Meredith a.k.a Merrymaker is what this part mainly focuses on. (There isn't much Batman in this story actually, only in the first part and then towards the end.)

I like the back story of Dr. Meredith the most. It's very interesting, so that's what I can say about the first part. There's not much else to say (and if there is, sorry, I've just barely gotten interested in this as aforementioned above!)

Part Two: Catwoman

This part of the story focuses on Catwoman and Batman's relationship (or at least Joker tries to make it like that.) Catwoman says to Joker, ". . .You're the one in Love with Batman." So here, we start to see that Joker does have a bit of an infatuation with Batman, which makes him want to get rid of everyone else in Batman's life. Thus, Death of the Family.

The infatuation thing is the best thing about this section, not to mention how Joker plays mind games with Catwoman (and in fact, it's not just Catwoman, it's everyone in the story! He's a sick, sick man.)

Part Three: Harley Quinn

This mainly focuses on Harley, but also the Suicide Squad as a whole. Deadshot has died and Joker just storms in the funeral (just to mention, Harley looks beautiful in the dress she has on for the funeral). He tells her that he'll kill someone in the Suicide Squad if she doesn't do what he says. I love Harley Quinn. The whole reason I got into comics was her. I didn't exactly know at first who she was, then I looked her up. I found out things about her and I said to myself, "Wow, Lovely, this chick is awesome. Let's start liking Batman." Then I did like Batman, then I started reading other comics because I saw them and in the end, I was happy. It was weird, because I don't read much manga now, but I still love manga, so although my friends think that comics are worse than manga, they're still really cool too like.

The whole story is good here, plus I love that crazy relationship between Joker and Harley, it's great.

Also I love how Joker's peeled off face is mentioned in Suicide Squad Volume One as seen here:

Part Four: Batgirl

Really don't want to spoil this part, so I'll just say that you are really going to hope Batgirl succeeds in this part of the story.

You will want to hate or love Joker for everything he's done by the time you reach this part of the story.

Part Five: Red Hood And Red Robin

I liked this part of the story, but this was probably my least favorite part of the story (maybe because they mixed the Teen Titans in here, I dunno). :/ It was good and all, but it really just can't compare to the other parts of the story.

Towards the end though where the climax hits, it gets really good. You really get into it, wondering, "WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT?!"

Part Six: Nightwing

This is another good part in the story. Everyone's doubting Batman now. Even though each part is focused on one person at a time, you have a sort of feel for what everyone else in the past parts of the story are feeling, too.

This is a very small part of the story, but it makes a big impact as I mentioned above, you get a feel for what the other characters are feeling at the moment, too.

Part Seven: Robin

This is Damian Wayne Robin by the way. (Nightwing is Dick and Red Robin is Tim). One thing I must say, the way they drew Damian was adorable. I loved this chapter so much. Probably one of my favorites and mostly because of Damian's cuteness factor. Cuteness can help you quite a bit.

Past the cuteness, Damian's really tough and he cares for his father it's very obvious. I won't spoil this, if I say anything else I'll spoil. Let's just say Joker makes Damian go through hell.

Conclusion

In the conclusion we get back to Batman and we get back to all the other Bats. We find out what's happened to them and how the problem will be resolved.

Joker's last trick in the conclusion had me fooled until the trick was revealed and I found out the truth. It was a great ending to a great book.

Epilogue

In the epilogue we go through Alfred, Damian, and Bruce Wayne's dreams for the night. They're quite interesting and show that the affects of Joker will never leave them but they can still live happily.

(this is the ending of the conclusion, but the next page ends up being the epilogue and I couldn't find any pictures, so. . .Enjoy the hahnium!)

Overall rating: Four stars (only because I didn't really like the Red Hood And Red Robin part of the story, but hey, that's still a good score!)