Reading Comics 147 "Batman"

via Caped Crusades

It's a pretty good time to be reading Batman.

I'm reading Scott Snyder's Batman regularly for the first time ever, two issues and counting.  "Endgame" turned out to be the return of the Joker.  And it looks like Snyder is about the start knocking down his dominoes, which is what I've been waiting for, and it looks like it'll be quite interesting.

"Death of the Family" was a little underwhelming for me in that it was basically Joker stating how he and Batman were opposites that couldn't help attract.  And?  And, well, this.  Snyder's big statement on how far down the rabbit hole goes, an expansive look that other creators have shied away from, has been reflected nicely in Batman #37 and 38, the latter of which explains the mystery of the Joker's apparent new supernatural nature, and sets up Batman's visit to the Court of Owls for further answers.  The Owls concept was another one I thought Snyder hadn't fully presented other than as a signature arc.  In his original Detective Comics run, Snyder promised to be a writer who could connect the dots.

And that's what's happening.

Pete Tomasi and Pat Gleason, meanwhile, connected their dots, in the recently concluded "Robin Rises" arc, and Batman and Robin #38 is a deliberate step back from the heavily serialized approach the series has featured for the past year.  It breaks from Bruce Wayne's steel focus and allows the reader to see Damian, in his new context, the way we would have observed him from before his death.  And it's important to note how the early issues of the series now take on new relevance, because the focus was originally on Damian, and then by necessity switched to Batman, and now it's back.  Because Damian is on a quest of his own, which isn't necessarily how readers might have predicted it to go, based on recent proceedings.

But that's exactly how it should be.  And suddenly we see how the story indeed continues.

That makes at least two Batman titles that are hitting their stride years into the New 52, with dedicated creators who have been remarkably patient, taking their stories in directions readers might have expected, but not as they have turned out.  

That's truly remarkable.