SPOILER ALERT: Batman #40 (DC)

writer: Scott Snyder

artist: Greg Capullo

Wait, I'm not the only one to notice this, am I?  I mean, it's kind of obvious, right?  But I haven't seen any references to it, in my admittedly casual trips through the Internets since last Wednesday.  I haven't done a search, so maybe I'm not.

But still.  You'd think it wouldn't be that hard.

Well, here it goes (and here we once again mark SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't read it and/or have but didn't catch this panel, which on its own doesn't actually spoil anything, but still amply illustrates what I'm about to talk about):

Batman survived.

And by the way, I noted elsewhere how this issue was the break-all point for me.  If Scott Snyder hadn't stuck the landing, I would have finally and truly and with all other concluding statements given up on his Batman.

But he does nail it.  He absolutely nails it.  This one issue justifies all the years of hype and accolades Snyder has enjoyed.  "Court of Owls," "Death of the Family," "Zero Year"...they all mean absolutely nothing without this moment.

It's Snyder finally reaching a culmination point that means something, his statement on what Batman and the Joker's relationship really means.  Granted, it's not what I thought he'd do, after the conclusion to "Death of the Family" (I thought Snyder was going to say: hey, guess what, they're brothers!!!) (which would still be awesome, by the way), but after all the years of psychotic villainy that went deeper than anyone else could ever go, the Joker got his comeuppance.  And Batman seemed to have cashed in all his chips to achieve this moment.

And it absolutely did build on everything else Snyder has done over the years, as I'd hoped "Endgame" would but sometimes seemed as if it didn't (all the way back to the Detective Comics days, even, when Snyder brought back the crowbar that murdered Jason Todd) (besides, you know, the explosion).

But Batman didn't die.  Much like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Snyder decided this was a perfect way for Batman to retire.  Bruce Wayne literally walks away.

Permanently?  Nothing's permanent in comics.

But perhaps the all-the-more-interesting thing about that panel is the presence of Damian.  Is this the first time Snyder acknowledges his return (which occurred in the pages of Pete Tomasi's Batman and Robin)?  Perfect timing.

Bravo, Mr. Snyder.