Batman #13

Hey everyone, JT here with the return of the freaking Joker. So screw all this intro crap, Joker's been gone for a year, he's back, let's get to it!

 Batman #13

Summary: We pick things up in Gotham with Commissioner Jim Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock discussing the weird things that have been happening in Gotham, like three days straight of rain, and a lion cub being born with two heads at the Gotham Zoo. He says they're omens and when something happens people are gonna say they should've expected it from the omens. As they talk, we see a "Forget Me Not" catering van arriving in Gotham and right outside of the GCPD. Inside the building, Gordon is talking to his officers when the power goes out. The generator's kick in as Gordan see's The Joker in the doorway. The lights go out again as Joker taunts Gordon with jokes while murdering officers one by one, snapping their necks in the darkness. Joker eventually says that Gordon is looking well, as is Barbara. Gordon yells at him not to say her name, but Joker says Gordon is always hiding things, like the pack of smokes he hides under his mattress, and Joker says he's seen it, since he sometimes lies under Gordon's bed at night, and sometimes he wants to reach up and... Joker laughs as a startled Gordon shoots. The lights come back on and Batman is standing next to Jim, who is literally circled with the corpses of dead Police Officers. Batman asks Gordon what Joker did, and he says Joker told a joke, as he checks the evidence room and see's that Joker has stolen his face back. Next we see Bruce in the bat cave, studying The Joker, looking for clues about where he may be. While Bruce and Alfred discuss Joker, Damian basically calls Joker a pushover, to which Bruce tells him that couldn't be farther from the truth, and not to underestimate the Clown Prince of Crime. Eventually Nightwing, Red Robin and Batgirl all contact Bruce to confirm that The Joker is back when a news-feed seemingly shows The Joker making an announcement live on television. He says that he's been away but now he's back, but you can see the Joker is actually behind a man whose face is painted like The Joker's. He makes the statement that Mayor Hady will die at midnight, and after using his body double to make this announcement, Joker shoots him point blank in the head. Turns out Joker's body double was the son of the first man he killed in Gotham (to Batman's knowledge) and Joker killed his dad the same way Joker said he'd kill the Mayor, as Joker seems to be repeating his first kill for some reason. The original first kill was poisoned with Joker Toxin, so Batman and Gordon run numerous blood tests while protecting him with other officers as Batman works in the shadows. Eventually, Batman realized Joker wasn't going to kill Mayor Hady, he'd actually poisoned all of the police officers with Joker Toxin, causing them to die, but instead of having the trademark smiles, they had frowns. Batman takes a sample of the Toxin and sends it to Alfred, who notes it's the same except now Joker's added Asprin, Chlorine and Ethanol, which Batman puts together as A.C.E., the ACE Chemical plant where Joker and Batman first started their historic rivalry. Joker is waiting for Bats when he shows up, wearing his Red Hood attire and telling Bats that this is why he left, because he needed the Real Batman. Bats says that this Red Hood isn't Joker, and asks where he is. Batman runs at the Red Hood and is suddenly hit by a huge mallet which knocks him into an empty chemical vat. The doors seal on the vat and it starts to fill up with the chemicals that Joker fell into. The Red Hood removes their helmet to reveal that it's actually Harley Quinn! Joker's voice was coming from a recording in the helmet, and Batman yells that he knows Harley is up there. Harley says Joker's not the same, he's no longer her Mr. J and his plan is too much, even for him. Batman yells at her to tell him where Joker is, as we cut over to Wayne Manor to see Alfred opening the door. As Alfred opens the door, he see's the two-headed lion cub and Joker is suddenly behind Alfred, raising a hammer and saying "Now, Mr. Pennyworth, stop me if you've heard this one!" and maniacally laughing as this issue ends.


Thoughts: Holy...shit. Okay... I doubted Snyder a bit after the Court of Owls ending. I doubted his Harper row issue. But this... this was amazing. His Joker was fantastically written, he was close enough to Joker that he seemed like the same character but so sadistic that he seemed new and even more ruthless. The stuff about being under Gordon's bed, and knowing something only Gordon would know about what's under his bed was creepy as shit because that means it HAD to be true. While Gordon slept... The Joker sat under his bed with a creepy smile on his face, and that's got to be scary as hell. This is a Joker who knows who Batman is, and instead of just going after Bats and leaving Bruce be as he always does, he's going after everyone, including ALFRED. This storyline had a ton of potential and if Snyder can keep this up, this is definitely going to be an arc we all talk about for many year, much like Year One, Hush, Knightfall and etc. There's also a creepy back-up story where we see Joker returning to Harley, threatening to remove her face and describing it in gruesome detail, as well and how he got her on board for his plan that was great too. It looks like we're in for a treat with The Joker's return, and I'm not sure if anyone is really safe...

Score: 10/10 

The Joker: But just because he's the Mayor, don't think he may-or-may-not die. He's dead as a baby bird smashed with a crowbar! (This was an excellent hint at what would happen in hindsight...)