Review: Batman Vol. 7- Endgame

Quick Summary

Pros: The entire storyline is great and maintains interest from beginning to end. The message and meaning behind the work is well crafted and powerful. The book’s conclusion is great. Everything in this collection looks beautiful.

Cons: One of the Joker’s plotlines is somewhat bizarre.

Overall: The Joker is back in a bold new way. This comic takes the Joker’s last appearance and turns it on its head, turning a dark jester into a being focused only on revenge. This creates a story steeped in complex themes and intense encounters. The entire story is a thrill ride that leads to a conclusion with twists and turns that no reader will expect, but everyone will remember. If you like Batman or the Joker, then this is the book for you.

Story

In what could almost be considered a direct sequel to Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review), Scott Snyder brings back the Joker and thrusts him in a climactic final battle against the Dark Knight. Batman Vol. 7: Endgame takes all of the themes from its predecessor and twists them, enhancing the story with literary parallelism while also developing new themes all on its own. In this way, the volume becomes a fantastic comic book, and we haven’t even mentioned the jaw-dropping fight scenes yet.

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Endgame starts with one of my favorite opening sequences from any Batman arc. Bruce Wayne is having a nice moment with Alfred, even laughing at one point in time, when the Justice League attacks. What follows is a chaotic, yet surprisingly well thought out battle as Batman takes down each member of the League. Even fans who criticize Batman for being too overpowered cannot deny how well explained and planned the entire sequence is; it allows Batman to triumph while never undercutting the power of each member of the League. In addition, all of this works to establish the “friend turned foe” theme that the comic builds upon later and explains why the Justice League doesn’t just swoop in and fix everything. Put simply, this is how you start a comic arc.

With the Justice League dealt with, we learn that the book’s true villain is the Joker. Angry at Batman after Death of the Family (Review), he has returned for his endgame and promises to make it hurt. This is where the parallelism between these two book’s starts. While Death of the Family was a twisted expression of Joker’s love for Batman, Endgame is the final expression of Joker’s disappointment. Passages and pages in both books mirror each other in obvious and subtle ways throughout both. This is a great way to quickly identify and build themes while also making both works have more meaning than before.

It also helps that the actual story here is fantastic as well. Joker infects all of Gotham with a mutated version of his toxin and sends Batman on a wild goose chase to find the cure. He nearly beats the Dark Knight but is thwarted when the rest of the Bat-family shows up, meaning the “Batman” Joker defeated was actually Dick Grayson. It is a great moment and another throwback to Death of the Family; Joker “killed” the Bat-family there but inadvertently brings it back here.

The only lackluster portion of this part of the story is Joker’s attempt to convince Batman that he is some sort of immortal being. The reason this is incorporated is to tease Batman and readers with the implication that Batman could be more than human too. However, the entire concept is so unbelievable that most comic fans will instantly reject the notion upon learning about it. It still works with the book’s themes but was somewhat odd to read about.

Finally, the end to Endgame comes around and delivers a few more sucker punches. Batman and Joker have a brutal battle beneath Gotham, where Batman is extracting the regenerative substance that has given Joker his recent abilities. Here Batman rejects Joker’s offers of immortality and notions that nothing matters. He asserts that life does have meaning and he gives it meaning by being a person rather than a god. With this in mind and the antidote to Joker’s toxin on the way to the surface, the two collapse and seemingly die from a cave in. Though most readers know that there is no way Batman could actually die here, it is a great way to conclude this book and a fitting end to this saga.

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Art

Greg Capullo is clearly at the top of his game here. Together with inks from Danny Miki, Capullo creates a book that is, quite possibly, the best in this series so far. Locations look sharp, layouts are impressive, the entire design is imaginative, and the characters have never looked better. Capullo manages to make the tender moments in this book bright and lighthearted while also making the darker moments brutal and violent. It goes without saying that this creative team clearly does good work, but I’m going to say it here again anyways, this is a fantastic looking comic.

FCO Plascencia’s contributions also should not be understated as the work he does as colorist has a huge impact on the book’s visual style. Plascencia’s colors jump radically as he takes the dark grays and blacks that paint the dreary Gotham cityscape and directly contrasts them with stunning flashes of color. Whether it’s the Justice League’s costumes or Joker’s mad designs, these flashes of color give the book life and enrapture reader interest on nearly every page. Plascencia provides the icing on an already delicious cake.

Continuity

Batman Vol. 7: Endgame is directly preceded by events at the conclusion of Batman Vol. 6: Graveyard Shift (Review). However, the story as a whole could be considered a direct sequel to Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review). In addition, the story references numerous events which happened earlier in this current Batman run.

The story here continues in Batman Vol. 8: Superheavy (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• There are a few changes to Batman’s typical status quo that are explained by the Batman Eternal (Review) series. These include Alfred’s current sickness and Julia’s appearance.
• Dick Grayson’s current position outside of Gotham is explained by Grayson Vol. 1: Agents of Spyral (Review).