Death of the Family

Scott Snyder Talks “Death of the Family” with THE WASHINGTON POST

BATMAN #14, by the New York Times bestselling creative team of writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, hit shelves earlier this week.

The issue made some major revelations about Gotham City’s Clown Prince of Crime and his ruthless plans to annihilate The Dark Knight’s allies.

“Everything that has happened to these characters in the past year is ammunition for the Joker,” said Snyder to THE WASHINGTON POST. “He’s been away for a year, so he’s been watching them all year long, and everything that they care about is something that he can burn to the ground.”

For more from Snyder about “Death of the Family” head on over to Comic Riffs and pick up BATMAN #15 December 12.

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Batman, Death of the Family, scott snyder, Greg Capullo, joker

Announcing Second Printings for BATMAN #13, BATGIRL #13 and CATWOMAN #13

Timed to New York Comic Con, The Joker made his harrowing and major return to Gotham City last week.

Kicking off the haunting, thrilling, deliciously twisted and soon-to-be classic “Death of The Family” crossover event, BATMAN #13 and BATGIRL #13 have been on shelves for less than a week and are already going back for a second printing. But that’s not all! Joining them is CATWOMAN #13 (first printing on sale tomorrow), another “Death of The Family” prelude that reintroduces the terror that is The Joker to readers of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52.

The second printing of BATMAN #13 will feature a previously unpublished cover by Aaron Kuder, the second printing of BATGIRL #13 will feature a previously unpublished cover by Ed Benes, and the second printing of CATWOMAN #13 will feature a previously unpublished cover by Andy Clarke. Check out all three covers below and be sure to pick up the second printings of all these titles when they land in stores on November 14!

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Batman, batgirl, catwoman, Death of the Family

DC Week-In-Review: October 12th

Yes, we’re currently in New York providing our informative, innovative and downright inspirational Con Away From Con coverage. Yet, busy as we are and as amazing as this convention has been (is that guy over there wearing a Vibe costume?), we couldn’t possibly let a week like this pass us by without reviewing it. Not when we have a major publishing event, a major TV show debut and a major comic book convention all hit in the exact same week. Heck, we need to review this bad boy just so we know it wasn’t all a dream. So, let’s recap, shall we?

Here’s what went down this week on the DC Comics website…

We started things off by offering up a few survival tips for those of you making the trip to Manhattan. First, we discussed the importance of planning ahead, then instructed all of you to take care when cosplaying, then reminded all of you to bring money. Because, no, we’re not going to spot you a twenty. (You still haven’t paid us back from SDCC.)

The super-villains also seem to be growing in numbers on our character page. Take a look at the latest bad guys to be added to the lineup:

Just don’t let them see you looking…if you know what we mean.

This Wednesday, we celebrated Arrow Day. And when we celebrate something, we don’t hold back. Television premiere, free comic book, new digital first series…

Speaking of Arrow, it was also the target of this week’s 5.2 Reasons column. We’re firing off about everything we loved in the premiere and taking a shot at predicting what’s ahead. (Let’s hope it’s not more archery puns. By now, we’ve all gotten the point. Sorry...couldn’t resist!)

DC Collectibles revealed their latest statue, the All New Metallic Superman by Frank Miller, in a soaring new trailer.

We also introduced our latest Twitter giveaway. Two lucky winners this week will receive LEGO Batman prize packages, which include copies of the new LEGO Batman Visual Dictionary, as well as the best-selling LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes videogame!

But it was a Batman of an entirely different sort we found ourselves thinking about on Wednesday evening. Did you read BATMAN #13 yet? It marks the start of “Death of the Family,” but we gave you a glimpse of what you were in for earlier that day with this reveal of the Joker.

And what about that identity switch near the end of the issue? You know the one we’re talking about. You don’t? Then check out today’s This Just Happened. Though, you may want to read the issue first, unless you’re the sort of person who reads the end of a book first.

Once we hit the midway point of this week, it was just a steady stream of news and announcements here on DCComics.com, as New York Comic-Con kicked into gear.

First we announced that Ethan Van Sciver will be joining the Batman: The Dark Knight creative team starting with issue #16, and showed off a new cover that we’re absolutely mad for.

Then we gave you a nice look at some of the DC Collectibles that will be unveiled at New York Comic-Con. And we found ourselves wishing we had an antique plane we could paint some of those DC Bombshells on. (Think we could get one on Ebay?)

After that, we announced our new Action Comics creative team, while teasing Superman’s new Action Comics look. No, he’s not going back to the blue jeans.

We also announced our new writer for Demon Knights. We’re looking forward to discovering Mr. Venditti’s great gift for rhyme. (Yes, yes, some other time.)

As the week wore on, we let you all know about our latest batch of Annuals, which will be hitting shops in January, and giving us all the more incentive to hold to our resolution of visiting our local comic shop more regularly.

Not a bad batch of announcements, eh? But you know what would make it even better? Oh, how about a brand new Superman series written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Jim Lee?

Yeah, like we said, it’s been a monster of a week, and it’s not over yet. In fact, New York Comic-Con is just getting started, which means you can expect more news, announcements and just overall wicked cool stuff all weekend long.

Keep your eye on our Con Away From Con page during New York Comic-Con. It’ll continue to be updated with new panel recaps and videos, making sure you stay in the know about all the stuff worth knowing.

Have a great Comic-Con weekend, and we’ll see you again in seven!

Tags:

Week-In-Review, nycc, arrow, Death of the Family

5.2 Reasons We're Excited for "Death of the Family"

Stop us if you've heard this one: a clown cuts off his face and disappears from the spotlight for a year before coming back and wrecking all sorts of murder and mayhem on the lives of the entire Bat-Family with a frightful gusto and panache that would make even Nicolas Cage say, "Hey dude, that's pretty crazy."

No? Well, boy, are we about to put a smile on your face.

The Joker makes his triumphant return in BATMAN #13 to remind us that you can't spell slaughter without laughter and to kick off the crossover event "Death of the Family," which not only sees the aforementioned return of the Clown Prince of Crime, but also his methodical and downright terrifying plans to take down the Dark Knight and his allies in the crazed criminal's latest attempt at a laugh.

This event already had us tingling with anticipation. The Joker's been MIA since the launch of DC COMICS – THE NEW 52—save for his gruesome face-lift at the end of DETECTIVE COMICS #1—and his return promises to bring with it chills and thrills the likes of which we comic fans haven't seen in a while. So, this week, we're breaking down the 5.2 Reasons We're Excited for "Death of the Family!"

1. Scott Snyder...

With his first major foray into the Batman world in "The Black Mirror," Snyder definitively proved to readers that he knew his way around a story. With the launch of DC Comics – The New 52, he showed us that he could navigate that sucker with his eyes closed after having been spun around three times while Bizarro reads out directions to him. Not only that, his previous crossover, "Night of the Owls," was easily one of the best Batman stories ever told—so much so that if we ever see an owl again, we're punching that freaky little thing right in its weird bird-face.

2. ...writing the Joker...

"Death of the Family" marks the first time Snyder gets to play in the Joker's funhouse, and after what he managed to do with the brand-new villains of the Court of Owls (see previous note about uppercutting birds), we can't even begin to imagine the amount of blinding brilliance and horrifying awesomeness he'll bring to the most popular comic book villain in pop culture history. Don't even bother spraying us with Joker Gas, we're grinning with glee already.

3. ...alongside his fellow writers...

Of course, Snyder won't be the only one getting to cause mayhem and mischief throughout Gotham City and the lives of its caped crusaders. "Death of the Family" spans a number of Bat-titles, allowing for each writer to delve into the Joker's particular brand of insanity. We all go a little mad sometimes, and now they get to let that madness out onto the comic page.

4. ...all putting the members of the Bat-Family to the test.

As Snyder himself mentioned, the Joker really hasn't gone after the members of the Bat-Family directly before. Although he crippled Barbara Gordon and beat Jason Todd to death, those were both a part of his attack on Commissioner Gordon and Batman (and probably just for funsies cause he's, you know, psychotic). With "Death of the Family," the Joker gets to unleash all his crazy on the likes of Nightwing, Red Robin, Batgirl and Jason Todd. So, good luck, guys. It was nice knowing you.

5. But that's all just set-up for the punchline.

Everything we just mentioned is really just the pre-game before the party. All we're going to say is that by the end of Batman #13, you'll get an idea of the Joker's ultimate gag.

5.1 These Die-Cut Covers by Greg Capullo are Freakin' Awesome

5.2 THE JOKER CUT OFF HIS FACE! HOLY MONKEY BEANS!

Tags:

5.2 Reasons, Batman, Death of the Family, joker, scott snyder

COMIC BOOK RESOURCES Exclusively Debuts “Death of the Family” Die-Cut Covers

Today marks the first day of October, which means that the summer months are officially over and fall is in full swing. It means it’s time to start getting ready to dress up for Halloween, stock up on candy corn and sip pumpkin lattes. But in Gotham City, October means one thing: the return of The Joker.

Launching next week, the “Death of the Family” crossover event signifies the first appearance of The Joker in DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 since the criminal mastermind’s face was removed in DETECTIVE COMICS #1. To help commemorate this monumental and game-changing occasion, BATMAN artist Greg Capullo has created a series of die-cut covers that feature some of the Dark Knight’s closest allies and of course his most notorious foe, The Joker.

This morning, these covers were exclusively debuted on COMIC BOOK RESOURCES. The “Death of the Family” die-cut covers available in October will be for BATGIRL #13, BATMAN #13 and CATWOMAN #13. In November, a die-cut cover will be available for SUICIDE SQUAD #14, and in December, die-cut covers will be available for BATMAN AND ROBIN #15, DETECTIVE COMICS #15, NIGHTWING #15, RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #15 and TEEN TITANS #15.

Head on over to COMIC BOOK RESOURCES to take your first look at Capullo’s “Death of the Family” die-cut covers and share your impressions in the comments section below!

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