Death of the Family...not what I was expecting. (SPOILERS!)

[Anjohl]

I really thought this was supposed to be some earth shattered storyline, and in the end, Joker appeared to do *nothing*. He even went so far as to PRETEND to cut their faces off, so what was his motive? He wanted Batman to let them "die"?

And the end was so odd, what was the isotope all about, and why did they all refuse to go see him? So weird. I thought this was supposed to be some earth shattering event where everybody died, and the line was changed forever. I wouldn't go so far to say I am disappointed, but I guess it was overhyped to me.

I liked the strong "Killing Joke" and "Arkham Aslyum" vibes it had.

[Sodam Yat]

Yea, the event was a little over hyped. I just didn't care for some of the Joker scenes in Scott Snyder's title.

Mods, can you move this in the Batman sub-forum?

[Mahzian]

I have a feeling something much bigger was planned (in terms of actually killing people) but was nixed at the last moment, I mean didn't Jason get his face burnt off but it was retconned pretty much immediately?

[Sodam Yat]

I have a feeling something much bigger was planned (in terms of actually killing people) but was nixed at the last moment, I mean didn't Jason get his face burnt off but it was retconned pretty much immediately?

Hmmm interesting question. I don't remember Jason's face being burnt, but I only read a few of his appearances such as his guest appearances in the Nightwing title and Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin along with his return in Judd Winick's Batman and Red Hood: The Lost Days. The only retcon I can remember is that Jason's hair was naturally red, but was forced to dye it, because Bruce wanted Jason to resemble Dick Grayson as much as possible, which happened in Batman and Robin. I haven't read his series in the New 52, though.

[ekrolo2]

Alfred was supposed to lose his hand and Jason's face was supposed to get burned Two-Face style except his would be completely roasted. Both of which were nixed yes. It also doesn't help that around the same time as this "Death of the Family" event is happening in which nothing really happens, Morrison is off killing Damian... Yeah, bad timing for Snyder if I ever saw it.

[TeenWonder]

Well, while on personal level I enjoyed Death of The Family a lot and it didn`t really disappoint me (Considering It was what I expected, considering if it would massively change the status within the Bat-Family such as Jason`s face getting burned off or Alfred losing his hand. I would have expected for DC to change it back sooner or later.That would have erased all the impact of the story line to begin with)

The isotope was just Snyder writing Joker to be making a joke yet again for Batman.

Personally I loved the story in itself, since The Joker was a threat finally and he was back for real with good writing and character interaction between him and Batman, It`s the tie ins and the event itself that made it bad, especially considering that in meanwhile Morrison was killing of Damian.

[MajorHoy]

There was a "death" of the trust between Batman and the rest of his family, but . . . between over-hype and what Morrison was doing to Damian at the same time, it really sucked the wind out of this arc.

(It also sucked that Simone was writing a great Batgirl vs. Joker arc in Batgirl, but then Batgirl had to give in so Batman could supposedly save the day in his own book. THAT sucked . . . they could have just let Joker escape from Batgirl and then catch her when she was off-guard.)

[JasonTodd428]

Alfred was supposed to lose his hand and Jason's face was supposed to get burned Two-Face style except his would be completely roasted. Both of which were nixed yes. It also doesn't help that around the same time as this "Death of the Family" event is happening in which nothing really happens, Morrison is off killing Damian... Yeah, bad timing for Snyder if I ever saw it.

I was glad both of those were nixed myself. I enjoyed the story myself for the most part though it was a bit over hyped and the fact that it's aftermath was occurring at the same time as Damian's death greatly lessened whatever impact this story might have had. Instead of dealing with the events in DotF authors were scrambling to deal with Requiem issues for Damian.

[ekrolo2]

I was glad both of those were nixed myself. I enjoyed the story myself for the most part though it was a bit over hyped and the fact that it's aftermath was occurring at the same time as Damian's death greatly lessened whatever impact this story might have had. Instead of dealing with the events in DotF authors were scrambling to deal with Requiem issues for Damian.

I'm glad they were axed too and I also enjoyed the story a lot. But as many of us have pointed out, the wind was taken out of the whole thing by Morrison killing Damian mere weeks later.

[JasonTodd428]

I'm glad they were axed too and I also enjoyed the story a lot. But as many of us have pointed out, the wind was taken out of the whole thing by Morrison killing Damian mere weeks later.

Yeah, it was horrible timing.

[TheNewFiftyForum]

Alfred was supposed to lose his hand and Jason's face was supposed to get burned Two-Face style except his would be completely roasted. Both of which were nixed yes. It also doesn't help that around the same time as this "Death of the Family" event is happening in which nothing really happens, Morrison is off killing Damian... Yeah, bad timing for Snyder if I ever saw it.

Are you sure? They way I remember it Alfred's hand was just something they talked about on an early planning stage, and the stuff with Jason Todd's mask burning his face and then not burning his face at all happened in Lobdell's RHATO-book.

[Cipher]

Alfred was supposed to lose his hand and Jason's face was supposed to get burned Two-Face style except his would be completely roasted. Both of which were nixed yes. It also doesn't help that around the same time as this "Death of the Family" event is happening in which nothing really happens, Morrison is off killing Damian... Yeah, bad timing for Snyder if I ever saw it.

While it seems like the editorial goings on with this storyline were all of the map, I fail to see how either of those actually making it to print would have improved it.

(It also sucked that Simone was writing a great Batgirl vs. Joker arc in Batgirl, but then Batgirl had to give in so Batman could supposedly save the day in his own book. THAT sucked . . . they could have just let Joker escape from Batgirl and then catch her when she was off-guard.)

Agreed. That's sort of the problem with these kinds of crossovers. You either dedicate issues to something that feels like a wasteful intrusion so it can be wrapped up in the main title, or you do such a stellar job at integrating it into the organic plotlines of your series (as Simone and maybe Tomasi did) that it comes across strangely when it has to peter to wrap up in the main book.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.