Death of the Family Issues Review

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or MP3 player. Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and

you're listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Spoilers. Hello once again to the Geekcast Radio

continuing coverage special of Death of the Family.

And in this episode, we'll be covering several

of the Bat Family books. Yes, that's right. Yes.

As dark and twisted as they may be. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, very dark, very twisted. I myself have

read three of them. What have you read? Detective

16, Batman 16, and Batman and Robin. Okay. I've

well One of the books that I read it's all your

damn fault because I had no Desire to even Read

this book because I hate one of the characters

in it But because of the cover of Batman 16 I

had to pick up that book. I do not collect Batman

and Robin 16 Or I don't collect Batman and Robin

in general because I just don't give a crap about

davian wayne at all even after reading this issue

i still don't give a crap about that kid uh...

but uh... but i cannot deny how awesome the cover

for that matter robin sixteen is madness runs

in the family also got that girl sixteen and

nightwing sixteen as long as all along with batman

sixteen as you said continuing uh... death of

the family These are the penultimate episodes

or pen up penultimate issues before we get to

the finale next month Holy crap Wow. Oh, yeah,

I Just How are they gonna wrap that how is Snyder

in 17 gonna wrap all this up in 40 pages that's

what I want to know I Have no idea I don't know

either. I wonder who's actually still going to

be a part of the Bat family after this is all

done and sudden done. Well I know from reading

the little solicitations on DC's website that

obviously the Nightwing thing will still go on,

Batgirl will still go on. The characters will

still go on according to all the all the previews

that I've read. But I don't know how they're

gonna like if they're like if the entire bat

family is just gonna be disbanded Or I'm not

sure how it's I'm not even sure how it's gonna

play out I'm excited to find out about it, but

I I just don't know Still kind of hoping that

they Kill off Damian, but that's just my personal

opinion I was talking to Steve off air I was

explaining to him that I think how we review

these today is that we talk about all of the

issues leading up to Batman 16 because of how

each of the individual character issues ends.

Because they show you how Joker captured each

of the Damien, Barbara, Dick. They show you how

they got captured in their issues. Because when

I first got the books I was like ooh Batman 16

I know you know Batman 15 he's going into Arkham

Batman 16 he's in Arkham and then I got to the

end I'm like who are all these people who are

all these people dancing around and then at the

end it shows you know what it shows but It's

one of those things. Oh, yes, and as the Joker

said at the beginning of the episode of the podcast

This will be spoiler heavy We're not doing spoiler

free anymore at this point because I cannot I

cannot talk about these without spoiling them

I just can't and also at this point in time You

should have already read it Well, yeah true At

the end of Batman 16 I get so confused with The

first time I read the book, I was like, wait,

what? And then I started, I went to read Batman

and Robin. After I read Batman 16, I'm like,

holy crap, this is this whole other story that

has nothing to do with what's going on in Arkham

until the very end when he gets captured. And

I was like, oh, so that's who those people are.

And the same thing with Batgirl and with Nightwing.

Nightwing I was kind of okay with because obviously

I had Already read the stuff again before because

Nightwing came out a week after Batgirl Batman

and Batman and Robin did so But let's start with

Batman and Robin, what did you like about this

one? The fact that they allude to that this is

Batman fighting his son when You find out that

it's actually not Yeah, and you have the Joker

sitting there just pulling the strings and he

did give a Joker tax into this guy to follow

his every command which was quite hilarious watching

him go up against Robin and Eventually Robin

kind of takes him down Despite the Joker eventually

taking him down as well Yeah I'm trying to remember

on the on the very first page of this book There's

a line that Joker says that I'm trying to remember

where I've heard it. I know I've heard it elsewhere

I think it's somewhere in the DCA you I could

be wrong. I don't know but Joker says Girls,

you better hold on to your boyfriend's this new

serum concoction has some surprises allowing

for suggestion the girls You better hold on to

your boyfriend's thing. I've heard that somewhere

else. It's almost like that hide your kids hide

your wife Yeah, but it's no I've heard that somewhere.

I've heard it somewhere else in media somewhere.

I don't know if it was a Batman cartoon. I don't

know if it was a different cartoon. No clue.

I absolutely love the art in this issue of Batman

and Robin. Not only the cover, but just the art

inside the book itself. How dark the tones are.

And just how... how awesome everything else what

I find so interesting about this issue is that

it goes from like really like orange and yellow

tones in the coloring in the scenery and then

it goes to something slightly darker and then

by the end of the book you're pretty much blue

and blue red and green because of what you know

and all that stuff and I love the final page

with Joker final you have no idea how how just

irate I've been with him constantly being in

the Joe's garage uniform. I was like, that's

not my Joker. My Joker wears a damn suit, dammit,

and I'm so glad at the end of this issue he has

a suit on. Oh, yeah. What else did you like about

Batman and Robin? Just... You think Robin's fighting

his dad the whole time. I mean, it's just...

yeah he's like snap out of it blah blah blah

and it shows him like actually vulnerable instead

of this cocky little shit yeah and so you actually

kind of feel bad for him whereas normally you're

like you need to be knocked down a few pegs by

Tim Drake yeah normally like I said in previous

special episodes when we were covering this this

series I don't care for Damien Wayne in the general

sense, but in this book, I will agree. I did

kind of feel sorry for the kid. But when he's

around the Bat family and he's making snide remarks

to all of them, I just want to bitch slap the

poor boy. What happened in Detective? Because

I didn't read that one. Well, the cover alludes

to or makes you think that Batman's going up

against the Joker no no no no it's a bunch of

people that have taken the Joker as their idol

it almost in a sense makes me feel like it's

the Dark Knight returns in essence they've you

know kind of like the mutants adopt the one guy

they then they adopt Batman while they adopt

the Joker is their head honcho spreading terror

across town and you you know see how deep the

Joker cuts into their psyche, basically. I mean,

he's not actually associated with any of them

in any way, shape or form. They've just kind

of taken up the, you know, the mantle of the

Joker, the Jokers, in essence. And they just

go around terrorizing people, trying to kill

everybody. And Batman's just running around town

doing a wild goose chase. just kind of chasing

all of them yeah interesting and you find out

that the emperor penguin which is you know cobble

pots second in command he's kind of happy that

he's basically also committing crimes and doing

away with some of their Business enemies or more

other mobsters In kind of framing the Joker Yeah,

so it looks like the Joker did everything so

that they get a clean slate Hmm Interesting very

very interesting. Yeah, it's it's very It's it's

kind of interwoven into there. I'm trying to

figure out where the hell they're going with

it, but I guess only time will tell. Pretty much,

only time will tell. Was there another one that

you read that I didn't? No. Okay, so let's move

on over to Batgirl. I know you don't read Batgirl.

Eventually I will. Right. No, I'm saying you're

not reading it currently. No. Batgirl 16 is the

finale for her storyline with death of the family

because obviously at the end of the book at the

end all these books whoever Joker is going up

against gets captured So the bat family gets

captured that's that's the point But in this

they're going along with this wedding thing and

in the book her brother James Gordon jr. Shows

up and all that happens And at one point, I'm

so glad. I know a friend of mine, Michael David

Sims, who runs earth2 .net, his podcast earth2

.net, the show, he does, every month he does

a previews episode on his podcast where he will

read solicitations from the different comics,

comedies to give us a preview of if there's stuff

coming up that we want to read or pay attention

to. When he read the... The copy for Batgirl

15, which is the whole nuptials thing and everything

else that last issue He's like great DC mate,

you know make make your make Barbara marry her

Her her attacker great move really well in Batgirl

16 the Joker says Nope, it's not gonna work And

they don't end up getting married. Thank God

That would have been mighty twisted It would

have been like there's like there are certain

things you can come back from like sure Peter

Parker can make a deal with the devil and reset

the universe and all that stuff and You know

and just have one more day. No, it was I didn't

want to screw with the status quo Yeah, well

he's like you must keep everything to eat used

to be yeah But no, you got Gail Simone writing

Batgirl 16, you've got Ed Benes, I think, Ed

Benes, I don't know how to say the guy's name,

but he's doing the art and the art in this, the

art in all of Batgirl that I've read so far,

I absolutely love it. It's just amazing. Just

the way that it's done. The story is so well

done As I said to you before I think it was last

issue or last last episode that we did for Batman

15 I Was kind of wondering if the Joker was going

to be James Gordon jr. Instead of the Joker that

kind of thing with the whole Batgirl angle Even

though I know jr. Turned her over to the Joker

and so obviously he couldn't be the Joker Yeah,

he shows up in this issue And then it sets up

what's going to happen in Batgirl 17 and further

on down the line. But James Gordon Jr. is her

real enemy as far as all of this goes, as far

as what I've been able to tell in the reading.

In one of the very first panels, there is a super

creepy close -up. the Joker and oh my god it

looks so freaking cool he's got one eye that's

totally like like almost like a hunter slash

mint green and then his other eye is almost like

a clear blue it's oh my god it it's just so creepy

and awesome so great all right so moving on to

Nightwing As most people should know by now I've

always been a fan of Dick Grayson Robin Dick

Grayson Nightwing Ever since Batman the animated

series, you know, just hear me praise Lauren

Lester over on Legends of the Dark Knight our

Batman review show And I started reading Nightwing

at issue 15 I need to go back and read zero to

14 and that first story arc that that Kyle Higgins

did but I absolutely love Kyle Higgins is writing

like he has a true passion for Nightwing and

Dick Grayson and that character and it is just

so well done in 16 for Nightwing he's going up

against the Joker and the Joker has brought back

all his all of his circus family as Joker clowns

Oh, that's a blow. Yeah. And then there's a couple

explosions and everything else. It's just, you

really, folks, I don't honestly know how I can

really describe some of the stories in these

books because you just really have to read them

for yourself. Just trust us. These books are

just simply amazing. The art, the art in this

one is done by Eddie Barrows and Eber Ferreira.

Absolutely amazing art amazing cover. I really

really love reading Nightwing and I can't wait

to read more of that one Which leads us to Batman

16? What do you think of that cover? Why is Joker

wearing a Robin suit? He's actually got a splinter

of everybody. He's captured already Yeah, I see

that Yep, a little bit of Alfred a little bit

of a little bit of Robin Yeah, a little bit of

bad girl because of the yellow got a little captain

in him Yeah, that's us Really yeah, but Greg

Capolo does an amazing amazing job on these covers

and the art in general in this Why don't you

go ahead? I've been I've been talking for a while.

Why don't you go ahead and give your initial

thoughts on 16? this one is supremely awesome

I I found not only Joker to be extremely creepy,

but I found that Batman was getting a little

bit out of his comfort zone more than usual in

the sense that there's just nothing he can really

combat this. He's having to consistently remind

himself to stay on task and that it's just the

Joker and blah, blah, blah. He's like, you know

this place. Inside and out you should have no

problem getting around the Joker and in Going

around through the asylum The Joker's more ready

for him than he previously thought he thought

he had the upper hand. He thought he was going

to Be the one that you know would would be able

to account for everything and it turns out that

the Joker had him pegged at every corner and

then he's like oh because at certain point there's

uh guys various guards locked in the jail cells

and he has it set to electrocute them to death

and Batman does something and he says oh you

can't save them and then he's like oh a little

bit of the old bats you know thinking on your

feet and I just I thought that was cool then

when you finally get to this one particular room

they had three people somebody dressed up as

Wonder Woman Superman and somebody else I can't

remember but and then you have The the penguin

you have the Riddler you have two -faced and

you have Joker and all of them are basically

bowing before the presence of Batman Yeah, some

swift kind of sick twisted Kind of set up it

just They they basically hailed him as king and

they were his loyal subjects and yeah, and they

and they have a name for each of them Joker has

a name for each of them Which like he's the jester

like the whole court thing for I Don't know if

I like this whole king. I just well, that's how

the Joker regards him I know which I find it

interesting because it's not gonna stay this

way. Anyway, it's just a part of the arc right

like Cobblepot will eventually go back to his

mob ways and two faces Joker put it just there

because he allowed him to be Yeah, because he

you know two faces like I'm entitled blah blah

blah and He's like no you're not and then he

just locks them all up Any any fries Batman that's

that was the most twisted out of everything Yeah

What do you think of the design on on freeze

in this issue? I it was nice there's a panel

yeah there there's a panel i forget what that's

my one issue with some comic books is i can't

find like on any pages i can't find actual page

numbers so it's after the um it's after the new

52 annuals page um it's not not not even halfway

through yeah it's it's where he's going up against

batman and he shoots the horse Right and Batman

says stay still and it might not burn through

your chest freeze that that that panel that that

image right there Oh my god, mr. Freeze. Wow,

that looks cool as hell Yeah, it's funny just

took down everybody effortlessly yeah, I Love

the designs on on all the villains Cobblepot

red lure to face. I love all that stuff. That's

so awesome. Oh, it's Wonder Woman Green Lantern

Superman and Aquaman. Okay, that's what they

were Yeah, I was as we're talking. I'm actually

thumbing through it. So I was trying to remember

what characters they were Yeah But no just this

story is so deep and so dark I Don't know how

he's gonna I honestly have no idea how He's going

to recover how the bat family is going to recover

after this. It's so awesome. Oh, it's it's deeply

twisted and I I mean, I do really look forward

to seeing how they do this, which would probably

explain why Bats has kind of lost his marbles

after the fact and future covers that they've

shown. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder who's going to remain

kind of I mean, because everybody's been Kind

of thrown under the bus as it were yeah more

so a meat grinder, but I'm just kind of looking

to see what exactly is going to happen from here

on out I Can't wait to see the conclusion. It's

It truly is an epic event. Oh, yes very much

so the Honestly, I mean I kind of thought in

the back of my mind as I was reading Batman 16

I was like hmm Maybe Batman can get the upper

hand because he was taking them all out at that,

you know as as he went through to get to Joker

And then obviously of course not, you know Joker's

always gonna have a backup plan and then at the

end when he fries him Oh my god Reminds me of

the BTIS episode when he was sitting in the electric

chair the laugh the laugh here Laugh chair. Yeah.

Oh my god. That's so awesome. I wonder how he's

going to Get out basically Yeah Looking At Some

Looking at some of the future covers Yeah, I

I agree with you. I don't know how this like

this is gonna mentally screw Batman up Think

it's gonna throw him off for at least several

issues. Oh, yeah until they can get him back

under some semblance of control Yeah, he's gonna

need some serious therapy Most definitely yes

Yeah, most definitely well But no, I absolutely

love, I'm loving reading the issues. You know,

like I've said before, I've essentially traded

in comics. I've traded in toys for comics as

far as collecting now. And I'm really loving

reading me some comics and stuff, because there

are some amazing stories in these things. And

it's just absolutely, and it's characters I know

and love. You know, like we've said, Batgirl,

Nightwing, Batman. and, you know, some of the

other stuff I'll be reading, um, and all that

good stuff, but, uh, yeah, next month, February

13th, 2013, Death of the Family concludes in

the Grand Finale! Yes, the Grand Finale. Yes.

Uh, I think we should, um, go to an ad break

really quick, a very short ad break, because

we have an announcement that we need to make

in the ad break, don't we? It's a coming attraction

of sorts. Yes, that's right. So, we'll be back

after this. And when you download Stitcher to

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promo code KEYCASTRADIO when you register. Coming

in March 2013, GCRN presents The Pull Bag, our

brand new comic book review podcast. You have

heard us reviewing comics over on GeekCast Radio.

Now we are diving head first into a full on comic

book review show. The entire GCRN crew will be

on host rotation, and we are even bringing in

new voices. We'll cover anything from Marvel,

DC, IDW, Transformers, TMNT, G .I. Joe, Masters

of the Universe, anything and everything comic

book related will be in The Pull Bag. So tune

in this March to find out what our issues are

only on vcastradio .com and welcome back from

that commercial break and now we're going to

focus on well the solicitations of the new Batman

comics coming out in the near future yes and

we're only gonna read the Batman issues 17 through

19 it's just what's already on DC's website it's

not anything that's spoiler heavy or anything

like that it's just the little solicitations

that they have in each of their links For Batman

17, the grand finale of Death of the Family,

this is it, the stunning conclusion to Death

of the Family. Who lives, who dies, who laughs

last? Find out as Batman and the Joker face off

one last time. This is a 399 comic book, 40 pages,

releases February 13th, 2013. Batman number 18.

Welcome guest artist Andy Kubert. In the wake

of unspeakable tragedy, Batman is in danger of

losing his humanity, and in the back -up story,

fan -favorite character Harper Rowe returns,

but will she be able to pull Batman back from

the brink? This is another 40 -page book, obviously.

399 comes out March 13th, 2013. The stories of

Batman 18 written by Scott Snyder, both the main

and the back -up, the arts by Andy Kubert. Backup

arc by Alex Malev. Cover was done by Greg Coppolo.

Yeah, that cover. Oh, wow. That Batman 18 cover.

Holy crap. And the final one we're going to preview

here is, it's a very small preview. Batman number

19. Who will cause Bruce Wayne to use a gun?

The Joker. That's all it says, folks. that's

all it says and the cover is like a shadow of

batman facing up against somebody with possibly

batman having a gun the story is written by scott

snider the backup is written also by scott uh

again artist andy cubert is here uh greg coppolo

did the cover it's a 40 page count book 399 comes

out april 10th 2013 So yeah Batman in the future

is is really gonna be interesting to say the

least Yeah, they've definitely changed the status

quo on him Yeah You know and initially I just

was going like before I really dove into comics

now I was just gonna get 13 to 17 and stop Obviously,

that's not the case as people heard with the

the announcement teaser For the pull bag. That's

right. We're starting our own comic review podcast.

So Everything past Batman 17, which will be out

which will we'll have that out late next month

Everything past death of the family will be over

in the pull bag. So no more comic reviews on

GCR For now on on the main podcast was because

we're gonna have that new one in that new podcast

We're gonna cover pretty much anything current

I've been thinking about it. We haven't really

talked about this off air But I've been thinking

about it and we may find a way to work in back

issues like old issues and stuff Like hey, here's

a here's a golden age or here's a so I don't

know We'll have to talk about how we're gonna

do that But right now the pull bag is any current

comics that are being released whether it's Batman

whether it's spider -man Iron Man, whatever whatever

we're reading the entire GCR and crew Myself,

Steve, I don't know if Optimus Solo Reads Comics,

Booth Ninja, Danner, and a bunch of different

people, JT from Saskatoon, a bunch of different

people. We're all going to be hosts on this throughout

various episodes, depending on what's covered,

and it's going to be an awesome show. Oh, yes.

There you go. Batman 16 and all the other bat

books this month? Absolutely awesome. Absolutely

love them. Another testament to why you need

to be collecting comics. Exactly. So with that,

we will catch you guys next time for the last

and final special episode of the Death of the

Family Spotlight before going full force into

the pull bag. See you then! I think this is yours,

Connor. Oh, thanks. But you almost gave me a

heart attack. I thought you were the Batman.

No. I ran up against him once. It was a real

eye -opener. Forced me to get my life together.

Now I've got this great job. Even Mr. Wayne knows

me. Terrific guy. Never too busy to stop and

ask how my boy's doing. Mr. Wayne is a good man.

Guess Batman had a change of heart. Who'd have

thought he had one? Speak of the devil. You coming?

I guess it's about time.