FLASHPOINT BATMAN KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE #2

FLASH QUESTION: Who is The Joker? And what is his dark connection to the Wayne family?

Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art by EDUARDO RISSO
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 30.2%

Reviews

UserAddedSpoilers
jmsnyder07/09/11YesRead Review
keith719807/08/11NoRead Review
AmirCat07/07/11NoRead Review
Tork07/07/11YesRead Review
Wrkn4life07/07/11NoRead Review
816
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.7
 
Users who pulled this comic:

Comments

  1. I am probably only buying this tie-in series because of Azarello and Risso but I sure hope things pick up in this issue. 

  2. Yeah…I was a big fan of 100 Bullets, but lately their stuff has not been up to snuff for me (first issue of this, their story in Strange Adventures #1).  The art’s pretty good, but the writing’s just seemed purposely confusing and kind of bland.  I hope with a cover this badass this issue will pick up big time. 

    I read somewhere that we’ll find out the Joker’s “identity” in this one…weird and funny that though he’s such a major villain, he’s not one that really has a separate identity at all.  I’m interested to see what/who he is in Flashpoint.

  3. don’t presume the Joker is a he.

  4. My bet is Dr. Hurt.  That’s a villian with a Thomas Wayne connection.

  5. I’m going with Martha Wayne or Bruce.

  6. Interesting idea…guess we’ll all see come Wednesday.

  7. @MegaPhilip  – Jason Todd

  8. @MegaPhilip  –  I thought perhaps Martha as well.  There was a lot of talk of Bruce dying but I don’t think they ever said Martha died but I can’t seem to locate my copy of this to double check.

  9. Last issue started out really well, but the second half turned into a big fight scene.  I hope we get more of the good stuff this time!

  10. I’m gonna go with Dick Grayson because why the hell not? This mini is too major to be one of the ones that has to be clever. Besides, I could easily see them going with a “if it weren’t for Bruce, Dick would’ve been eeeeeeeevil” route.

  11. I think its Bruce.

  12. I loved this issue; the reveal of the Joker was not who I suspected. I thought Alfred, but …

    SPOILERS
    The fact it was Martha Wayne was shocking because I hadn’t clocked she was still alive until I read the issue…and I hadn’t been on this page until after I read it. 

  13. @ComicBookGuy37  I don’t think its such a great idea to post spoilers on a comment board. Especially when most people will not be reading this issue for another several hours.

    You did, however, just save me $3

  14. @WHATTHEDAST  
    Huh? Don’t visit the page until after you read the book on Wednesday. There isn’t much to comment about if we can’t actually comment on the story. 

  15. My POTW for the week.  The reveal was awesome and really worked within the Flashpoint universe.  It makes Thomas Wayne’s motivation that much more now that we know what his wife became after the death of Bruce.  So now he is not only fighting for the life of his son, but also his wife!  

  16. @forestjwp  That’s how you comment without spoilers.

    @NawidA  The first NINE comments were posted before the day of the issue’s release. I’m sure the few after that were from posters who have not read the issue either.

  17. Before visiting the site today I went to my local store to pick up my book including this one and while standing in line the ass in front me spoils this book!!!! Doesn’t make me want to read this book any less but definitely the heartbreaking moment of my day.

  18. Really REALLY good issue. I’m not the biggest Risso fan though.

  19. Eggzellent.

  20. Avatar photo Arrrggghhh (@Arrrggghhh) says:

    This is one of those rare “Holy Sh*t!” comics.
    Had to read it twice.
    Probably the sickest stuff “Joker” has ever done . . . haunting.
    Easily the POTW . . .  

  21. I really want a year one for Thomas Wayne’s Batman, really explore the whole thing. I’m loving this whole event.

  22. Best Joker appearance of the year

  23. @WHATTHEDAST  Spoilers are fair game starting on Wednesday.

  24. Where’s Eduardo Risso in the reboot?

  25. Excellent issue.

  26. The sequence starting from James arrival at the manor to the very last panel: Holy eff’d up Batman! This could not of been any better paced. This creative team’s experience simply shines on through. Perfect panel transitions. Perfect close ups. Just all perfect. And the reveal! Priceless.
    I’ll go ahead and say it: This is the event, not Flashpoint.

  27. I did not like the twist at the end of this issue.  Whenever someone writes a time travel/alternate reality story they tend to want to make everything familiar and completely different at the same time and sometimes it makes no sense.  So, yes, there is a Joker (familiar) but it’s not who you think it is (completely different) but how the hell did this happen (makes no sense)?  Would it have made such a great last page WTF moment if it hadn’t been the Joker?  Probably not, but if it had been some villain we had never heard of it could have been just as impactful storywise or maybe more.

  28. ****SPOILERS****

    ****SPOILERS****

    ****SPOILERS***

    I actually liked the ending; it’s interesting to contrast how both Thomas and Martha reacted/responded to the tragic death of their son. Thomas became a dark avenger, punishing crime wherever it appeared. Martha became a psychotic killer whose obsession with the death of her own child has led her to take the lives of other children. The Batman/Joker mirror dynamic has never been more stark or more personal; they are both victims of psychosis, mirror images, in a sense, of one another.

  29. @nukethewhalesagain  It was explained in the issue how it happened. Bruce’s death unhinged his parents – in completely different ways.

  30. Sweet! I am speechless, which is a first

  31. @conor  Right.  And I understand how that would turn one of them into a villain.  But why the Joker?  There’s absolutely no reason for it to have been the Joker.  The Joker didn’t exist before Bruce’s death.  The only reason for it to be the Joker isn’t a story reason.  It’s for that “What a twist!” moment.  They might go out of their way to explain it in the next couple of issues but it still feels like a cheap shock.

  32. @nukethewhalesagain  Why not The Joker?

  33. well, how bout that? 

    these flashpoints are fun little mashups.  

  34. @nukethewhalesagain  Well, if it was some completely new character who was created for this mini, then people would complain and say things like ‘so what’ and ‘creating a new character is a cop out’ and they would ask, ‘why should this matter to me’?

    You ask why Joker?  Well, because the Joker character is the Yin to Batman’s Yang.  Order and chaos.  The existence of one necessitates the existence of the other.  (maybe not in the real world, but certainly in comic book logic)

  35. HOLY SHIT!!!, those were the words that kept coming out of my mouth as I read this issue, this prolly the best book DC has put out in awhile, possiably best comic I’ve read in all of comics since I’ve started reading reguarly again. I can’t wait for this weeks POTW podcast, to hear what the guys have to say about this issue!!

  36. @conor & @MisterJ : I don’t think we’re ever going to agree on this.  I do agree that it was a decent twist in that I didn’t see it coming.  I just wish Martha Wayne had had her own identity that tells us more about her character rather than have the Joker identity put on her.

  37. Excellent issue, but I have a question: is the bartender Renee Montoya?  Guy calls her Renee…and she’s obviously hispanic…?

  38. @Firemass13 I think it’s a sefe bet that the bartender is Renee Montoya.

    This book was fantastic!  So far it’s my PoTW. 

  39. Yeah, this one was shocking.  My eyes widened when Gordon mistakenly shot the kid I said “WOW!” out loud when I hit the last page.  Then I re-read the issue and the reveal seemed obvious.  Expertly done.

    The identities of the Flashpoint Batman and now Joker have to be some of the most surprising and clever reveals I’ve read in comics.  I’m glad they managed to keep everything under wraps before they happened.

  40. Who do you guys think is behind the “twists”? Johns or Azzerallo?

  41. Avatar photo Arrrggghhh (@Arrrggghhh) says:

    Smartest thing for DC to do would be to keep this “pocket universe” going in a mini-series or ongoing series with the same creative team.  Who here wouldn’t buy that on a monthly basis?

  42. @Arrrggghhh

    Me. This mini has been nothing but a lot of bland pages and a twist.

  43. LOVED it. Wish this series could continue as an Elseworld.

  44. The story’s interesting, but it doesn’t have much meat on it aside from shock moments and playing around with identities.  First issue was far better.

  45. @thehangman  I second that. I’m loving this book, even though I don’t usually like when books start to get so dark in their storytelling. That last panel in issue 2 made my jaw drop, literally, right after I said “WOW!” It’s been a long time since a comic did that.

  46. This was shocking and horrific, and took me totally by surprise. Great issue, my POTW.

  47. Risso is an excellent Bat-artist, esp his representation of Gotham.

    @chadwhitley nice synopsis of the concept in this.

Leave a Comment