Okay so I didn’t particularly enjoy the ending of Detective Comics #878 when it came out. So kill me….actually with Snyder as artist I’ll say ‘sue’ instead. But that is old news now, who cares what came out before? I’m not gonna beat the bush any longer and state that this was my Pick of the Week for one simple reason:

Scott Snyder writes the most fucked up Joker ever.

So far Snyder doesn’t even have him do anything yet except tell a story. But the way that Snyder writes Joker is so crazy and so demented that he could be the best writer to do the character. Hell we don’t even get to ‘see’ Joker in the issue thanks to Francavilla drawing him a mask the entire time. But with those eyes and the fantastic lettering by Jared Fletcher, you get more then enough insight into how Snyder writes the guy.

More onto the writing though and I gotta say I hoped we see a Jim Gordon series with Snyder involved with the reboot. I want to see more of Gordon’s adventures especially with the case of his son being not only insane but truly evil. The revelation makes James a truly frightening character even though we barely see him in this issue. Granted, I did find it a bit implusable that Jim would know so much medical/science mumbo jumbo with Barbara in the middle. But it didn’t bother me that much to take me out of the story. (Also, does Jim know that Barbara is Oracle or does he just not care?)

I am so glad that Francesco Francavilla is able to keep the continuity going by doing the James Gordon story fully. His pencils just add to the depressing and sinister mood of the whole story. Again the way that Francavilla draws Joker in his ‘Silence of the Lambs’ like mask makes it all the more unnerving. Then you add how the guards/doctors look after the escape and you got one fucked up series of panels. What also makes Francavilla’s pencils look so damn good is the coloring he does by himself. A great mix of reds, oranges, and yellows throughout the whole book that sets the tone for each moment. I do like his use of greens for the computer screens Oracle’s computers, or how Jim gets ‘blue’ in the face when he discovers James’s box. Francavilla clearly knows how to draw and color an issue to make it his own.

This book not only continues the story of James and Jim Gordon, but also gives us a downright disturbing (even for him) look at Joker. I cannot wait to see Snyder continue the story with Joker and see just how twisted this story is gonna get. Hell, with Francavilla continuing to draw the series along with Jock and you could have the potential to have a truly amazing ending here. Please Scott, don’t prove me wrong.