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Batman (2011) (Single Issues)
Batman (2011-2016) #37
"Endgame" continues as the Dark Knight's greatest foe turns Batman's friends and allies against him.
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
8 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Scott Snyder
1,795 books5,271 followersScott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 11, 2023
Since when does the joker know that Bruce Wayne is batman!!!
This issue we delve more into batman's attempts, at trying to cure the virus.
Also the joker remakes the alley of The crime scene for batman.
Jim Gordon shoots the joker, but he rises again like it was nothing.
Isn't it insane how the joker keeps making viruses, and diseases like he has a degree in microbiology?!
This issue we delve more into batman's attempts, at trying to cure the virus.
Also the joker remakes the alley of The crime scene for batman.
Jim Gordon shoots the joker, but he rises again like it was nothing.
Isn't it insane how the joker keeps making viruses, and diseases like he has a degree in microbiology?!
December 18, 2014
(I go into some spoilers in this review but a lot of them are my own interpretations that are probably wrong. At any rate, if you want a spoiler-free review of New 52 Batman #37, hunt elsewhere.)
It’s one of my favourite Joker panels; it was at the end of Death of the Family and Bruce is talking to Alfred about Joker, recalling a time when he - as Bruce Wayne, not Batman - went to visit Joker in Arkham. Joker had his back to him then turned and looked through him vacantly, and Bruce wondered if he knew his secret identity - or even if he cared. And what would that mean? But that look in Joker’s eyes in that panel - wow.
In a nice nod back to that arc, Bruce’s question is answered at the end of this issue and, if Death of the Family was Joker’s warped way of showing Batman his admiration and love for him, Endgame looks to be Joker’s vengeance at being rebuffed - and, man, is he angry!
Alas, if only this issue were as inspired as the ones from Death of the Family! I honestly wouldn’t have thunk it myself: Batman, Joker, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo = yawn? But it’s happened with Batman #37, or Endgame Part 3.
Joker’s begun his assault on Gotham (yet again), unleashing a new strain of Joker toxin and turning the populace into murderous giggling loons. Batman has to find the cure in a city that looks like its become a nightmarish fairground haunted house. Joker pays a visit to Jim Gordon’s place.
On a purely story level, this issue doesn’t cut the mustard. Joker toxin, really? That’s THE default Joker plan! Oh but this time it’s a NEW incurable Joker toxin! … right. Because that makes it… less unimaginative?
Watching ordinary people turn against Batman? Seen it before a thousand times. Bruce seeing his parents die again - doesn’t he see this every day regardless of whether there are people acting it out in front of him or not?
Even Joker creeping into Gordon’s house - hiding under his bed no less! - felt like a much crappier version of Joker’s chilling entrance in Death of the Family. That was an indicator of the cheap horror “scares” in this issue. And that’s pretty much it. Well, that’s very disappointing.
The weak story alone would make for an unexpectedly poor Snyder/Capullo Batman comic but worse - much worse - is what Snyder appears to be doing with Joker this time around.
It’s implied that Joker is essentially not human and is some kind of supernatural demon.
WHAT!?
Joker appears in photos dating back to the 1940s looking as he does now. He’s shot at point blank range but does not die. He burns to death but continues to live.
Yikes. That’s very wrong, to me anyway. Joker’s sinister nature has always been most terrifying because he’s human - he represents the worst of our nature, it also makes him fallible and the perfect foil for Batman, another human. Taking that away and making him seem like an actual ghoul is a horrible misstep.
Another way of looking at this development would be that “Joker” is a title and that a series of madmen have taken up the mantle of “Joker”, adopting his MO, look, etc. That would take away the supernatural element and explain why there’s always a Joker because they die, one by one, succeeded by another. Is that what the cover represents - a new Joker holding up the face of the old one? Oh, please no.
And then there’s another interpretation for this issue and it’s on the first page: this is all a dream. Bruce is trying out various Joker toxins on himself in a controlled environment to understand their effects and find ways to fight against it. Could everything that follows in this issue - maybe everything preceding it to include the last two issues - be a side effect of the latest Joker toxin he’s experimenting with? I’m sure that will in no way be the solution to this story (imagine!) but a part of me wonders if that scene will have some importance later on.
The problem as I see it is that Snyder’s always trying to one-up his last Batman story. That’s great, and I love that he’s pushing himself to be better, but if this issue does anything, it shows that he’s trying too hard and coming up short. I really, really hope he doesn’t end up making a mess of Joker as a character.
The James Tynion IV backup is as uninteresting as his other two have been. It continues the mythologising of Joker underlining the supernatural aspects of the character. Plus, John McCrea’s art simply isn’t for me, though it is funny that his Joker looks a lot like Michael Jackson!
I do love Greg Capullo, Danny Miki and FCO Plascencia’s work in making this comic look stunning and cinematic like the most expensive epic zombie movie ever! And I really like the design for Batman’s glider/shield combo.
But, sadly, Batman #37 was a combination of boredom and alarm over the potential direction this story is headed. I hope I’m wrong on all counts and the series seriously picks up next month.
It’s one of my favourite Joker panels; it was at the end of Death of the Family and Bruce is talking to Alfred about Joker, recalling a time when he - as Bruce Wayne, not Batman - went to visit Joker in Arkham. Joker had his back to him then turned and looked through him vacantly, and Bruce wondered if he knew his secret identity - or even if he cared. And what would that mean? But that look in Joker’s eyes in that panel - wow.
In a nice nod back to that arc, Bruce’s question is answered at the end of this issue and, if Death of the Family was Joker’s warped way of showing Batman his admiration and love for him, Endgame looks to be Joker’s vengeance at being rebuffed - and, man, is he angry!
Alas, if only this issue were as inspired as the ones from Death of the Family! I honestly wouldn’t have thunk it myself: Batman, Joker, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo = yawn? But it’s happened with Batman #37, or Endgame Part 3.
Joker’s begun his assault on Gotham (yet again), unleashing a new strain of Joker toxin and turning the populace into murderous giggling loons. Batman has to find the cure in a city that looks like its become a nightmarish fairground haunted house. Joker pays a visit to Jim Gordon’s place.
On a purely story level, this issue doesn’t cut the mustard. Joker toxin, really? That’s THE default Joker plan! Oh but this time it’s a NEW incurable Joker toxin! … right. Because that makes it… less unimaginative?
Watching ordinary people turn against Batman? Seen it before a thousand times. Bruce seeing his parents die again - doesn’t he see this every day regardless of whether there are people acting it out in front of him or not?
Even Joker creeping into Gordon’s house - hiding under his bed no less! - felt like a much crappier version of Joker’s chilling entrance in Death of the Family. That was an indicator of the cheap horror “scares” in this issue. And that’s pretty much it. Well, that’s very disappointing.
The weak story alone would make for an unexpectedly poor Snyder/Capullo Batman comic but worse - much worse - is what Snyder appears to be doing with Joker this time around.
It’s implied that Joker is essentially not human and is some kind of supernatural demon.
WHAT!?
Joker appears in photos dating back to the 1940s looking as he does now. He’s shot at point blank range but does not die. He burns to death but continues to live.
Yikes. That’s very wrong, to me anyway. Joker’s sinister nature has always been most terrifying because he’s human - he represents the worst of our nature, it also makes him fallible and the perfect foil for Batman, another human. Taking that away and making him seem like an actual ghoul is a horrible misstep.
Another way of looking at this development would be that “Joker” is a title and that a series of madmen have taken up the mantle of “Joker”, adopting his MO, look, etc. That would take away the supernatural element and explain why there’s always a Joker because they die, one by one, succeeded by another. Is that what the cover represents - a new Joker holding up the face of the old one? Oh, please no.
And then there’s another interpretation for this issue and it’s on the first page: this is all a dream. Bruce is trying out various Joker toxins on himself in a controlled environment to understand their effects and find ways to fight against it. Could everything that follows in this issue - maybe everything preceding it to include the last two issues - be a side effect of the latest Joker toxin he’s experimenting with? I’m sure that will in no way be the solution to this story (imagine!) but a part of me wonders if that scene will have some importance later on.
The problem as I see it is that Snyder’s always trying to one-up his last Batman story. That’s great, and I love that he’s pushing himself to be better, but if this issue does anything, it shows that he’s trying too hard and coming up short. I really, really hope he doesn’t end up making a mess of Joker as a character.
The James Tynion IV backup is as uninteresting as his other two have been. It continues the mythologising of Joker underlining the supernatural aspects of the character. Plus, John McCrea’s art simply isn’t for me, though it is funny that his Joker looks a lot like Michael Jackson!
I do love Greg Capullo, Danny Miki and FCO Plascencia’s work in making this comic look stunning and cinematic like the most expensive epic zombie movie ever! And I really like the design for Batman’s glider/shield combo.
But, sadly, Batman #37 was a combination of boredom and alarm over the potential direction this story is headed. I hope I’m wrong on all counts and the series seriously picks up next month.
December 17, 2014
There are only two New 52 Bat-titles whose latest releases I've been following closely with dread and anticipation, and Snyder's Endgame story arc concerning the climactic return of the Clown Prince of crime is one of them. The other one is, of course, Tomasi's Robin Rises arc which marks the return of MY Robin, Damian Wayne.
I actually just read the two side-by-side, and IT'S THE BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE THIS WEEK because now I'm reeling from all kinds of feelings due to both installments. Now I know what it feels like to wait for a comic book issue monthly and literally fear what is inside the pages, mostly because I have no choice but to wait for another month before I find out what happens next. AND IT COULDN'T COME AT A WORST TIME AT THAT!
I've now reached a point in my comic book consumption of Batman content just this year alone where it's seriously becoming bad for my mental health AND I LOVE IT! Scott Snyder is anyone's go-to writer for New 52 material and his major arcs had been incredibly satisfying and resonant in the best places imaginable. Of all that I have sampled, Zero Year is still my favorite while I found both Court of Owls and Death of the Family to be generally grand and favorable in scope.
It's safe to say that if you're a fan of the Joker then you must subscribe to Snyder's stuff because I believe he's the only writer who delivers a consistently haunting and gruesome Joker story for the new continuity. I've confessed before that the big crossover event of Death of the Family last year has exhausted the fuck out of me, mostly because I could hardly remember a time in a post-Nolan world that Joker wasn't so fucked-up and written so darkly, and I found myself unable to enjoy or like the Joker being portrayed as such.
However, Endgame is exactly what I am looking for to cleanse my oversaturated Joker palette, and it's only poetic that the task should be accomplished by Snyder. In its three current installments so far, the story already has a better balance in its elements and perspective concerning the Clown Prince of crime than what was previously achieved in Death of the Family.
After seventy-five years, the schizophrenic, chaotic and forever-elusive Joker finally receives the representation it deserves: Snyder deconstructs what his timeless persona means for Gotham City, its inhabitants and Batman himself. Truly, we could all now consider the Joker as a cosmic monster, Lovecraftian in rendition, who will terrorize and cause discord until the end of time. He is not a person of flesh and blood but an un-killable idea befitting that of Batman on the opposite spectrum. I think this is how Snyder seems to write him in Endgame, and I'm excited for this new direction I'm being taken to. I must say that the journey is scaring me which feels good.
James Tynion IV's short fiction for every Endgame issue has been crucial in further emphasizing the almost mythical aspect of the Joker as viewed by mentally unstable patients of the Arkham Asylum. Their stories offer us varying multiple origins of the Joker which is rightly so. The Joker is not supposed to have a linear and concise backstory. He's pure chaos in the form of man and now it looks as if he is not even human, given the way Snyder has built him up in this issue. I'm getting the chills in a way I haven't in a while.
I'm not sure it's advisable for us to keep staring into the abyss because if there is an evil entity that lurks inside it and can gaze back into our souls, it's most definitely a clown with a perpetual grin and a ready mad laugh!
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY BATMAN COMICS REVIEWS AT:
I actually just read the two side-by-side, and IT'S THE BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE THIS WEEK because now I'm reeling from all kinds of feelings due to both installments. Now I know what it feels like to wait for a comic book issue monthly and literally fear what is inside the pages, mostly because I have no choice but to wait for another month before I find out what happens next. AND IT COULDN'T COME AT A WORST TIME AT THAT!
I've now reached a point in my comic book consumption of Batman content just this year alone where it's seriously becoming bad for my mental health AND I LOVE IT! Scott Snyder is anyone's go-to writer for New 52 material and his major arcs had been incredibly satisfying and resonant in the best places imaginable. Of all that I have sampled, Zero Year is still my favorite while I found both Court of Owls and Death of the Family to be generally grand and favorable in scope.
It's safe to say that if you're a fan of the Joker then you must subscribe to Snyder's stuff because I believe he's the only writer who delivers a consistently haunting and gruesome Joker story for the new continuity. I've confessed before that the big crossover event of Death of the Family last year has exhausted the fuck out of me, mostly because I could hardly remember a time in a post-Nolan world that Joker wasn't so fucked-up and written so darkly, and I found myself unable to enjoy or like the Joker being portrayed as such.
However, Endgame is exactly what I am looking for to cleanse my oversaturated Joker palette, and it's only poetic that the task should be accomplished by Snyder. In its three current installments so far, the story already has a better balance in its elements and perspective concerning the Clown Prince of crime than what was previously achieved in Death of the Family.
After seventy-five years, the schizophrenic, chaotic and forever-elusive Joker finally receives the representation it deserves: Snyder deconstructs what his timeless persona means for Gotham City, its inhabitants and Batman himself. Truly, we could all now consider the Joker as a cosmic monster, Lovecraftian in rendition, who will terrorize and cause discord until the end of time. He is not a person of flesh and blood but an un-killable idea befitting that of Batman on the opposite spectrum. I think this is how Snyder seems to write him in Endgame, and I'm excited for this new direction I'm being taken to. I must say that the journey is scaring me which feels good.
James Tynion IV's short fiction for every Endgame issue has been crucial in further emphasizing the almost mythical aspect of the Joker as viewed by mentally unstable patients of the Arkham Asylum. Their stories offer us varying multiple origins of the Joker which is rightly so. The Joker is not supposed to have a linear and concise backstory. He's pure chaos in the form of man and now it looks as if he is not even human, given the way Snyder has built him up in this issue. I'm getting the chills in a way I haven't in a while.
I'm not sure it's advisable for us to keep staring into the abyss because if there is an evil entity that lurks inside it and can gaze back into our souls, it's most definitely a clown with a perpetual grin and a ready mad laugh!
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY BATMAN COMICS REVIEWS AT:
September 21, 2016
This is Joker in his great glory and he's horrifying!
January 18, 2015
I have read tons of highly regarded Joker stories (TDKR, Joker, Killing Joke, DitF, DotF to name a few) but this issue haunts me the most. This is where the Clown Prince of Crime's nightmarish images transcends from print to your mind, psychologically playing with your mind. What they all say is true: The Joker is on another level now.
While Snyder's story is as always, top-notch, it is Capullo that delivers these haunting images. The Wayne face closeup is hauntingly believable. I can't believe that a comics issue affects me this much.
Ironically, this is the issue which I have read the night before my wedding day, and the satisfaction calmed my nervousness.
While Snyder's story is as always, top-notch, it is Capullo that delivers these haunting images. The Wayne face closeup is hauntingly believable. I can't believe that a comics issue affects me this much.
Ironically, this is the issue which I have read the night before my wedding day, and the satisfaction calmed my nervousness.
January 20, 2015
#12 of 2015 Reading Challenge!
A Masterpiece! Scott Snyder has done a great job with Jokers return in Endgame! He has also unbelievably been able to make The Joker more creepy then ever and that's a accomplishment!
A Masterpiece! Scott Snyder has done a great job with Jokers return in Endgame! He has also unbelievably been able to make The Joker more creepy then ever and that's a accomplishment!
December 25, 2014
So. Much. Awesome.
January 7, 2015
Whoa....
February 27, 2018
I adored this read. The Joker was absolutely terrifying and hilarious. I loved it!
April 26, 2019
The Joker really gets twisted, trying to make Batman relive the night his parents were gunned down. And Jim nearly loses it.
February 22, 2021
Endgame part-3
May 14, 2024
2024 - Year of The Bat (366 Days of Batman)
Day 134
Day 134
August 20, 2025
Joker’s toxins poison the entire city. It’s just Jim and Bats now…
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2015
2.5
I can't tell how much i hated this issue.The old classic Joker with the same plans and toxins.I thought Snyder passed that level a long time ago.
and what's with the supernatutal demon theory of Joker?!
seriously the most terrifying about Joker that he is HUMAN-he represents the worst of our nature- what makes him the perfect foil for batman.
Another theory that a series of madmen have taken thw mantle of joker adopting his look,MO,etc. and that's explain why there is always a Joker because they die succeeded by another.
Is that what the cover represents a new joker holds the face of the old one?!!! oh please noo,not that theory.
OR this is all a dream.
I can't tell how much i hated this issue.The old classic Joker with the same plans and toxins.I thought Snyder passed that level a long time ago.
and what's with the supernatutal demon theory of Joker?!
seriously the most terrifying about Joker that he is HUMAN-he represents the worst of our nature- what makes him the perfect foil for batman.
Another theory that a series of madmen have taken thw mantle of joker adopting his look,MO,etc. and that's explain why there is always a Joker because they die succeeded by another.
Is that what the cover represents a new joker holds the face of the old one?!!! oh please noo,not that theory.
OR this is all a dream.
March 20, 2015
This is so awesome!The plot and artwork and just everything about it.Joker AGAIN comes back to life and has released a gas in Gotham city which has reached almost everyone.Batman has a mission to go find a cure and only has a couple of hours before everyone turns permanently into joker zombies!
May 4, 2015
A messy issue
February 3, 2017
Joker has spread an incurable Joker virus that airborne all over Gotham and gone to ground.
April 25, 2017
Maybe she is the key.
Oh shit this is soooo messed up. Is like a pandemonium in Gotham!
It looks like hell is not going away and The joker is worst than ever.
This is awesome!!!!
Oh shit this is soooo messed up. Is like a pandemonium in Gotham!
It looks like hell is not going away and The joker is worst than ever.
This is awesome!!!!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews