Now, on to the remaining DOTF crossover books this week!
Batgirl #14
On any other week - any - this would have been the strongest book in the bin. Honestly, in many ways, this book has a more interesting storyline in place because of Barbara Gordon's history with the Joker.
Much like the Court of Owls could be seen as both a Batman and Nightwing story, Death of the Family feels like both a Batman and Batgirl story. Gail Simone has done well to keep Barbara's history in each issue so that this showdown feels like a true culmination of events.
Barbara comes to realize what has happened to her mother, and upon being attacked she goes from terrified to enraged quickly. She is very clearly on the brink of being unable to stop herself from going on a murderous rampage, and that feels apparent the whole way through.
Ultimately, it is revealed that what she perceived to be happening was not the actual turn of events, and she ends up coming face to face with the Faceless One himself, who ends the book with a kind-of cliche but nonetheless compelling finish.
Joker is written just as he is in Snyder's book, so this really feels like it's part of the same story, which is great. And the twists really take a reader for a loop, especially when it's revealed who Barbara has been in communication with. It raises questions, but I'll give Ms. Simone time to let it develop.
My only real issue with this book was that the artwork didn't feel as strong. The replacements did a nice job, but not amazing, and juxtaposed against the Batgirl Annual (which I finally got to read and will review this week), it was really shown to be a less-than-excellent effort.
Overall, this book gets a high recommendation from me. It's certainly a must-buy. Is it as good as Batman #14? No, but honestly, I wasn't expecting anything to be.
Suicide Squad #14
Ok, full disclosure: I know nothing of this team. I have the basic premise and the fact that Harley Quinn has been on the team since early in the New 52.
As such, I'm only going to give basic thoughts on the non-crossover portions. And that works out perfectly since that's all but the first and last scenes.
Amanda Waller reads like a total b****. Sorry to say it, but I was just irked by the character to no end. The line about being accommodating equaling weakness deeply offended me and she came across as disgustingly irresponsible.
The rest of the team was involved in storylines that made no sense to me as a new reader and I frankly did not care about anyone in the book to look further into their stories.
The only part of this book I came for was Joker and Harley. The first scene connected itself to Batman #13 and gave nice background, but really added nothing.
Honestly, more than 90 percent of this book was either inaccessible to me or just pointless nonsense. The only things that make this worth buying is the awesome die-cut cover with Joker's face over Harley's, and the final scene, which gives just enough incentive to pick up the final Suicide Squad crossover issue to see what's next for Harley.
Unless you're collecting all the DOTF books, this is one to avoid. You gain very little from it and although I won't say it definitively because I don't know the book, it's not a very good or even pleasant read.
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