Batman #16

My god. If I had read this as my first Batman comic back in the day, I think I would have been too scared to come back. This is another chapter in the Joker’s Death in the Family arc, basically an exercise in torturing Batman. Scott Snyder is doing a good job; I certainly am worried for Bats’ ongoing mental health. But wow, Snyder must be one sick dude.

Here is some of the horrific stuff in this issue:

• Exhausted guards dressed up and forced to dance with each other in electrified water. For DAYS.
• A burning horse tries to run down Batman. Greg Capullo’s detail with the horse’s eye makes it awful.
• Another horse gets punched in the head.
• A living painting made up of the STITCHED-TOGETHER INMATES of Arkham. That’s insane!
• The second horse is frozen and decapitated by Mr. Freeze. This leaves frozen, bloody horse chunks all over the next panel.
• A man dressed as Superman (nu52 style) gets electrified into nothingness.
• We see Batman’s family (including two children) beaten bloody on some TV screens.
• Batman is graphically electrocuted.

If this was a movie, it would be rated X, right?

Hey kids, comics!

Fair

(It still gets a Fair rating, because it is an effective horror comic. Snyder is good at what he does.)