10 Reasons Why New 52 Batman Was The Best Ever

Each New 52 Batman story, no matter how sweeping and spectacular, came from a place of Scott Snyder’s personal fears and anxieties. And Snyder’s feelings are very much our own— “Zero Year” addressed the contemporary fear of terrorism, “Superheavy” dealt with urban unrest. On a smaller scale, “Death of the Family” came straight out of Snyder’s anxieties as a father about the safety of his family.

Ultimately, stringing all these threads together is the “big picture” of the series, as it can certainly be said to have one. It’s all a big Batman versus Joker story. (New 52 Batman is as focused on Joker as it is on the hero. Joker makes major appearances in every single arc in the series, with a couple devoted exclusively to him.) The overall story is about choosing to see life from Joker’s perspective as random nothingness, or choosing to see life as Batman sees it— as full of progress and meaning.