Batman: Snyder/Capullo Omnibus Vol 2

Welcome to the second entry into the annals of the TFR Bat Cave! 

This time, let’s take a look at a pair of creators that are near and dear to me; Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Specifically, their newly released ‘Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo Omnibus, Volume 2.’ 

This volume was released in November of 2021, and is a follow-up to the Volume 1 Omnibus that was released in 2019. This time around, we have collected: Batman #34-52; Detective Comics #27; Batman Annual #3-4; Batman: Futures End #1; DC Sneak Peek: Batman #1; an excerpt from Detective Comics #1000 and Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1-3. 

Let’s discuss the makeup of the book itself. The dust jacket features artwork from Batman #50 (New 52) on the cover, and an obligatory shot of Batman looking over Gotham via rooftop on the back cover. The spine is emblazoned with the title characters name in bold block lettering. Under the jacket, the book features cover artwork on the front and back from ‘Batman: Endgame’, which looks wonderful even if the glossy black does attract scuffs and fingerprints. The book has a sewn ribbon binding and is bound quite well so far as DC Omnibus collections go. The binding gives you a decent “eye” when laid flat, and is not bothersome to read. This is an improvement over the previous volume, which was bound so tightly that it was a chore to read. This Omnibus tops out at 928 pages, a little over 100 pages less than the prior volume.

On the inside of the book, we have high-quality glossy paper. This fits the modern era the book was released in, and Greg Capullo’s art really shines in this oversized format. The book begins with a table of contents (this seems like a no-brainer, but not all of these collected editions include them), and does include sporadic page numbers. The individual issues are separated by artwork from their covers, which get attention here by having them in color on one side and then zoomed in on in black and white on the reverse. At the end of the book, there are a multitude of fun bonus features. These include variants covers, sketch work from Capullo, story outlines, and an afterword from Scott Snyder about ending the run on the character. 

On the negative side of things, I really only have one complaint. When going from Omnibus Volume 1 into Volume 2, there are some story elements missing in transition. This is because bridge issues from other Batman comics in the New %2 are not present here. This does make sense on one hand, as these issues were not stories by Snyder and did have Capullo art. On the other hand, there are issues in this book not illustrated by Capullo. This is not a deal breaker by any means… it is just slightly jarring when you meet new characters at the beginning of the second Omnibus that were not established in the first. You could alleviate this problem by reading Detective Comics, Batman and Robin, and Batman Eternal from the New 52… but Holy reading fatigue Batman!!! 

Overall, this is a wonderful collected edition of the latter half of the Snyder/Capullo run on the Caped Crusader. I’m very happy to have it in my collection and recommend it to any fan of this version of Batman. For my final Batarang rating, I give it an almost perfect score of 9.5 out of 10 Batarangs! (It should be noted that this is a review of the quality of the book itself and not necessarily a rating of the stories it contains)

If you are interested in purchasing this book; it is available at comic shops, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and other online retailers such as InStockTrades.com. The book retails for $125, but can be found at a much more discounted rate at the aforementioned Amazon and IST. 

If you enjoy Snyder and Capullo Batman, I suggest Episode 92 of The Batman Book Club podcast. Here I discuss the last story in this Omnibus (Batman: Last Knight on Earth) with host Ryan Lower. For other Batman related fun, please check out the flagship podcast for this blog; The Fire Rises: A Batman Podcast. 

Thank you so very much for reading, and until next time… Keep that Bat-signal lit and pointed skyward!

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