This week, Favorite Comic Runs shined a spotlight on Scott Snyder's debut Batman story and his latest work with the Joker. The Comic Vine crowd had all week to reread these two epics, cast their votes and discuss which one they've decided to side with and why. Initially, The Black Mirror took a heavy lead over Death of the Family and the comments about the New 52 story arc... well, let's just say they weren't exactly flattering. However, as the week progressed, the the race became a little tighter as DotF gained more and more votes. In the end, Death of the Family just wasn't able to catch up and The Black Mirror is taking the victory!

Scott Snyder's first Batman story received 52% of the votes. Death of the Family wasn't too far behind and managed to earn a respectable 41%. Meanwhile, 6% shamefully admitted they haven't read either. Well, here's hoping this segment convinced them to give at least one of them a shot.

Look, I'll be blunt: if you haven't read this story yet, drop what you're doing (after reading the rest of this article, of course) and go pick it up. Snyder's tale is a legitimately haunting and a completely absorbing experience. Dick Grayson's detective work will keep you guessing, the depth given to the Gordon family is absolutely brilliant, and on top of doing a superb job handling the characters, Snyder also expands the world around them. To make matters even more impressive, Jock and Francesco Francavilla do a stunning job bringing the entire experience to life. They're without question the perfect compliment to the atmosphere Snyder establishes and you'll most definitely find yourself immersed in the experience.

Viner Post of the Week for The Black Mirror is by spidermonkey2099

"Well I think those are Scott Snyder's two best Batman stories so far (though I haven't read Zero Year yet, so maybe it blows these other two out of the water), but I think I have to give a slight edge to The Black Mirror. That book was extremely creepy and suspenseful, and was really just about perfect. Death of the Family is one of the best Joker stories that I have read, but it just doesn't quite reach the same level of quality that Black Mirror did. Regardless, two great Batman stories by one of my favorite comic book writers."

A NEW TEASER APPEARS! We've taken a small sample of the image for next week's match-up. Gaze at it and see if you can identify the two covers before one of your fellow Viners can. The first person to get it right will get a mention in Monday's article. It's not the best accomplishment around, but that'll grant you a little bit of bragging rights. We won't judge you if you celebrate with a dancing GIF. Okay, ready? Set? GAZE!

Don't forget to check the homepage on Monday to vote in an all-new edition of 'Favorite Comic Runs.' If you do forget, you'll make Stan Lee cry, and you wouldn't want that, would you? Of course not. Also, want to suggest a writer and two of their stories for the segment? Go ahead and tell us below or send it via Twitter. Don't be shy, we welcome the input.

Matt Fraction's Iron Fist and Hawkeye?

Both good but no surprise here

Iron Fist vs Hawkeye

Matt Fraction run

It's Matt Fraction's The Immortal Iron Fist and Hawkeye

Also both works by the immensely talented David Aja.

Immortal Iron Fist and Hawkeye - Faction

DAMNIT!

Can I just vote for Iron fist right now? Because I have a strong feeling Hawkeye is going to win.

Haven't read Black Mirror yet but DotF sucked.

Death of the family gained 41%

Ugh...I can't believe that, I know that favorite is subjective but ugh!

@jonny_anonymous: Damn it indeed. And here I felt so smart having figured it out as quickly as I had. Ah, well. Maybe next time...

@billy_cobb: Next time it shall be mine!!

Black Mirror is amazing.

>"Well I think those are Scott Snyder's two best Batman stories so far..."

Who is this guy?

Death in the family was awful everyone should know this.

That's very open-minded of you.

Black Mirror was incredible. There have been soooo many fantastic Batman stories over the years and Black Mirror is just a great example of another one. I preferred The Court of Owls over Death of the Family and have yet to read YEAR ZERO (Waiting till it finishes). I thought Death of the family started out strong (First 2 or 3 issues) but then really fizzled out. I know DEATH OF THE FAMILY was more of a figurative title than a literal one. Nobody in the family actually died while it managed to make everyone distrust Bruce. I didnt read any of the tie-ins but are the repercussions of Bruce's actions being felt in the other Bat-Titles? I liked DotF well enough, but the ending just really fell flat. Nothing the Joker did feels like its going have a lasting effect on Batman or his family (like in the Killing Joke). Joker tricking everyone into believing he had removed their faces just felt like Snyder played it way too safe. I know the Joker is crazy and in his mind playing a sick joke on them may be just as bad (or Funny) but it didnt come across that way on paper.

I enjoyed both of them. So I complain that The Black Mirror won.

Death of the Family was excellent!! ... Now I need to read The Black Mirror...

@ducey13: it's ZERO YEAR

@kaiklown: I've noticed that seems to be the common opinion around these parts. Enough so that it momentarily made me question why I like Death of the Family so much. I questioned if I was missing something or if everyone else was.
Then I realised that it seems to be common opinion around here that The Wake is well written, so I'm inclined to trust my own thoughts over the population of this site on this one.

Jesus I missed the Batman battle AND this one? Man, this week has eaten my time. Anyway, I would've voted Black Mirror.

Hey, I recognize that devilishly handsome username in the viner post of the week.

@k4tzm4n: Heh, yeah. Very open minded indeed. Oh well. :)

Next week is Fraction's Immortal Iron Fist vs. Hawkeye

@life_without_progress: But you still knew what I was referring too

@k4tzm4n: Court of Owls instead of DOTF probably would have been a closer contest.

@maccyd: disagree. I think people would say they love black mirror, but a majority would then side with court. That has dominated in the past when it was on the poll. Trust me, I considered it but I can almost guarantee the poll would have a larger gap due to how well received and popular it is.

@k4tzm4n: Suppose, didn't consider how popular court actually is. Personally which of the three arcs do you prefer, yourself?

@k4tzm4n: Suppose, didn't consider how popular court actually is on the forums. Personally, which of the three arcs mentioned would you prefer?

I loved Batman: Black Mirror, but I haven't read Death of the Family yet, so hard to tell at this point.

@maccyd: Black Mirror would earn my vote.

Somehow I missed literally all of the DotF hate until this article. I thought it was amazing.

I really hated Death of the Family. It felt like more of a parody of a horror story than the actual one it was trying so desperately to be. Black Mirror was amazing though.

Black Mirror is one of my favorite Batman stories of all time. I voted for it, and I'm glad it won.

Not surprising since DotF was horrible.

Nice.