So this week I was given an interesting assignment. Al(Our own, Red Lanyard) and another friend of mine, Harry, were asking about what was going on in the Batman Comics these days and I’m not entirely sure if they wanted Batman or Detective Comics but I’m gonna give them Batman because we’re coming up on a momentous occasion for the Dark Knight in the main Batman comic and unfortunately I haven’t been able to catch up on Detective but I’d be happy to do that at a later date.
Also, Have to give massive credit and thanks to my brother, The WiseSage for helping me out with this article.
This article will contain spoilers for Tom King’s run on Batman from #25-#47. I will be going over the stories and giving short summaries of them, for a few, I won’t be able to do them proper Justice but if you like the sound of them then you should go out to your local store and pick up some of these great books! Tom King is the man!
Picking up where we left off, King begins his second year by telling the story of “The War Of Jokes and Riddles” which sounds awesome but it didn’t quite stick the landing for me. I read every issue waiting for it to get better but the truth was I just didn’t enjoy it and I even reread it for this article just to make sure. The problem with this storyline is that it ultimately isn’t a Batman story. He’s an observer throughout most of the 8 issues and there’s something telling about the fact that I genuinely felt cheated by the end of it. The basic premise of the story is that in the first year or two of Bruce’s career as Batman there was a war in Gotham. The Joker doesn’t find anything funny anymore, he doesn’t laugh or smile until the very last issue and he’s killing people left and right because of it and Riddler’s the first one who figures out what’s going on with the Joker so he breaks out of Arkham and tell’s Joker that the only way he can be happy again is if they join forces and kill Batman. Well Joker doesn’t wanna team up and attempts kill the Riddler thus starting the war. Each leader starts rounding up different villains of Gotham and then the war proceeds. Bruce is telling all of this to Selina because he says that he did something during the war that defined him and Selina is about to be the only person that knows about it besides Riddler, Joker and Bruce himself.
This story does 3 things that upset me with certain Batman stories :
- Batman is shown to be ineffective.
- Batman is not prominent in the story.
- The ending doesn’t really matter and wasn’t worth the story.
So let’s start by him being ineffective. Halfway through the story there’s a showdown between Deadshot and Deathstroke that last for 5 days and causes 62 deaths. Sixty. Two. Finally, Batman beats the crap out of them and ends it. This is awful. This means that for 5 days Bruce was just stuck in traffic and couldn’t stop the two assassins that were destroying his town.
Next up, This is a Joker and Riddler story through and through and also a Kite Man(Hell Yeah) origin story. Kite Man is great in this story and is given a tragic yet poignant motivation and even helps Batman win in the end. However, at the end of the day; Kite Man shouldn’t be the best part of my Batman stories.
The book ends with a three way showdown between the The Riddler, The Joker and Batman. Riddler goes into this tangent about how he knew that he was going to be defeated and humiliated and about how he murdered all these people just to solve the Joker. Batman at this point picks up a knife and goes to stab the Riddler in the face and Joker stops him and says “Now that’s funny” then he starts laughing. Then, in present day, he starts to tell Selina that he’s worried that the only thing that ever truly separated him from them is the fact that The Joker raised his hand. Selina tells him that it doesn’t matter and that he’s still a hero.
So yeah, I kinda hated that story because it was supposed to bring Selina and Bruce together and be the first big Joker story of Rebirth but it ultimately falls flat to me in multiple ways. I will say that the issue where Bruce invites everyone to Wayne Manor to parley with both sides of the war was a great issue.
Now, it’s weird that he leaves this issue story and then writes three of my favorites of his. First up is Rules of Engagement which follows Bruce and Selina through the Arabian desert where they’ve tracked Holly Robinson, the young woman who Selina took the fall for in killing those people.(The ones I mentioned in the last article.) The only problem is that Holly has asylum with Talia Al Ghul so Bruce and Selina have to fight their way to her and break U.N. laws/Justice League laws that Bruce wrote himself. It’s a great story and really dives into what Bruce will do for Selina and and about his relationships with everyone around him. Also Joelle Jones’ art is fantastic here, I’m really excited to see the rest of her work for DC.
The following issues deal with the relationship of Batman and Superman and I liked how it’s basically just going through all the major players in Bruce’s life leading up to his wedding. It’s a great storyline and I love the respect that it shows between these two giants of superheroes. Each man spends the first issue explaining why they don’t wanna call the other and it comes down to each one thinking that the other is the better man. That’s exactly how it should be to me. The Eternal Respect of the heroes. They end up going on a double date and then while Bruce and Clark are still key players we really focus more on Lois and Selina. Their Relationship is sold really well here and we get to understand more about why they each chose Clark and Bruce. I’ve always enjoyed when Comics can step back from the superheroics and let their characters enjoy themselves for a bit.
Continuing the superfriends storyline, we get to see this epic of a story featuring Wonder Woman. Effectively, there’s an alternate dimension where monsters are trying to break through and enter our dimension. There’s an immortal man who is there defending us everyday and apparently Batman and Wonder Woman came across him in the past. They promise to return and take his place and offer some time for him to return to earth one day. This is that day. Bruce and Diana fighting monsters for years in an alternate dimension because Time works differently there. It’s another great exploration of Bruce’s relationships with his friends and his relationship with Diana has always been one of my favorites.
We come to the last great story before the Wedding and it’s Poison Ivy. Ivy has always been one of my favorites and this story is a great culmination for her story and really for Harley Quinn’s as well. Ivy basically takes over the entirety of the world except for Batman and Catwoman who had antidotes and Ivy’s just controlling everyone. Bruce ends up in the hospital and being taken care of by Harley under Ivy’s control. Selina is walking through the park with Ivy and this is when we come back to The War Of Jokes and Riddles and I actually enjoy this part of it. Ivy starts recounting when she joined with Riddler and then about how she became a villain by killing those first 5 men. Selina knocks her out and then Bruce is able to snap Harley out of Ivy’s control. Bruce and Harley come to the park and Harley is able to bring Ivy to her senses and she releases everyone. Batman also informs her that she never actually killed anyone, Riddler did. Superman gets Ivy the help she needs and Bruce and Selina discuss how they’re going to be ok.
in #44 we get a really fun issue of Selina picking out her dress while remembering her earlier run-ins with Batman.
Last and certainly least, is a Booster Gold story. Remember those 3 issues I had with The War of Jokes and Riddles? This story has the exact same issues and once again ultimately, it means nothing.
At the end of it, I think King will stick the landing with a great story come Batman #50 which will be out on July 4th so be sure to check that out!
