Batman Vol. 4: The War of Jokes and Riddles (Rebirth)

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Batman: You framed Freeze. Killed those women. Tried to kill Alfred. And from that, it's not hard to see. That...you worked with the...Beast...you... you shot my boy! Enemy Civil War: The "The War of Jokes and Riddles" arc is about the Joker and Riddler going to war with each other over both Gotham and the right to kill Batman.

It's only a year since Batman began his war on crime, and there are two major villains whom started a particular deep fixation over the Dark Knight... Joker, Batman, and Riddler’s appearances in the first chapter of this book mirror events from the first time they ever appeared in comic books. See our “ Easter Eggs in Batman #25” article for more information. Bruce remembers his first encounter with Catwoman being the events of her first appearance in Batman #1, while Catwoman remembers first meeting him as told in Batman: Year One. I Coulda Been a Contender!: Alfred remarks how he's had the prestigious honor of being the youngest recruit in the Royal Shakespeare Company, with many touting him as having the potential of changing the face of acting itself. Instead, he's currently Batman's butler and using his considerable talent to impersonate Jeremiah Arkham.There’s also an out-of-left-field scene where Bruce Wayne calls for a ceasefire and invites Joker and Riddler over for a dinner party at Wayne Manor. Yes, really. Alfred serves them a nine-course dinner as Bruce tries to use his money and influence to put a stop to the war, resulting in a truly bizarre yet utterly fascinating discussion about the underlying philosophy of each villain. It’s the kind of weird idea that shouldn’t work but is one of the most memorable moments and totally feels like it would be the best scene in a future Batman movie. True Final Boss: Flashpoint Thomas Wayne, who kills Bane and gives Batman the final fight of the run, while also being a more personal and thematically fitting villain for Bruce to fight. Bruce has recently proposed to Catwoman but before she answers, in an effort for her to really know the man he is, he wants to confess during a bout of pillow talk about actions he took a year after becoming Batman, in a crisis known as the War of Jokes and Riddles, a violent turf war between The Joker and The Riddler that shook Gotham to its core. This is that story. Spiritual Content: God is mentioned once or twice, but that is about it. While this is rarely explicitly stated, many times in comic books, heroes and villains are almost perceived as demi-gods and this holds true for this story as well.

Curb-Stomp Battle: Batman's first proper fight with Bane in "I am Bane"; he can barely land weak, ineffectual blows as Bane pummels the life out of him. I’ve been surprisingly enjoying Tom King’s Batman run a lot though I’ve also been waiting to see how long it’ll be before he writes his first less-than-gravy Batman book - and here it is with The War of Jokes and Riddles which is mediocre at best. The story was full of too many plotholes for me to really get into.The Joker and The Riddler are at war, each recruiting various villains across Gotham City to their side, and it's up to Batman to end it before it gets out of hand FINALLY! Finally, a solid, well-done solo Rebirth Batman story! I was not a fan of the first three volumes in this series, but this one really made up for it. Tom King has had some great ideas in this series but until now, they've all been fumbled by messy storytelling. This one was concise and compelling, I'd love to see them make a movie out of it!

I also love the look of the Joker in this issue, he's so menacing, and I love that he's unable to laugh, him being so grim makes him even scarier Rogue Juror: The entire premise of "Cold Days"— every juror is convinced that Batman was right and Mr. Freeze murdered a bunch of women in his experiments to save his wife—except one juror: Bruce Wayne.The history of taking old ideas seriously, that’s what comics is about,” King said, while answering my question. “This character that everyone’s laughing at is actually a character that everyone’s crying at.”