The end of the war has arrived as Batman and Joker have one last bout that will determine where Gotham City will be headed. Spoilers for Batman #100 follow.
“Joker War” so far has consistently fallen short of being a truly great Batman/Joker story, but even the best of those stories can become just that during the final issue. However, “Joker War” simply doesn’t manage to do that. There’s too much going on, yet everything feels so small-scale. In a story with “war” in the title, it has never really felt like it was telling a war story. This isn’t to say that that this issue, nor “Joker War” as a whole, are bad. In fact, the story and issue are solid enough. It just feels like they could’ve been better.
What stands out most among this issue though is its characterizations. Every single character feels right. From Barbara taking on the Oracle role once again to Batman and Harley interacting with each other, the characterizations feel perfect. Everything about each character’s dialogue, interactions with others, and motivations feel right and it’s satisfying to see that.
Another thing that’s great about this issue is that it makes it abundantly clear that this is a Harley story as much as it is Batman’s. She’s been a supporting for the entire arc so far, but that’s all she’s felt like, a supporting character. This issue changes that though. It recontextualizes her actions throughout the entire arc and makes everything she’s done very evident about where her character journey is taking her. For years, there have been attempts to add Harley to the Bat-family with no rhyme or reason, but this is the first time outside of Sean Murphy’s White Knight universe, where her inclusion feels natural and makes sense.
Where this issue, and the arc as a whole, falls flat is in making Joker’s actions actually feel like they’ve had an impact on Gotham. Joker War Zone gave us a glimpse of the city at large during this arc, but during the main story itself, it has never really felt like this is anything that Joker going after Batman. This is a large-scale story that instead feels incredibly small-scale. Sometimes that can be good, but here, it isn’t. Because of that small-scale feeling as well, the impact of actually seeing the Bat-family fighting the clowns is a bit negligible. It’s cool, but doesn’t pack the punch as intended.
As for the art though, the majority of this issue, outside of the two epilogue stories, is handled by Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey who, once again, are phenomenal. Their work together on every issue of this arc is stellar and gorgeous to look. It’s fluid and carries plenty of momentum, no matter if it’s a fight scene or a character driven one. And, even when the story is as impactful as it is attempting to be, the art is still beautiful and incredibly engaging. It’s truly disappointing that this isn’t a monthly book so Jimenez and Morey could be the art team on every issue.
