Batman has returned to action and has called in the Bat-family to help fight back against The Joker before his plans to destroy Gotham come to their fruition. Spoilers for Batman #99 follow.
The penultimate issue of “Joker War” has arrived and one would think that it would be about Batman putting together his final plan to take out the Joker, and it is kind of about that. However, this issue is mostly about Joker and Harley and what their motivations are. This is something that absolutely could work with Harley (and does), but it’s surprising to even attempt that with Joker. And yet, this issue doesn’t a great job of getting into Joker’s head while also showing him to be the homicidal maniac that he is.
How does this issue go about diving into Harley and Joker’s heads though? Because the idea of doing so can be great, but the execution can be exceedingly poor. However, that isn’t the case with this issue. The execution for both Joker and Harley is really well done and does a great job of effectively painting who they are now, or really, who they always have been whether they wanted to admit or not.
So, starting with the Joker, this issue does a great job of getting into his head by having him explicitly stating his viewpoint about Gotham. Now usually, this kind of exposition dump can feel like a drag to read through, but Tynion does a great job of writing the dialogue for it and it melds perfectly into the art, which features Gotham literally on fire. It’s a great way to showcase that the Joker has one goal and one goal only in mind. Chaos. There’s no nuance to him and there doesn’t need to be.
As for Harley though, she’s in a very different position than Joker, obviously. For a while, the character has been shifting more toward an anti-hero role within the DC universe and that’s the clearest that it’s been for a while in this issue. She’s not Harley Quinn in this issue. She’s Harleen Quinzel. She’s someone who wants to stop all the harm that Joker has caused over the years, even if she has to go against Batman to do it. This is honestly the best that she’s been outside of Harleen in years and it’s great.
As for the rest of the Bat-family, they do appear in this issue, although they don’t really get to do much. That will more than likely be reserved for Batman #100 which is both the finale of “Joker War” and an over-sized issue. Either way though, it’s just nice to see them together in at least one panel.
As for the art, what can be said that hasn’t already been said about Jorge Jimenez and Tomey Morey’s art. It’s phenomenal. Every page in this issue is breathtaking and some of the best splash pages of the storyline are in this issue. The two of them working together pretty much guarantee that the art of an issue is going to phenomenal and this issue proves to be no exception.