Batman #25: THE WAR OF JOKES AND RIDDLES

[Dispenser Of Truth]

ComicsAlliance got some June Batman solicits. And at the top:



BATMAN #25
Written by TOM KING • Art and cover by MIKEL JANIN • Variant cover by TIM SALE
“The War of Jokes and Riddles” part one! Don’t miss this extra-sized anniversary issue! In his own words, Bruce Wayne narrates a harrowing, never-before-told story of the Dark Knight’s greatest failure…and the horrors it unleashed! In the spirit of YEAR ONE and THE LONG HALLOWEEN, prepare to see a side of Batman you’ve never seen before—get in on the ground floor of a classic Batman epic in the making!
On sale JUNE 21 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T

I totally thought that was a borderline-throwaway cool background concept we'd maybe get fleshed out later when relevant to whatever Riddler's got going on, but hot damn. King and Janin doing a standalone Joker vs. Riddler story with Batman stuck in the middle, and since it's a flashback, A. It probably won't have to deal with the "3 Jokers" business, and B. There's a good chance we'll finally see King's take on Bruce and Dick as Batman and Robin. Dream arc material.

[JBatmanFan05]

In the spirit of YEAR ONE and THE LONG HALLOWEEN

If this ends up the case and it is not "in the spirit" of Zero Year, then I will be excited. I'm really pre-FP when it comes to early Batman career, so I will be irked mightily if this goes too radical, too New 52.

There's a good chance we'll finally see King's take on Bruce and Dick as Batman and Robin. Dream arc material.

I wouldn't say "good chance" yet as we just don't know where this one will land precisely chronology-wise. This could be right before Batman & Robin for all we know. But it also could be the excuse for King to get to do the original dynamic duo.

[Atlanta96]

I hope the story alternates between past and present and isn't overwhelmingly told in flashback. If it is I'll be super disappointed, the Bat-books should be moving forwards, not spending an 8 issue arc stuck in the past.

[Avi]

That cover looks awesome. Maybe I'll get back to Batman for this.

[joybeans]

Shit, I'm hyped

[SiegePerilous02]

Joker, Riddler, Janin and possibly the original (and best) Dynamic Duo?

You had me at hello, Mr. King.

[Maxpower00044]

I was just saying to myself when reading yesterday's issue "wonder if we'll ever actually know what 'The War of Jokes and Riddles' is?". So stoked that we are getting to find out. Plus, it's awesome that we're getting the amazing Mikel Janin to do it!

[Thom1]

I'm excited as I love everything that King's done so far. I really like the big push the Riddler has gotten over the last few years, despite not having any sort of media tie-in. Maybe he's more in the zeitgeist because of all of those Riddler trophies people have had to collect in the Arkham games. I just wish this had a snappier title, as it is it feels really clunky.

[Frontier]

King's been teasing this for a while now so it'll be interesting to see what happened and how it will tie-in to the present-day events.

I'm definitely interested to see how King writes Joker and the possibility that we may see Dick as Robin in this, depending on when it's set. I'm curious how early into Batman's career this happened.

I wonder if he'll be using the New 52 suit or a variant of the Zero Year costume? On the cover it looks like there's the armor from the New 52 suit.

Also interesting that Batman views what happened as his "greatest failure," while Riddler is still holding a grudge over what happened.

As far as the other solicits...

To be fair, Jon and Damian didn't have much of a friendship to ruin anyways .

So I guess we're finally going to meet the partner/ally of Batman's that went completely rogue in All-Star. Is it someone we'd know?

[The Whovian]

So it sounds and looks like from the two cards that the Joker and Riddle team up against Batman. Sounds cool.

[Godlike13]

Thats a cool title for a Batman story.

[dan12456]

Most excited I've been for an arc of King's run. And that's with me being tired of the Joker. But the concept is just too great.

[JasonTodd428]

I'm looking forward to this. I'm loving what King's been doing so far and this looks like it will be interesting. I'm also liking how much attention Riddler is getting in the last few years and can't wait to see King's take on him and on Joker.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I hope the story alternates between past and present and isn't overwhelmingly told in flashback. If it is I'll be super disappointed, the Bat-books should be moving forwards, not spending an 8 issue arc stuck in the past.

It's mentioned that it'll be narrated in the present, but I do expect that this'll be largely standalone, i.e. there won't be many obvious dangling threads plotwise even if stuff from this does play out further down the line. This seems to be getting set up as a prestige arc they want to stand alongside other Batman classics, so while I don't imagine it'll constitute a break for the larger series (if nothing else, things are clearly going to play out in the present with the Riddler at some point, and whatever's going on with Joker might spin out of this in part), I don't think we're going to get huge developments for Gotham Girl or Duke either that require you to read the rest of the run to appreciate what's going on, or leave you feeling you got an incomplete experience if you don't keep going.

[DebkoX]

I hope it is fantastic, but I hate how they claim it'll be fantastic already lol.