"He's pure power and doesn't even know it. He's the best of us."-Matt Murdock
"I need a reason to take the mask off."-Peter Parker
"My heart half-breaks at how easy it is to lie to him. It breaks all the way when he believes me without question." Felicia Hardy
I'm not a fan of Harley Quinn, and this isn't going to change that.
Punchline isn't anything special so far. But the idea of her being into Joker's ideology could be interesting. She'll have to let Joker go and just become something equally horrific, but it could be interesting.
But the most interesting thing to come out of this issue was the conversation with Alfred. Could we put Bat-dick behind us for good? Could we actually get a Batman who works freely with others and has a supporting cast of heroes great and small and it isn't always angst and drama? Ok, probably not. But this was still a step in a good direction, I feel.
This arc may not be my favorite (I am so done with Joker right now, you don't even know). But the larger story might be headed in a direction I can get behind.
Reboot will likely occur post Death Metal. That doesn't finish until, i think, January. I don't see Batman relaunch though. Not yet. It always could, but the number is 30 odd issues away from what would be 900. Which it should hit in no time if the books are staying twice a month.
It helps that DiDio, who seemed to be the main supporter for loner Batman, is gone. Is it a coincidence that Tynion is brining back the family the second DiDio's era is done?
Bruce learnt the importance of having a support network/family post-Knightfall. Isolating himself is what allowed Bane to take him down. Same deal here with The Joker. It ebbs and flows. Bruce banned others from operating in Gotham after War Games/War Crimes. He was back to having allies again after Infinite Crisis. Then Snyder stripped it away in Death Of The Family. Now he is back to realizing he needs allies again.
Given how smart Bruce is supposed to be, he can be downright dumb when it comes to his partners etc.
I am not all that crazy about the Joker being the headlining act (again) or that the main story has kind of dragged out, but each issue has still delivered enough entertainment and excitement to make this the first book I read each time it comes out. Tynion has put a lot in motion at this point and I hope it pays off with only two issues to go.
My biggest gripe with this run so far is the focus on Harley. Some serious Deadpool vibes in terms of how the character seems to be artificially forced into books they have no actual reason to be in other than 'they're popular', during which they bring nothing unique to the story other than kooky dialogue.
Even her interaction in #98 with Punchline covered nothing new and has no impact on the story; could have been anyone from the Batfamily giving the same lecture and the effect would be the same. The fact that Punchline doesn't even seem to care about Harley's history with Joker beyond as a point to mock her just makes this worse.
I'm probably also a bit annoyed because I'm hoping this will be the last Batman/Joker conflict we see for a while, and so will have some kind of memorable angle to it (the way I felt Death of the Family and Endgame did, and hell even War of Jokes and Riddles to an extent), but thus far this feels like the most generic Joker we've had in a long time. Any space that could have been spent highlighting what makes this fight different is instead being spent on side characters just being quirky.
People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.
Does anyone here have any idea of how all the events so far (The main line and all tie-ins) are chronologically fitting? The story is good and I'm enjoying it, but it's a mess if you try to make sense of all the events that are happening.
So Batman just leaves Punchline just lying around to get free again. wtf
The storytelling of Clownhunter is interesting, I am assuming he is going to crash this Batman Joker fight And make a scene. Maybe embedding Batarang Bat in Jokers head?
Can Tynion just stop with Harley? She has no business being in the big Batfamily group moment, and she especially has no business being the one to try to tell Batman (for the umpteenth time) that he has to kill Joker. I was honestly disappointed Batman didn't take her up on her offer to knock her out.
I don't even see the point when we know she ends up in prison by the end of this story anyways.
I actually genuinely like how Tynion has been writing Harley as a actual character with nuance rather than the Palmotti version that just feels like a parody. I do think that particular scene felt like a been there, done that type of moment though.
I think Clownhunter will definitely interrupt the fight between batman and joker and attempt to kill him, but either Batman or the new villain ghosthunter intervenes.