Written by: Tom King
Art by: Mikel Janin
Publisher: DC Comics
After the quieter issue of Batman previous issue; at least on the action side of things, we return to not just more action packed issue, but an issue that sheds light on couple of other big Batman villains.
War of the Jokes and Riddles is upon us, which of course means we are dealing with Scarecrow and Mr Freeze in this storyline (ha,ha). King manages to bring the two titular characters to life again in his very unique way, they way he brought them life to Bane in I am Suicide and I am Bane stories. It is a very new take on both of them, especially the Joker who makes his grand entrance in Rebirth main Batman title in a grand fashion. He is always a character whom I always feel nervous reading about, as there are so many stories already told, so many versions already seen so retreading the ground already seen could come relatively easy.
King and Janin do take some of the queues from other Joker stories, but they make this character almost uniquely theirs for better or worse. Everyone has their take on the character and some will love this new take, and others will say that it takes away from the intrigue of the character, and both points are valid in this first issue. Personally I do like this new take, especially as we find out what really happens here, and more importantly where does this actually fit in the timeline of the Batman mythos.
Mikel Janin reunites with King here and he seems to be an artist King goes to when there is a villain centric story to be told, as Janin worked on King on after-mentioned I am Suicide and I am Bane arcs.
Here we have a similar style that King and Janin take on Riddler and Joker, that they took with Bane, we see them as “close to normal” as they can be portrayed, but with definite darkness inside of them and Janin’s art brings that darkness to the forefront expertly.
When this arc was solicited this was the one story and one character that a lot of Batman readers were wondering how King would ultimately pull out. What else can be said about this character that has not been said, what new layers can be peeled back? This issue exceeds for those who did want to see something new, lot more sinister, yes even more sinister than New 52 Joker as he makes a character almost real, which is almost terrifying. Closest I have seen this character before portrayed like this was probably Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s Batman, before he became the Joker and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was one of the reference points.
King manages to bring one of the most iconic villains of Batman lore to life, without carbon copying what was seen before, but not going too far on the left field so the character is not recognizable and that is where this issue truly succeeds and is a must read for anyone.
