Review: The Joker War Saga

Quick Summary

Pros: The first half of the book is filled with suspense. The second half of the book has an intense final showdown and a worthwhile conclusion. The entire book is packed to the brim with fun action. The majority of the book’s tie-ins are enjoyable. The artwork is gorgeous throughout the entire main storyline.

Cons: The volume’s opening is a little tiresome in some places. A few of the tie-ins are lackluster.

Overall: This is an intense volume that manages to live up to expectations. The chief positives running through the whole book are fun levels of action backed up by beautiful visuals. These positive features are further enhanced by some great suspense and a solid conclusion. The only downside is that some elements of the opening chapters are a bit dry and a few tie-ins are just lackluster. In the end, this is a book for fans of intense, action-oriented Batman stories or for fans who just enjoy seeing the Joker go all out.

Story

The Joker War Saga, by James Tynion IV, is a thrilling and intense storyline. The volume opens with some great action that leads to a wonderfully tense situation. This provides the basis for an all-out war, one characterized by the drama one would expect from a conflict between Batman and the Joker. The book then ends with a worthwhile and thought-provoking conclusion. The downsides are that the opening chapters feel a little tedious and a few of the tie-ins are disappointing. Overall though, this is a fun read that delivers on what it promises.

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The first few chapters of The Joker War Saga focus on ramping up the actual Joker War. This mostly involves Batman dealing with various distractions while Joker’s forces take over the city. Then, Joker’s plan begins coming together. Readers see he is making a massive play and that he appears to have the upper hand in things. It creates a tense situation punctuated by moments of pretty intense action.

The downside is that this rising action feels a little tedious in a few places. With the entire previous volume essentially serving as a setup for this volume, it seems odd that the first half of this book is also focused on setup. If this setup was just a bit shorter it may have been a little better.

Luckily, things improve as the final confrontation approaches. Batman is able to move past some personal trauma of his own, mostly regarding Alfred’s recent death, and then prepares his attack. He rallies the entire Bat-family and, in grandiose fashion, they launch an offensive against the Joker and his forces. It is an epic final battle topped of with an insane fight between Batman and Joker. Ultimately, Batman saves the day, with some help from Harley Quinn, and the story receives its happy ending.

However, this ending is particularly enjoyable because of the way it is executed. The conclusion shows that Batman doesn’t have to go out of his way to save the Joker. Ultimately, if Batman is forced to choose between saving Joker and saving someone else, he will let the Joker die. It implies that Joker is not as important to Batman as Batman is to Joker, which I think works really well for Batman’s character. Meanwhile, the story leaves plot threads open for a return by the Joker at some point in the future.

Outside of the main storyline, The Joker War Saga also contains several tie-in chapters. These are a little mixed when it comes to quality, with most being worthwhile additions while a few just feel intrusive. The Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Bane, Fox family, and Clownhunter stories, along with the majority of the Batgirl story, are all great to see. They expand on the war while also containing moments that spotlight the character they center around. However, the Red Hood, Nightwing, and Poison Ivy stories feel like distractions focused on lackluster subplots; plus the conclusion of the Batgirl story is oddly disconnected from the rest of the Joker War. Ultimately, there are more positive stories than there are negative ones, which slightly helps the collection as a whole.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in the main storyline from The Joker War Saga is fantastic and may be one of the most consistently positive aspects of the collection. Jorge Jiménez’s work is awesome from start to finish. The environments are creative, the pages are well structured, and the action flows in a way that adds even more excitement to the storytelling. Jiménez’s work is particularly positive when it comes to the individual characters. This ranges from unique, new ideas, like Punchline’s design or a new take on Batman’s costume, to fresh takes on familiar favorites, like Joker, Nightwing, and Harley Quinn. No matter what this volume does, the artwork ends up looking great and making the reading experience better.

The quality of the artwork in the book’s tie-in issues is not as overwhelmingly positive as it is in the main storyline but still manages to be pretty positive throughout. The Batgirl story contains some good-looking visuals from Robbi Rodriguez. Riley Rossmo’s work on Harley Quinn is creative in a way that suits Harley. Kenneth Rocafort’s work on the Batwoman story utilizes structures that double down on the action within the tale. The Catwoman story, from Fernando Blanco, uses visuals shifts to fluctuate between past and present in a way that works well. Guillem March’s art in the Bane story really stresses how creepy the Joker is. The Clownhunter story, from James Stokoe, is wonderfully unique in a way that emphasizes the over-the-top action from this short tale.

Continuity

Batman: The Joker War Saga primarily extends from plotlines in Batman Vol. 1: Their Dark Designs (Review), which provides the bulk of the setup for The Joker War. However, Joker’s preparation for his war can also be seen in Detective Comics #1022-1024, collected in Detective Comics Vol. 5: The Joker War, and Nightwing #70-74, collected in Nightwing: The Joker War (Review).

The general story surrounding Batman continues in Batman Vol. 3: Ghost Stories. 

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The entire volume often mentions a death that occurred near the conclusion of the City of Bane (Review) storyline.
• The entire volume also often mentions a few of Joker’s (Reading Order) most infamous crimes. This includes shooting Batgirl (Reading Order) in Batman: The Killing Joke and killing Jason Todd (Reading Order) in Batman: A Death in the Family.
• At several points throughout this book, Nightwing’s (Reading Order) recent memory loss is brought up. Nightwing was shot and lost his memories in Batman #55, collected in Batman Vol. 8: Cold Days (Review).
• Batman #95 starts by quickly referencing a past confrontation between Joker and Batman at a reservoir.  This face off can be seen in Ed Brubaker’s one shot comic Batman: The Man Who Laughs, collected in Batman: The Man Who Laughs.
• Batgirl #47 generally continues storylines from the preceding issues of Batgirl, collected in Batgirl Vol. 8: The Joker War.
• The future Bat-suit seen in this volume originally debuted in Justice League Vol. 4: The Sixth Dimension (Review).
• Detective Comics #1025 references the fact that Batman and Batwoman (Reading Order) haven’t worked together since Detective Comics #981, collected in Detective Comics Vol. 7- Batmen Eternal (Review). This was when they served on a team that existed throughout James Tynion IV’s time on the Detective Comics series (Reading Order).
• Red Hood: Outlaw #48 briefly mentions the fact that Bizarro and Artemis were temporarily lost in another dimension. This happened at the conclusion of Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: Good Night Gotham (Review).
• Nightwing’s (Reading Order) memory was warped by the Joker across Nightwing #70-74, collected in Nightwing: The Joker War (Review).
• Punchline’s origin is detailed across The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1. 
• Catwoman #25 generally continues storylines from the preceding issues of Catwoman, collected in Catwoman Vol. 4: Come Home, Alley Cat. 
• Catwoman #25 references something that happened to the Penguin in Batman #88, collected in Batman: City of Bane (Review).