Joker’s got Bruce Wayne’s fortune - what does he do with it? Wage “war” on Gotham. This is The Joker War. Zzz…
James Tynion IV’s Batman run goes from bad to worse with only the second volume, The Joker War. I’d hoped Tynion had something more interesting in mind with this storyline but, nope, all he’s got is: Joker doing his usual Joker stuff. It’s so unimaginative!
I mean, didn’t we just do a version of this with City of Bane? And then before that with Arkham City? And then before that with No Man’s Land? How many times is DC going to do this “Gotham City gets taken over by *insert arbitrary villain name here*”?! And, speaking of Arkham City, Joker War read like a video game storyline in that it was weak and superficial but at least it would’ve allowed the player to fight as Batman against an array of baddies. Take away the gameplay component though and you’ve got an utterly unengaging and indistinct narrative, which is what this book is.
It doesn’t make any sense. Clearly what Joker’s doing isn’t legal so this conceit of the GCPD having their hands tied is absurd. The Joker gangs are literally going around burning city blocks and murdering people in the street!
Like the new Joker girlfriend character Punchline, Tynion introduces another new character: Clownhunter, a random teenager with a dumb name, worse outfit, and even more unremarkable MO: he goes around murdering thugs in clown masks. These new characters Tynion’s adding to Batman’s world are so bad.
Also, in a scene that excited nobody, Punchline and Harley fight - with zero consequences (of course). Remember in Heroes in Crisis when Harley took out Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman all at once? Yeah, apparently she can do that but here she struggles to deal with a chemistry student with a switchblade.
Tynion’s Joker characterisation couldn’t be more boring. He says nothing interesting, his actions are predictable: shoot henchmen, laugh, leer, shoot more henchmen, blow up everything for no reason. The concept, storytelling, dialogue and characterisation in this book are so basic - Tynion couldn’t have produced a less compelling story.
We’re only two books into it but Tynion’s Batman run is shaping up to be the worst in years. He’s got no good Batman stories to tell, nothing to say about any of the characters and nothing original (that’s not derivative and/or plain crap) to contribute to the canon. Batman, Volume 2: The Joker Bore is tedious, uncreative pigslop from miserable start to miserable finish.
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