Wonder Con is right behind us and since it ended Tom King has posted on his twitter profile teaser pictures of the upcoming arc 'War of Jokes and Riddles'. Apart from the pictures he also posted a quick synopsis of the story and here is how things will look like for Batman, Joker and Riddler:







It looks like it's going to be just the next final-days-of-Batman story that King is starting and the fact that King is saying that Batman knows nothing barely holds any relevance when we know how big and elaborated plans King always prepares for Batman even if he seems to be doomed.

He also posted the teaser images which show us great interiors and cover images from Mikel Janin who will be the artist for this eight part story.









So, what do you guys think? In my opinion this is going to be the next disappointing arc that King puts together. The interiors will be amazing but just like I Am Suicide it will be a complete letdown. King might touch upon the Rebirth topic of three Jokers roaming the DC Universe's streets because this seems more like a classic Joker rather than the horror-like version that Snyder created.

Even though I am really sceptical about this do share your opinion.

I am not expecting much, Janin's art is astounding as usual, It would be cool if the writing was on par.

Arkham War all over again, bet most of those characters wont do anything and probably just show up to get punched in the face as we've seen in this run so far. I'm pissed that Slade is in it, King is worse than Loeb now. He just throws characters for the heck of it. What does Joker vs Riddler contest have anything to do with those guys?

I forgot about Arkham War but you are right, It's the same thing. Also I am pretty sure that Deathstroke isn't the only one that is pretty busy on his own title, both Deadshot and Killer Croc are still part of the Suicide Squad so unless Waller is going to let them out for whatever reason, Their presence doesn't make any sense. Also Slade in that image has the Ikon suit, I am pretty sure that he beats everybody in the cover without much difficulty.

Speaking of Arkham War notice how King's run has essentially been the same thing?

I am Suicide= Bane storyline from Talon that was a prologue to Arkham War

I am Bane= Bane beating up Bat villains and being anti-Batman just like in Arkham War.

Now this and agreed on Slade, that is clearly the Ikon armor. No character is even fazing him as long as he's wearing that. Though this story takes place in the past so that explains the SS members. Still the idea that ALL these guys were active during Batman's second year is absurd.

I also have a conceptual problem with this story and its one that I had with Arkham War too. Bane vs Scarecrow was never a fair battle and neither is Joker vs Riddler.King says its anarchy vs fascism. I have no idea when Nygma became fascist( though Joker isn't exactly a follower of anarchist philosophy either, Alan Grant must be banging his head on the wall)This should be Joker vs Bane if the theme is order vs chaos.

To be honest, I'm not excited for anything the current Batman writers are doing. Some of the Batman books are passable and decent, but nothing worth excitement. Superman and Nightwing have been the best, for me, since Rebirth.

It's just not my kind of event. I feel like if you're going to do this you have to really make it clear what the stakes are and have them last. Otherwise it's just a grab for money and mostly pointless.

Do we really need a city-wide Gotham catastrophe arc? What was Monster Men, Endgame (should have been the last Joker story for a very long time), and the current Detective Comics stuff. Feels like every villain just destroys Gotham.

Hopefully this one is done right and Riddler gets some needed respect.

sounds cool

When I first saw the synopsis of this story along with all of the artwork of Janin I immediately though of Arkham War as well. I remembered how bad that storyline was and immediately thought that somehow King will manage to make his even worse.

What bugged me is, as you mentioned, that all of these Bat-villains have somehow been active in Batman's second year as a vigilante in Gotham but then I tried thinking if Kind actually meant a year after Rebirth, but that doesn't make sense either.

So this is a flashback basically? A year into Batman's career?

@nathaniel_christopher: my understanding is that it takes place during Zero Year. I'm rather skeptical on the story supposedly it's going to have ramifications for the existing DC universe but eh... maybe the three Jokers will get addressed in some form?

Batman's continuity is the DC universe is a fkn mess and they keep messing with it.

A Riddler/Joker story sounds epic but it shouldn't be set in the past and it definitely deserves the miniseries treatment.

@tdk_1997: Are you going to pick up the comic?

I'll most likely drop it after "The Button".

I really hope Riddler doesn't get low-balled. He's the smartest Batman villain.

I will because I am curious of how bad King could get and also because this is Batman and I cannot stop myself, I must read his book.

I hope this doesn't turn into Gotham destruction piece, too.

After throwing Batman away three quarters into Snyder's run back in the New 52 I didn't bother with King, until on a whim I bought the 'I Am Suicide' arc as well as the two issues of 'Rooftops', and I actually really liked it.

Maybe because I'm not expecting big things from Batman anymore, but I think what I most liked about these stories is that they aren't world/city ending events, they were just really interesting events within the DCU, and that's what I want with Batman comics. Leave Gotham the hell alone, it's supposed to be so big that it kind of exists independently of the heroes and villains in my opinion, and acts as a frame for the action.

I'm not going to condemn this storyline before it's even out, but I just hope it keeps a proportionate size.

The way it's going to take 8 issues for King to tell the story I doubt that there won't be massive destruction throughout Gotham.

Good premise, bad writer.

Or, at least, bad writer for this particular project. He isn't great on Batman.

Just saw the Action Comics 979 cover with Superman villains, that kicks the crap out of that Janin cover. Batman writers, please stop trying to reinvent the wheel and just write a story about a fully realized Batman like the Superman line is doing with Superman.

When was the last time we even saw Bruce Wayne doing something significant?

there is no character to these so called epics, its one big fight and then you move to the next big fight, fights which aren't even well written. The relationships with the supporting characters and the city and its people is left high and dry unless it involves the writers pets.

I could have been excited for this story if it was about Joker and Riddler committing crimes using their respective gimmicks. But nope its just another gang war between 2 characters who are the LEAST likely to be leaders of a gang war with a dozen villains thrown in for jobbing purposes. Does simplicity hurt? does the adage "less is more" fly through their heads?

Lame title.

THE WAR OF JOKES AND RIDDLES” part two! The Riddler and The Joker escalate their bloody feud, and the villains of Gotham City are forced to choose sides or be caught in the crossfire! It’s up to Batman to push himself to the limit and keep innocent citizens out of harm’s way.

Its almost as if this solicit was written to reassert my notion that this was nothing but Arkham War 2.0. Yup thanks for the save DC, same goes for the Dark Days solicit and by extension Metal.

heh

Hahaha, but now, now, this is the crappier version of Arkham War already.

What's funny about it is that when you think about it, Joker and Riddler are not characters that would ever start a gang war.

Yup, I was hoping for a competitive crime spree with both committing crimes using their respective gimmicks to see who is better. It's something that has the potential to start as goofy and then become deadly serious. But that would have required effort and intelligent writing, King wont have any of that, instead he'll give you a gang war with hordes of villains hitting each other.

Now that you've said it that really sounds like a good idea but when you have "the best action writer out there" you can't simply have that, it's not big enough, it has to be the biggest battle Gotham has ever seen and one that will be forgotten in one or two years after it passes.

Most writers have a hard time coming up with riddle themed crimes, I guess adding joke themed crimes is overkill. Maybe I should just stop holding people like King to high standards, he's just another mediocre hack who peaked after writing a few good stories early on. To think that he was looking to be one of my favorite all time writers just a year ago. I'm honestly crushed by the dissapointment.

Tom King was in the CIA at one point (not joking), you'd think he'd be able to come up with more clever stories than just big dumb fights. Like a war that's happening underground unbeknownst to everyone or a cat and mouse chase between Batman and some baddie or an exciting caper or anything that's not the same boring story that Batman writers have been giving the readers for years. At this point, I don't even care if supervillains try to destroy Gotham. They apparently try every freaking week and fail miserably so who cares at this point.

I just want some smaller stories for Batman. Maybe a few detective stories since Bats is supposed to be the world's greatest detective. Maybe something that develops Batman's character and doesn't get lost in the fog of constant boring fights. Hell you could have some big action and not make the story about destroying Gotham for the 34th time this year.

@rdclip: When Bane was announced as villain, those are the stories I was kind off hoping for. Instead we get idiotic 200 murders and Bane punching people and a lame Suicide Squad.

How much of a brain do you need to write a good Joker and Riddler story? Come on, Joker and Riddler could carry a whole Batman series by themselves when written correctly. What are the writers doing? Here are some stats:

Riddler (also known as Edward Nygma / Nashton):

A super genius who specializes in developing complex puzzles, sophisticated weapons, and death traps.

The Riddler has a compulsive habit of leaving clues, though, even when he doesn't want to, forcing him to have to commit elaborate crimes and lay down puzzles so that whoever is on his trail will be thrown off.

It has been revealed that Riddler has superior detective skills also, such as when he worked as a crime consultant during his reform story arc.

Riddler's strength is his ability to make and solve complex puzzles that sometimes have a deadly surprise if his victims choose the wrong answers.

Riddler appears to prefer to work alone.

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Joker (once upon a time referred to as Jack Napier, also frequently goes by Joe Ker):

A man with expertise in slapstick comedy and chemical warfare. His weapons often include a high-voltage joy buzzer, a trick flower that squirts some kind of powerful metal-eating acid, a gas called Joker venom that paralyzes its victims and leaves them with a permanent grin, and a trick gun that displays a "bang" banner.

The Joker is described as being completely unpredictable but appears to also have a habit of leaving clues in the form of jokes and puns, such as what he did when he pretended to be the Domino Killer.

The character doesn't seem to take his fights too seriously, often using slapstick comedy and spewing one-liners at his opponents so that they are caught off guard.

Joker's strength is his comedy, impeccable ability to plan, and uncannily good sense of timing.

Joker prefers to work only with a few henchmen, most of the time.

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There could be a whole season of comics written with these two as the villians, but I bet the writers at DC don't make it look that way.