Batman #100 Review
Writer – James Tynion IV
Art – Jorge Jimenez
Colors – Tomeu Morey
Publisher – DC Comics
Well, it is finally here, the finale to Joker War. With what has been a series of ups and down and all arounds, its all been leading to this final issue of the series that batman fans have been excited for since Tynion started his run in Batman #96. There has been a lot of mixed emotions about Tynion’s run so far with some fans praising it as one of the best and others who feel it has really just been a drag on of Tom King’s run and haven’t really been sold yet. Whether you’ve been a fan or not, you do have to admit that Tynion has brought a lot of positive change to the series and while not everything can be great, he has at least been consistent overall in his stories.
Batman #100 picks up right where the last issue left off with Batman and Joker having just met up for their “final” battle. Tynion uses this sequence to deliver some shock and awe to readers with Batman struggling with his emotional side due to one of the Jokers many schemes to get at Batman’s psyche. The issue bounces back and forth2 a bit between the Joker and Batman and the rest of the Bat-family as they try to rid the streets of all the Joker’s toys as well as his goons and Punchline. Most of the issue revolves around a lot of dialect between the Joker and Batman and after a while, I found my self wanting to skip ahead a bit because it was almost the same old song and dance we’ve seen time and time before. The delivery of some of the dialogue was very well written and interesting but overall dragged on a bit more than needed. The pacing of the story in this issue also was not exciting and I feel there was a lot of missed opportunities in this issue. There have been some exciting developments in the last few issues, and they were built up to appear as if this final issue was going to capitalize on it and it and it really didn’t. I was really hoping to see a lot more engagement from the Bat family since the last issue made it seem like Batman was going to need to rely on them to finish this fight and honestly they had very little to do with the overall conclusion and were only in the issue for a brief moment. The final battle between Batman and Joker I also felt was anti climatic with most of it being dialogue between the two. Its not until we get to the end of the story where it gets exciting again and I would have to say the last few pages were really the only shocking and entertaining part of the story. This issue is also used to set up what’s to come in the Batman universe and the future of the series looks really interesting and I hope since this new arc is going to be beyond what DC originally planned to be the end that they give Tynion a chance to really shine and show us what he can do with an open road in front of him.
The art of this issue on the other hand is something beyond anything we have seen yet from Jorge Jimenez and it is a true visual delight all the way through. Jimenez really has found his grove with this series and all his work so far has just been a steppingstone to get to where it is in this issue. All of the character designs are simply stunning with more detail than anything he’s done before and Jimenez really creates some exciting panels in this issue that help to sell the excitement at certain moments as well as the overall emotions of the story. I could not find one panel in this entire issue that did not look like Jimenez did not spend hours going over every detail making sure to deliver 110% in this final issue on this arc. Tomeu Morey also ups his game delivering some incredible colors and brilliant highlights that really help sell the overall tones of the story as well as bringing Gotham city to life as its own character. The letters of the issue are all clean and clear and easily read for the most part. There were times when I was trying to read the Oracle captions that I did have some issues because they chose to go with a green text on a light green background which caused me to have to give it a double take to read. The rest of the issue I had no issues though.
Overall, Batman #100 is a missed opportunity at something that could have been so much more. It does have its moments and it wraps up in a phenomenal and exciting way that paves the future for the series but missed the mark overall because of time wasted with unnecessary dialogue and an anti-climactic series of events. The art is for sure its saving grace however, delivering some of the most beautiful character designs and overall visuals we have seen in any Batman story. If you’ve been reading the series so far, it is definitely worth picking this issue up to get an end to this arc but if you haven’t been reading, there’s not much here for you to get into other than the beginning of the next arc.
Batman #100 is in stores now and is also available via digital download from your preferred digital marketplace.
-Wes Greer
Art – Jorge Jimenez
Colors – Tomeu Morey
Publisher – DC Comics
Well, it is finally here, the finale to Joker War. With what has been a series of ups and down and all arounds, its all been leading to this final issue of the series that batman fans have been excited for since Tynion started his run in Batman #96. There has been a lot of mixed emotions about Tynion’s run so far with some fans praising it as one of the best and others who feel it has really just been a drag on of Tom King’s run and haven’t really been sold yet. Whether you’ve been a fan or not, you do have to admit that Tynion has brought a lot of positive change to the series and while not everything can be great, he has at least been consistent overall in his stories.
Batman #100 picks up right where the last issue left off with Batman and Joker having just met up for their “final” battle. Tynion uses this sequence to deliver some shock and awe to readers with Batman struggling with his emotional side due to one of the Jokers many schemes to get at Batman’s psyche. The issue bounces back and forth2 a bit between the Joker and Batman and the rest of the Bat-family as they try to rid the streets of all the Joker’s toys as well as his goons and Punchline. Most of the issue revolves around a lot of dialect between the Joker and Batman and after a while, I found my self wanting to skip ahead a bit because it was almost the same old song and dance we’ve seen time and time before. The delivery of some of the dialogue was very well written and interesting but overall dragged on a bit more than needed. The pacing of the story in this issue also was not exciting and I feel there was a lot of missed opportunities in this issue. There have been some exciting developments in the last few issues, and they were built up to appear as if this final issue was going to capitalize on it and it and it really didn’t. I was really hoping to see a lot more engagement from the Bat family since the last issue made it seem like Batman was going to need to rely on them to finish this fight and honestly they had very little to do with the overall conclusion and were only in the issue for a brief moment. The final battle between Batman and Joker I also felt was anti climatic with most of it being dialogue between the two. Its not until we get to the end of the story where it gets exciting again and I would have to say the last few pages were really the only shocking and entertaining part of the story. This issue is also used to set up what’s to come in the Batman universe and the future of the series looks really interesting and I hope since this new arc is going to be beyond what DC originally planned to be the end that they give Tynion a chance to really shine and show us what he can do with an open road in front of him.
The art of this issue on the other hand is something beyond anything we have seen yet from Jorge Jimenez and it is a true visual delight all the way through. Jimenez really has found his grove with this series and all his work so far has just been a steppingstone to get to where it is in this issue. All of the character designs are simply stunning with more detail than anything he’s done before and Jimenez really creates some exciting panels in this issue that help to sell the excitement at certain moments as well as the overall emotions of the story. I could not find one panel in this entire issue that did not look like Jimenez did not spend hours going over every detail making sure to deliver 110% in this final issue on this arc. Tomeu Morey also ups his game delivering some incredible colors and brilliant highlights that really help sell the overall tones of the story as well as bringing Gotham city to life as its own character. The letters of the issue are all clean and clear and easily read for the most part. There were times when I was trying to read the Oracle captions that I did have some issues because they chose to go with a green text on a light green background which caused me to have to give it a double take to read. The rest of the issue I had no issues though.
Overall, Batman #100 is a missed opportunity at something that could have been so much more. It does have its moments and it wraps up in a phenomenal and exciting way that paves the future for the series but missed the mark overall because of time wasted with unnecessary dialogue and an anti-climactic series of events. The art is for sure its saving grace however, delivering some of the most beautiful character designs and overall visuals we have seen in any Batman story. If you’ve been reading the series so far, it is definitely worth picking this issue up to get an end to this arc but if you haven’t been reading, there’s not much here for you to get into other than the beginning of the next arc.
Batman #100 is in stores now and is also available via digital download from your preferred digital marketplace.
-Wes Greer
A Look Inside
