Some thoughts about Batman: The Joker War Zone #1

What are the Joker's plans now?

The Joker War is being felt around Gotham and both heroes and villains are reacting in their own different ways.

A new special is here reflecting on how multiple characters deal with the Joker War event and, despite of how predictable that story is, there are a few interesting tales.

The first one is written by James Tynion IV about how Bane handles the Joker's presence and, despite that Tynion himself is the one responsible for the creatively bankrupt crossover, this offers some compelling character moments where the Joker criticizes Bane for his poor plans during Tom King's run (Mind you, this is mostly to glorify the Joker so I don't know if a bad writer should criticize another bad writer but whatever) while at the same time promising more of Bane for the future. Guillem March's artwork is pretty appealing thanks to his expressive characters.

John Ridley arrives with a story about the Fox family during this whole ordeal and touches a few overused but solidly executed moments of social commentary. Oliver Coipel no less handles the art here and is as expressive and accurate as you would expect.

Joshua Williamson is here writing a segment featuring Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown and is a pretty fun little adventure while Williamson returns them to their more classic personalities and looks (although I do prefer Steph to have a domino mask to see her expressions), you can always count on Williamson to fix characters. David LaFuente's art is semi-cartoony and pretty fitting for the story.

Poison Ivy gets the spotlight handled by Sam Johns where her hate for humanity and love for Harley are emphasized while also hinting at a bigger story for her in the future, well-executed overall. Laura Braga's pencils are pretty vibrant and expressive.

Finally, the Clownhunter gets a segment by James Tynion IV (Of course) where his mission and enemies are nicely depicted, surprisingly his identity is no one I can recognize which is appreciated at least. James Stokoe provides the pencils and his work is probably the most unique here with a distinctive style and storytelling.

Not bad overall, probably better than most of the event.