For a comic titled Arkham Knight, this series sure does like to put all the attention on the Joker.
Spoilers for Batman: Arkham Knight #2 and Batman: Arkham City Ahead
We are three issues into the Batman: Arkham Knight prequel series, which will help to set up the story of the upcoming game. We've seen a few glimpses of the Arkham Knight, stalking Batman as a predator hunting its prey, but for the most part this series seems more worried about dealing with the aftermath of Joker's death.
As we saw in previous issues, Joker's final scheme was unleashed upon Gotham when medical examiners attempted to do an autopsy of his body. His voice hijacked Gotham's airwaves, claiming to have rigged bombs throughout the city and telling the Dark Knight the way to defuse the bombs was hidden within the now abandoned Arkham Asylum.
That doesn't turn out to be exactly true. There are no bombs around the city. Instead, it's revealed in the issue's opening pages that they are all in one room within Arkham Asylum, and Batman is trapped inside with them. Of course Joker's plan to blow Batman to smithereens doesn't work because (as always) he survives. But the whole encounter makes the Caped Crusader come off as more than a little sloppy. Last issue, when Oracle specifically points out that Batman probably shouldn't trust Joker, instead of investigating the issue further Bruce kind of just shrugs his shoulders and says "oh well, let's see what happens." The whole scenario seems a little out of character for the world's greatest detective.
And just like that, Arkham Asylum is no more, reduced to a flaming pile of rubble. It's a rather anti-climactic end to one of Gotham's most iconic buildings and the center of which the whole Batman: Arkham universe revolves. While Joker's plan doesn't pay off, there are a few highlights that make this 99 cent comic worth the price of admission.
One is a scene involving Bruce Wayne using a pay phone in one of Gotham's shadier districts that adds some welcome humor to an otherwise serious issue. The other moment is the final sendoff for Joker's dead body. Batman and Jim Gordon are finally disposing of Joker's corpse by cremating the villain. It's more than a little shocking to see Batman's greatest foe seemingly gone for good, but writer Peter J. Tomasi seems determined to continue writing Joker into the plot even after the clown prince's death.
We get a few glimpses of Arkham Knight in this issue as well as a hint of what Scarecrow is up to, whom we know will be heavily featured in the Arkham Knight game. As for Arkham Knight himself, so far the villain isn't much to be excited about. He talks to himself about destroying Batman, but we have yet to see any meaningful development for his character. It's hard not to wonder if maybe this series should be focusing more on the character that is the game's namesake than continually dealing with a seemingly endless number of post-death Joker schemes. Perhaps it will in time. As of issue # 3, Batman: Arkham Knight is a serviceable detour from the mainstream Batman universe, but far from required reading.
Story
★★★☆☆
Art
★★★☆☆
Overall
★★★☆☆
More Comic Book Reviews:
Mortal Kombat #9
Batman: Arkham Knight #2
Batman #39
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