Last weekend’s Fan Expo Dallas was big when it comes to news on the upcoming DC events and arcs. If the announcement of Dark Nights was not reason enough, we also had Tom King unveiling what awaits us in the Batman title.
After the wrapping up of I am Bane this week, The Button will hit stores with issues #21 and #22. In this crossover with The Flash, DC’s detective and forensic scientist will get together to investigate the Comedian Button and all of the implications left hanging from Rebirth. This will be followed by an issue with Swamp Thing, illustrated by Mitch Gerards. King had already unveiled some of these details on his twitter account, as we have covered in last week’s This week in the Batcave, and Gerads has been sharing some panels for it for a couple weeks now. Issue #24 will be titled “Aftermath”, an interlude serving as epilogue for what has already happened in the run and as prologue for what is to come.
And thus begins The War of Jokes and Riddles.
The eight-part story arc will take place at the beginning of Batman’s career in New 52 continuity, dwelling on the impacts of Zero Year. “The Joker is tired of riddles. The Riddler is tired of jokes.” is how King has described it. A gang war ensues, with Batman caught up in the middle of it.
The storyline will be divided in two-issue acts. It will also feature a special guest artist doing a Kiteman special feature – King’s pet rogue – showing the life of a D-lister during the war. King has also confirmed that there will be plot lines related to the Three Jokers.
With art by Mikel Janin, The War of Jokes and Riddles will be kick off on June 21.
