The Joker War Saga (Batman (2016-))

This collection is excellent. The story is engaging and the art stunning. It does however not feel like the full story, with lots of elements missing which makes it feels a little bitty. What is here is great though and well worth checking out.I had read of some issues with the binding, and sadly this is true. If the text if right near the edge of the page it makes if very difficult to read. While it is annoying, it didn't spoil the overall experience.

First off, the story and art are great. Tynion continues to fix the frankly awful Tom King scribed nonsense. Jiminez is a suburb artist and the tie in issues, whilst aren’t “required reading” are competent and fun enough additions and make this collection good value for money.What let’s this particular addition is the binding, as mentioned in some previous reviews. A lot of picture and some text is lost, particularly noticeable on double paged spreads- normally an artists time to really shine. This is a DC publishing problem, not a story or art problem and it’s because of this, it’ll not be fixed until the next redesign.

So DC decided a while back to try and force us into buying hardcovers by a combination of not releasing paperbacks or so very, very heavily delaying their release you are almost obliged to buy HB if you'l want to read a title within any reasonable timeframe of release.After this experience I will either be waiting for PB or simply not purchasing. It is bound in an awful manner so that a lot of the words are cut off, as is the art... They are selling a product that you cannot read, you have to guess words and fill in the blanks in sentences.Awful.

Good story, binding was really bad though, edge of pages can’t seen easily, should be better

“And the joke rather sad,That it's all just a little bit of History repeating.And I've seen it beforeAnd I'll see it againYes I've seen it beforeJust little bits of history repeating…”“The Joker War Saga” collects Batman #95-100, Batgirl #47, Detective Comics #1025, Red Hood: Outlaw #48, Nightwing #74, The Joker War Zone #1, plus stories from Harley Quinn #75 and Catwoman #25.It contains the middle and end of the story, but for the beginning you’ll need to go to volume 1 of the current Batman series – “Their Dark Designs” - which I have not read due to the last/latest lockdown getting my local library’s deliveries for the last year in a state of chaos.This is still readable, as it is pretty obvious what is going on from the beginning; however, we have been here before, and, well, if you are a Batman reader, you don’t need me to finish the song.The crossover issues slot in to the story where they belong, though, again, you’ll need to read some of them in their own collections to get their full story, particularly Nightwing’s; and Red Hood has got a conclusion to his issue in his own series also.There is, obviously, a big shake-up in the Batman continuity as a result of this storyline, but how far and how long it lasts is anyone’s guess.This was also a more interesting story than some recent Joker-inspired apocalypses in Gotham, and both he and Harley reveal a lot about his thought-processes, though I’m not sure if that is a good idea, as it does put a straight-jacket on future stories ( and “The Three Jokers” is also stuck in transit with the library, so there’s no telling if that has any bearing on the subject.Anyway, it was better than most Joker stories, and a reasonably good Batman story also, with suitably good artwork.

The Joker War Saga Collects Batman #95-100, Batgirl #47, Detective Comics #1025, Red Hood: Outlaw #48, Nightwing #74, The Joker War Zone #1, plus stories from Harley Quinn #75 and Catwoman #25. Which from the sounds of it contains everything you need to understand this penultimate DC event...and it does...kinda.One thing I didn't realize before buying this is if you want to read about: How the Joker got Batman's money? Who is Punchline? Why is Harley Quinn teaming up with Batman? Etc! You will need to purchase Batman: Volume 1: Their Dark Designs.Is this Volume 2 then? No, it doesn't say volume 2 on it anywhere...but yes it is...cos comics.However fair enough right? You need to buy the trade before this one in order to have everything? Not exactly.It's not the biggest deal but this trade while it has Batgirl #47, it does not have #48 & #49. So if you would like to know how Batgirl gets from the events in #47 to where she appears later on in the book (not apparently effected by what happeneds to her in #47) you are going to be confused...or have to track down those two issues. Kinda a disappointment since with those two extra issues this trade would be complete...as it is it is missing those two issues!! The prelude to Rick Grayson's story is also not included but I can give that a pass since that is stuff set before the main Joker WarPretty standard sort of problem when it comes to comic book publishing. My other nit pick is some of the stories are not in chronological order (some of them are) so if you are bothered by that sort of thing you are going to have to flip around a bit... although no where near as much as you would with a omnibus by Marvel. Characters WILL appear places they are not ment to be (yet) in tie ins, but again standard comic book problem.All that aside, this is a beautifully printed book, excellent slip cover (see photos) and about 90% perfect if you have been waiting for the trade to read this event.Took me a bit of time into reading to eventually get to the meat of the story, but when you get there it's all very satisfying. A storyline that I think has built up over many years from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, Scott Syder's Batman run and even the recent Three Jokers by Geoff Johns. Joker War (wheather intended or not) for me atleast pays off everything set up in those books as well as clearing the board after Tom King's run and restoring Batman to his heroic mindset which pressumably follows him into DC'S Death Metal (Batman had a busy time between the pages of Scott Syder's Justice League Doom War)

The manga artwork doesn’t suit a Batman story. The story wasn’t in keeping either. Most annoying was the binding. A lot of the text can’t be read . Expected a lot more for the price. You won’t be missing anything if you miss this story.

Great drawings, but unfortunately an average story.