Batman #25

Batman #25 offers very little of the Batman, and only one unspoken cameo for his new bride-to-be. Instead the issue sets up events for the comic's next big arc. While the Joker passes time shooting comedians who fail to make him laugh, the Riddler finds a way to bring his incarceration to an end by threatening the lives of the prison guards' children. With two of Batman's most notorious enemies at large it doesn't take long for the pair to cross paths. When the Riddler's suggestion of a team-up for the pair is rebuffed by the noisy end of a gun it proves to be the first shot fired in "The War of Jokes and Riddles."

While I'm not entirely sold on the concept, the brutality of the issue, or the comic moving drastically away from the big news of Batman and Catwoman becoming a couple again, I do think there is some promise to the story (although a war between the two criminals, as we see here, doesn't offer much time for Batman. Narrated well after the events, the issue is able to tease what's to come including Gotham's villains choosing sides between Riddler and Joker as pair's struggle is likely to reign down all kinds of chaos on the city. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]