[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers!]
Writer: Tom King
Pencils: Mikel Janin
Summary
With Batman wounded and barely holding on in a collapsed church, Selina steps in to save her so to be husband! However Joker has other plans! The two soon find themselves in very much contested fight to the death! Who wins between Catwoman versus Joker?
Positives
Tom King does a marvelous job of giving us so much drama–all in one room. I’m an avid movie watcher and if I was to compare this issue to a movie I’d give it to Quentin Tarantino to direct. Why? Because King gives us all of this drama and emotion in one room much like Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs or a personal favorite of mine, The Hateful Eight.
Here we find Catwoman stepping in to save an already wounded Batman from Joker. Not to give away too much of what happens between the two, King shows us why these criminals, both Selina and Joker, are so crucial to the Batman story. Even once the battle between the two is over, Joker and Catwoman manage to joke about a variety of topics from Penguin’s umbrellas to Riddler’s sideburns, and even how they both respect Two-Face. The history between Selina and Joker is very complicated and it shows all underneath one roof in great detail.
Negatives
I have no negatives about what King has done here. The story was great and well driven and Catwoman really surprises me at the end–and that actually really concerns me. Mikel Janin gives the story more power through the art of the book as every emotion is shown in seemingly painstaking detail. There were moments when you feel the Joker’s need for Batman in his life by looking into his eyes on that page–Mikel Janin gives you these moments in spades.
Verdict
Overall I enjoyed Batman #49 and it seems that any and everything is attempting to stop this wedding from occurring! There are times such as these where you do feel almost sorry for Batman at some point because the Joker makes an interesting point in this very book– he can’t be Batman and also be happy. It’s this very point that Joker seems he wants to demonstrate to them both. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how this all of this plays out in the next issue!