Batman #97: No Clothes in Eden

“The Joker War” continues as we formally meet the Clownhunter. Just a quick pause here to note that Clayton Cowles, Eisner Award Winning letterer, uses four distinct lettering techniques throughout this issue, not counting the occassional accentuation through “shouting”. He doesn’t have to do that but boy is it visually appealing, particularly in the case of “i’m clownhunter” as seen below.

The meat of this issue deals with the slow realization by Punchline that perhaps there are just a few too many days of “wine and roses” and not enough of “riot squads and fire hoses” in her time with Clown Prince of Crime. Her impatience with his slowly developing and absurdly convoluted plan feels like the most palpable, most salient bit of information in this issue. There is a bit of a narrative slow down as that plan is spelled out, introductions are made and rescues play out (Tynion writes a solid Harley Quinn and seems to fall into the HQ <3 PI camp) but such is to be expected at the midpoint of the arc. The slowdown does not serve to derail the momentum as it often can, in part thanks to the frenetic artwork by Jimenez and the dazzling color work by Morey. This arc is the first time in a long time where I feel like the writing and the artwork are on equal footing, something the series very much so needed.