What should I read first today
Classic: death in the family
Modern: the war of jokes and riddles
I’ve never read either
1 Like
Without qurstion, A Death in the Family
3 Likes
*question
Read both but read Death in the family first.
3 Likes
Thanks! Starting now
1 Like
I should warn you that they’re both really awful stories.
A Death in the Family: It starts out promising, but the characters have glaring lapses in logic, the big moment comes out of nowhere, and once it happens, it continues dragging on with a bizarre and nonsensical plotline that has nothing to do with what happened in the first half of the story. It’s an important story, but hardly a good one. If you’re interested in the history of various Robins, I recommend New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (Dick becomes Nightwing) or Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (Tim’s origin). Batman: Year Three (Dick’s Post-Crisis origin) and Jason’s Post-Crisis origin (look for Batman: Year One and then read the issues of Batman immediately following it) are decent stories too, though not as good as the first two I mentioned.
The War of Jokes and Riddles: The Joker and the Riddler both get grim and edgy, inexplicably recruit half of the Gotham underworld each to their side, and have a pointless fight that’s made out to be the biggest baddest thing that’s ever happened to Gotham but doesn’t seem to have any material consequences. The whole thing seems to be an excuse to give Kite-Man’s catchphrase a melodramatic backstory (which is admittedly mildly compelling). The conclusion is an interesting moment but doesn’t feel particularly earned. That said, the art is solid and there’s one or two cool moments (and a moment that’s trying really hard to be cool but doesn’t make much sense when you break it down), which is more than I can say for A Death in the Family. As much as I hate King’s style, the dinner scene is legitimately really cool.
1 Like
After finishing death in the family I conclude you were right. That certainly took a very awkward turn though I’ll admit one decent surprise
SPOILER:
that part where his mom turns on him certainly got to me. The rest though is sadly forgettable
2 Likes
I say a Death in the Family. But I might be biased
Yeah, when it comes to the personal stuff with Bruce and Jason, Death in the Family is really good, but it goes off the rails with the whole “Iranian diplomat” stuff and just reeks of ham-fisted half-assed attempts to insert current events solely to be edgy.