Batman #25

Batman #25 kicks off "The War of Jokes & Riddles" in extra-sized anniversary fashion, and the cover sets an immediately unsettling tone — a bloodied Batman cowl looms in the foreground, flanked by a playing card defaced with the Joker's "HA HA HA" scrawl and a torn note bearing the Riddler's taunting verse: "Riddle me this, riddle me that — who's afraid of the big black bat?" Mikel Janín's cover design is all cold dread and clever staging, letting Gotham's two most dangerous villains make their presence felt without even appearing in the flesh. Tom King's ambitious new arc promises a Gotham at war with itself, and this anniversary issue is a compelling place to dive in.