Review: Batman Beyond Vol. 5- The Final Joke

Quick Summary

Pros: The main narrative is filled with a good mix of action and tension. The book’s main theme is interesting. The artwork is mostly positive throughout the collection.

Cons: There are places where the book ignores gaps in logic in order to push the story forward.

Overall: This is a book that emphasizes fun and action, even if it doesn’t always make sense. The book features an intense battle between Joker and the Bat-family, one fraught with energetic fights and tense confrontations. This is then backed up by some solid visuals. The problem is that there are places where the narrative simply accepts plot holes in order to keep things going. However, if you’ve enjoyed this series thus far, this volume is definitely worth reading.

Story

Batman Beyond Vol. 5: The Final Joke, by Dan Jurgens, is a mostly positive reading experience. Like other entries in this series, this volume heavily emphasizes action and suspense. This creates a thrilling narrative that remains compelling the whole way through. It also builds on some of the themes developed in previous volumes. However, there are places where the narrative simply doesn’t make sense or where it feels like things just happen in order to push the story forward. All in all, this is still an enjoyable read but, in places, it feels like it could have been better.

(spoilers start here)

Like other volumes in the Batman Beyond series, The Final Joke primarily achieves its successes in crafting an exciting narrative. The book follows the Bat-family’s effort to take down the Joker no matter what he throws at them. This involves direct action scenes, like the fight between Batman and a robot, and scenes more focused on suspense, like when the Joker holds Robin hostage. The balance between these scenes is handled well and makes for a thrilling and entertaining read.

The Final Joke also advances some of the themes and messaging previous volumes started. This book tackles the problem with vigilante children by having Robin nearly die and using this as an opportunity to have Bruce and Terry admit that they may have made a mistake. This feels like a logical progression from what happened in previous books, which never fully justified Matt stepping into the role of Robin. This development also creates an interesting situation that I’m looking to see progress further in the next book.

The problems in The Final Joke mostly come from places where it feels like the story accepts gaps in logic in order to push the story forward. The volume doesn’t explain how Joker is still alive, why he hasn’t seemed to age over the past few decades, or even attempt to set up the heart attack he suddenly has at the volume’s conclusion. There are also portions of the read that don’t make sense, like when Joker is shown physically controlling his robot at one moment yet is somehow able to pick Matt up from the street while still maintaining control over his robot. These gaps in logic ultimately make the narrative feel more haphazard and less tightly written.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in The Final Joke comes from a variety of talented artists and ends up looking good. The first chapter, from Cully Hamner and Marco Santucci, has an appealing style to it that suits the visuals seen throughout this series. Then, Brett Booth takes over for work that is more realistic and action-oriented, which works for this particular storyline. Finally, Evan Shaner steps in for a gorgeous finale that really highlights the varied emotions within the characters. The only problem is that going from one artist’s style to the next is pretty jarring, as the styles are very different. Overall, the visuals here are positive and make for a solid read. 

Continuity

Batman Beyond Vol. 5: The Final Joke continues the story from Batman Beyond Vol. 4: Target: Batman (Review).

The story here continues in Batman Beyond Vol. 6: Divide, Conquer, and Kill (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• The premise for the Joker’s return was established across Batman Beyond Vol. 1: Escaping the Grave (Review).
• The entire volume also often mentions a few of Joker’s (Reading Order) most infamous crimes. This includes shooting Batgirl (Reading Order) in Batman: The Killing Joke and killing Jason Todd (Reading Order) in Batman: A Death in the Family.