Joker steals all of Batman’s money, Bruce Wayne now a penniless orphan

It’s only been a few weeks since we found out that the Joker’s ultimate plan to do away with Batman forever is to steal all of his money, and the Clown Prince of Crime has already done the deed. By the end of week’s Batman #93, with some help from his new Number Two, Punchline, the Joker is the world’s newest billionaire.

How does the Joker even know that Batman has money? Well, aside from the obvious, this summer’s Joker War crossover rests on the idea that the Joker knows that Batman is secretly the billionaire Bruce Wayne, that Nightwing is former circus acrobat Dick Grayson, that Batgirl is really Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, etc. etc. It’s already a tough time for the Bat-Family, and now the Joker has all the resources and technology of Wayne Enterprises at his fingertips.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. If you missed the last one, read this.

Batman #93

Image: James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez/DC Comics

The tag here, “Joker’s Billions” is a reference to The Joker’s Millions, a silver age comic story so good they made an entire episode of Batman the Animated Series about it. I don’t have anything to add, I just appreciate a good comics history pun.

Avengers Empyre #0

Image: Al Ewing, Pepe Larraz/Marvel Comics

Marvel’s delayed summer event is finally making its way to stands, with Avengers: Empyre #0. Al Ewing condenses a lot of weird Marvel lore in this one and Pepe Larraz makes it all look gorgeous, but the upshot is: The Kree and the Skrulls are teaming up, something weird is happening in the Blue Area of the moon, and Iron Man is feeling weirdly protective about all of it. Perhaps ... unnaturally so.

Die #11

Image: Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans/Image Comics

Speaking of comics back from the virus hiatus, Die is back, and everyone’s emotional state is just getting worse. So we’re right on track for a Kieron Gillen comic, really.

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular

Image: Mariko Tamaki, Mirka Andolfo/DC Comics

There were a lot of nice stories in the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary special, including the late Denny O’Neil’s final story for DC, but I think my favorite was Mariko Tamaki and Mirka Andolfo’s piece on Jessica Cruz. Cruz is among the newer Green Lanterns of Earth, and the whole hook of her character is how she can still be a Green Lantern — beings renowned for their iron wills and lack of fear — when she struggles with severe anxiety.

Suicide Squad #6

Image: Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo/DC Comics

I struggled to pick one part of this week’s Suicide Squad to feature. The part where they adopt a puppy? The part where Deadshot halts a Batman punch by putting the puppy in front of his face? The part where Deadshot quits the squad? I settled for this one, even though right after this Batman retorts “You want me to call you an ambulance?”

John Constantine: Hellblazer #7

Image: Simon Spurrier, Aaron Campbell/DC Comics

Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell tell a grisly little horror story in the first part of this story, but it was the promise of revenge at the end that kept me on the hook, pun very much intended.

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