10 Best Comic Book Moments Of 2017

5. The Joker Gets The Last Laugh (The War Of Jokes And Riddles)

While you could probably compile a list of the year's best moments from Tom King's Batman run and little else (Swamp-Thing drinking tea with Bruce in Wayne Manor is everything, to be honest), for the sake of fairness, it's probably a good idea to narrow it down to one or two.

For most of the year, King's Batman dealt largely with The War of Jokes and Riddles, a storyline situated in Batman's second year of crimefighting as the present day Bat retells the story to Catwoman. The tale does a lot more than just humanise Batman, though - it made us care about Kite-Man. Kite-Man!

That's the Riddler's big punchline too. As a means of 'winning' the war, Nygma orchestrates the meteoric rise of Kite-Man, killing his son in the hopes that it would amuse the opposing side in the conflict. The thing is, Joker doesn't really see what's so funny, and Batman - still in his early days remember - is enraged beyond all belief.

Picking up a nearby knife, the Dark Knight lunges for Riddler's face, only to be stopped in his tracks by the Joker who, having stopped the blade with his hand, laughs himself into a stupor. Batman had been bested, and the person who saved him was the Clown Prince of Crime himself.

The moment made for a remarkable addition to the Batman-Joker relationship, and while more character-defining events were to come of King's Batman, Bruce's biggest failure - at this point in his career at least - made for one of the hero's best.