5. Soft Targets - Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka And Michael Lark
Joker has rigged Gotham City with timed sniper rifles with cameras attached, broadcasting his high-profile assassinations on the internet. As city officials get picked off one by one, and Batman seemingly unable to help, it's up to the GCPD to bring down the Joker themselves. But with timers in place showing a countdown, they're in a race against time until the next death... and the next... and the next... If you loved The Dark Knight and who didn't? you'll notice a lot of similarities between this comic and that movie. The remote sniper rifles, Joker's taunting of his crimes via video, even the scenes towards the end when the city's populace, terrified by the threat of bombs placed throughout the city, attempt to leave en masse; a strong case could be made for Soft Targets being a major influence on Christopher Nolan's acclaimed film. It's a comic that really shows how deadly Joker can be and how helpless the GCPD are without Batman the blasé attitude that Batman will stop the Joker, they don't need to do anything, reveals Gotham's weakness that Batman has engendered through his very presence. Joker's scheme also reveals how intelligent he must be to pull off something as complex as his plan someone who is dismissed as "mad" or "insane" simply couldn't pull off something like this. If you want to read it, the four issue story is collected in Gotham Central, Volume 2: Jokers and Madmen.