From the streets of Gotham to the far reaches of the Multiverse, here's a look at the best comic book covers of the week!

Is Batman really the hero that Gotham needs? That’s the question that Sean Gordon Murphy’s Batman: White Knight asked last year, as it examined the very real cost of devastation that the dark knight’s war on crime had billed Gotham City with. This year, the reborn Joker is striking back with a deadly secret that threatens to destroy the Wayne family legacy in Batman: Curse of the White Knight.

The world may be burning, society is in chaos and technology threatens to strip us of our humanity, but it’s comforting to know that in the end times, comic books are better than ever. This year wasn’t just a fantastic year for the medium, it was the very best that fans had ever seen. Writing felt sharper than a hotly forged sword, the art on display could put the entire gallery of the Louvre to shame and the resulting combination was an explosion of quality.

In this explosive sequel to Sean Murphy’s critically acclaimed blockbuster BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT, the Joker recruits a savage partner to help him expose a shocking revelation about the Wayne family’s legacy and run Gotham into the ground. As Batman rushes to protect the city and his loved ones from this corrupt conspiracy, the mystery of his ancestry unravels and deals a devastating blow to the Dark Knight.

There’s a lot of story to consume in Sean Gordon Murphy’s Batman: White Knight. Tales of heroes and villains, of action and suspense in a world where Batman may do more harm than good. What connects all of these strands together? The relationships that have been forged so far, that's what.

Fighting crime without his support base, White Knight’s Batman is more unhinged than ever. He’s violent, ruthless and the Gotham City police department has had enough of him. It's time for reformed Jack Napier to finally strike back at the dark knight.

You wouldn’t think that a Batman comic book would have time to tackle the idea of love, outside of the most romantic of bruisings that the darkest of knights hands out with knuckle-kisses to enemies, but the second issue of Batman: White Knight is very much a love story. A romance in two dozen pages from writer and artist Sean Gordon Murphy, that details the positive impact that love can have. As well as the more dangerous aspects of a romance that becomes an obsession.

Jack "The Joker" Napier is a man with a plan to save Gotham, and he can’t do it behind the mask of a harlequin of hate. Gotham needs a hero who the people can rally behind, and it certainly isn;t the dark knight in Batman: White Knight.