The Problem with Batman comics, is this: If you read them, and your friends don't, and they're watching say "Batman: Begins", or the more popular sequel "The Dark Knight", then they're like "Man Batman is so cool!!!" This is a problem because then you're like "I know! Maybe you should read some of his comics!" and then when you go to recommend them, all of the current, or at least moderately so, books are about him fighting Darksied, or him coming back to life and traveling through time, or not him at all but instead his old sidekick who went off and did his own thing for a while and is now Batman along with Bruce's son Damian as his Robin... Do you see? No one who watches The Dark Knight, and has that Comic Nerd Adrenaline pumping wants to read any of that shit! I mean while all of those can be good stories at the right time, they're just not the same feel as Christopher Nolan's new take on the character. Brian Azzarello's "Joker" is the answer to that problem.
This book came out around the same time as the movie, so I'm sorry if I'm using it as a frame of reference a lot, but this book is basically a spiritual successor to that film. This was not made to retell the same story, it wasn't to cash in on the films success, it was a project that ran parallel and ended up being a really similar look into a really similar world. There are no cheesy origin stories here where they try and modernize these characters, instead they assume you know who they are, and by now who doesn't know Batman's rogues gallery? This book is a gritty realistic look into the world of the Joker that could almost literally be a sequel to these major motion pictures.
Now enough with the comparisons, on to the actual book! First off, I feel like I need to mention how amazing the art is through this whole book. From start to finish my breath was damn near taken away. Lee Bermejo, who I haven't seen a lot of his other works, is fantastic here. Everything looks real, and touchable. The way he draws all these characters it looks like something you'd see downtown one night, and piss your pants because it's so dark gritty. Mad props sir! The story starts as the Joker is being released from Arkham on the pretense that somehow he convinced the doctors there that he is no longer insane, and that he is successfully rehabilitated. The whole story is told from the Joker's point of view, and follows him on his quest to get back what is rightfully his. When he was put away all the other super criminals and gangsters in Gotham split up his territory, and he wants it back. So he proceeds to coerce, kill, and terrorize anyone in his path. He is also followed by his right hand man throughout the book a character named Johnny Frost, frequently referred to as Johnny Johnny by the Joker, who also narrates the story. This character is used to ground the story, it makes us feel a sense of connection. Because he's not insane, he's not a super villain, and he's certainly not powerful, but he wants it all. He wants to be Batman's next big villain, so he follows the Joker around and acts as his secretary almost in hopes to raise his credibility. Throughout the book there are almost guest appearances by other Batman villains. Killer Croc is a big black guy who eats human flesh, Penguin is a rich gangster, Riddler is a super genius arms dealer of sorts, and Two Face plays a couple of different angles throughout the story, no pun intended. All of these characters are grounded and could exist in a real world. One of the only misgivings of the book is actually that we don't get to see each of these characters long enough. Joker is the main character, Johnny's kind of just there narrating, Croc is the Joker's muscle throughout the book, and Two Face opposes him on a couple of occasions, but Riddler and Penguin are almost bit characters that you see for maybe a couple of pages apiece. Maybe it's because Riddler is one of my favorite Batman villains, but I just wish they would have had more room to breathe. And other than that my only other problem with the book was that it was a tad bit Anti- Climactic. *Venturing into Spoiler country...*
*Here are the spoilers if you don't want to read them then stop and skip this paragraph!* So the book slowly builds around Jokers terrible crimes, one after another, until he finally does enough to bring the Batman knocking on his door. There is one confrontation between these two, that's not even all that long, and then batman just knocks him out and that's the end. Now up until this point Batman hadn't even shown up, but if you look closely at the art you can see him just watching the Joker waiting for him to seriously fuck up, and the Joker knows this. He addresses Batman at several points and none of the other characters know what's happening. My only beef with this is that I tend to take the Joker as a bit smarter than that and I just wish that such a fantastic book had a more epic climax. The ending still worked fine given the poetry of the dialogue. Plus, given the grounded realism of the rest of the comic, it kind of made sense.
So if you want a fantastic look into the day to day life of the Joker, check this book out. If someone you know likes The Dark Knight, and who doesn't really, get them this book! Or if you are a Batman fan in general, pick this up. Hell even if you haven't read a Batman story in a while, this one will show you how dark one can be. I'm serious, it's that good, one of my favorite super hero reads in a while!If you would like to take my advice, you can Search Amazon.com for joker or click the box below!
If not you can continue to live your life never knowing the awesomeness that is this book...
Thanks for reading!
Jimmy Jimmy
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