cPOP Universe - Three Jokers

This weekend, we treated ourselves to a long overdue trip to our local comic bookstore for some new reading material. As soon as we saw a compendium of the Batman Three Jokers sitting on the shelf, we knew we needed to have it! Andrew had bought Kristy The Killing Joke for Christmas, as all good sons do for their mothers, and we were both excited to read what was touted as a long awaited follow up to the 1988 one-shot written by Alan Moore with art by Brian Bolland. We figured that writer Geoff Johns and artist Jason Fabok had three chances to do what The Killing Joke masterfully did in one, but did they pull it off? More importantly, do we agree?

Right from the start, I was mesmerized with the art of this series. Jason Fabok and color artist Brad Anderson not only pays homage to the art style of The Killing Joke but breathes new life into it. It is an art style that is subtle and detailed all at the same time. If you don’t take time to stop and appreciate the talent on the page before you, you may miss the nuances that add so much to the story.

I absolutely agree here. For myself the art is obviously a huge part of the experience. I find no matter how good the story is told, if the art doesn't resonate with me then it's really hard for me to want to invest time into the book. I can sit through a video game with bad graphics if the story or gameplay hold it up, but not with a comic book.

I found myself with many more questions than answers as I closed the back cover of this series. The Three Jokers explores the story of Batman working with Batgirl and Red Hood as they are on the trail of three different Jokers. Following the trauma that Batgirl and Red Hood experienced at the hands of Joker, you expect the story to explore how they are navigating back from that trauma. However, the story focuses heavily on Jason Todd’s Red Hood character while barely giving you a glimpse at the struggle of Barbara Gordon. This left me feeling like the story was not well balanced, and I struggled to not be annoyed at Todd’s brooding and borderline whiney character.

I thought it did a fine job with Barbara myself. I came for the Joker storyline and looked at the inclusion of her and Jason Todd as spice on the steak. My issue is I just have Red Hood burnout. I feel like this story has been going on forever in the books and in the animated stuff. I'm at the point where his complaining, though often justified, is falling on deaf ears with me.

As the story unravels around the three Jokers that are being pursued, I found myself asking a lot of questions. Where did the three jokers come from? Why were there three of them? How long were they working together? However, Johns didn’t think answering those questions were important, regardless of the fact that the whole series led you to ask them. Instead, the story gives you a typical Joker storyline of wanting to be Batman’s main villain.

This didn't feel as epic as I built it up in my mind that it would be. Don't get me wrong, there's some really good stuff in here. But I have to agree with my wife, it just felt like another typical batman story. It really seemed like we ended up at the same place where we began before the story started. And that's disheartening. With this revelation I was looking for Bats whole world to change. This book seems out of canon for a number of reasons, biggest being Alfred is alive, so I was hoping it would have taken more risks.

I found The Three Jokers lacking what made The Killing Joke compelling for the reader. While the latter took the reader on an ideological exploration of the relationship between Batman and Joker, the new series gave the reader nothing new to sink their teeth into other than another superficial Batman and Joker storyline. In the end, the story itself is unfulfilling and offers nothing new to fans. I would have been more satisfied, and left with a lot less questions, if I would have just allowed myself to enjoy the art and skipped the story all together.

BUST

For me it was still worth the ride. The art is amazing! And a typical Batman story is still a really good read for me. Yes I was disappointed that his world wasn't shattered. And yes I thought there were tons more they could have done with this concept. This isn't on the same level as The Killing Joke or The Dark Knight for me but that's a very high bar.

POP