The Joker takes some magic pills and is no longer “crazy”. In his newly sober state, he decides to help Gotham by ridding it of its greatest scourge: Batman!
Oh boy, White Knight is all kinds of hot garbage! I knew Sean Murphy wasn’t a good writer after reading his laughable book Punk Rock Jesus but I thought he might’ve improved after five years – nuh uh! If anything he’s gotten worse.
The only way Murphy can make his feeble story work is by writing everyone out of character. So Batman is suddenly brain-dead, idiotically playing into Joker’s obvious ploys like an unbelievable moron. He literally drives the Batmobile over residential tiled rooftops, giving Joker the reason he needs to show people Batman’s recklessness. Batman – on camera – chokes Joker half to death before emptying a bottle of pills down his throat and forcing him to swallow. He also choke-holds him – again on camera – later on, while, as Bruce Wayne, he knocks out a businessman in the middle of a party.
Dick Grayson and Jason Todd suddenly hate Bruce and have always hated Bruce while Gordon is ready to throw away years of friendship, cooperation and arrests the instant the Joker needs him to – it’s too much. There’s suspension of disbelief and there’s this.
And then the biggest flaw: Joker himself. He’s calling himself Jack Napier here, as in Jack Nicholson’s character from Batman ’89, who was insane until he was suddenly cured with pills. This is just a personal preference but I’ve never liked the “Joker is crazy” perspective which is far too shallow and dull an explanation. I much prefer Heath Ledger’s Joker, a cool, calculating sociopath – certainly unhinged mentally – but smart, thoughtful, articulate, and deadly serious about, and more than capable of achieving, his goals. Not some gibbering lunatic randomly doing whatever, whenever, whyever.
Apparently Joker being crazy was the only thing holding back the people of Gotham from embracing him. Quick as you like they’re able to forgive the years and years of murders, explosions, poisonings, and everything else the Joker’s done!
Joker gets elected to office almost immediately, the poor people of Backport, a poor district of Gotham, supporting him because a black dude who inexplicably likes the Joker tells them to. It’s so patronising. He’s instantly able to divert $3billion in funds – the money it takes to clean up the city after this Batman’s ridiculous antics apparently – towards the Gotham Terrorist Oppression unit, which Nightwing and Gordon immediately sign up for because they just happen to hate Batman now. Joker’s able to beat up Batman in a fist fight after sparring with Harley, who’s rewritten as the best combat fighter in Gotham. Oh and Joker survives a high-speed head-on collision AND an explosion without a scratch.
I mention all those spoilers to point out how contrived, lazy and stupid Sean Murphy’s writing and plotting is. Everything is far too damned convenient and that’s why I didn’t buy any of it, even as an Elseworlds tale (which is the only thing this book could be). Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for Elseworlds and different takes on characters – so long as they’re done well, ie. the story makes sense within its own logic, it’s fun and/or thoughtful, or says something new about the characters; except White Knight is anything but. Joker’s “sane” motivations for everything don’t make a lick of sense. He wants to show Gotham that they don’t need Batman, using the tired “costumed crazies weren’t there until he showed up” argument, because there’d be no crime without him – and has to break the law numerous times to show that?? And what does he think anyway – that with Batman locked up all of Gotham’s performance artist villains would just slink away?
Joker’s origin here is largely the Killing Joke’s which is another problem with this book: everything is lifted from somewhere else. It’s such an unoriginal comic. The origin is Alan Moore’s Killing Joke, Jack Napier is from Batman ’89, Joker believing he’s Batman’s best friend is from Scott Snyder’s Death of the Family, the brutal Batman here is taken from Frank Miller’s Batman books, the Joker/Harley relationship is from Batman: The Animated Series, and the visuals are taken from the full spectrum of Batman books, movies and TV shows over the last 75+ years. The one arguably “new” addition Murphy brings is a crappy slant on Harley:”Neo Joker” – that rubbish won’t last. It’s just pandering to fandom. Perhaps if you’re someone who reads Batman books for Easter eggs and references you’ll love this. And you’re a drooling idiot.
Even though I don’t believe it exists, given that Murphy was going for the “Joker is crazy” angle, I’d hoped for a book examining the Jekyll/Hyde duality to Joker – maybe Murphy’s Jack Napier/Joker could be a fascinating, complex relationship like Smeagol/Gollum or Jack/Tyler Durden. Or maybe a story like this could work if the plot points didn’t hinge so much on convenience – the Clayface/Hatter mind control was ridiculous, as was Freeze’s big gun. But if you can’t make it work without having to be stupid about it – because Batman and Joker are too defined at this point – then maybe don’t write it. Maybe write a different story with different characters to avoid this many blunders.
Ultimately though it comes down to Murphy’s lack of ability as a writer. If you rely this much on contrivance, you’re a hack. The book is way too long at eight issues (that Freeze subplot was so pointless and tying in the Nazis was distasteful and unnecessary), the pages are packed full of too much bad writing and exposition, none of it interesting to read and most of it nonsensical anyway; it is an absolute bore to slog through. I’d forgive a lot if the story was entertaining or if all of this useless table-setting went anywhere unique or clever; but no, it’s another predictable load of uninsightful, unmemorable nothing.
Murphy’s a fine artist – many pages looked awesome, particularly the numerous Batmobiles – but he’s a terribly inept writer. Batman: White Knight is a derivative, sloppy, tediously drawn-out mess and joins the embarrassing likes of Going Sane, Lovers and Madmen, and The Joker’s Last Laugh as among the worst Batman/Joker books ever.
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