A crime family wiped out, a comedian murdered during a live stream and a trio of corpses dressed to look like the Red Hood, splayed across the grounds of Ace Chemicals - all appear to have been killed by the Joker at the same time. But that’s impossible - how could the Joker have been in three places at once? Unless there are three Jokers: a Criminal, a Comedian, and a Clown. Three vigilantes - Batman, Batgirl and Red Hood - hunt down Joker(s) across three chapters in Three Jokers.
Geoff Johns writes his second sequel to an Alan Moore ‘80s classic (the first being the Watchmen sequel, Doomsday Clock) with Three Jokers being the sequel to The Killing Joke. What, no V for Vendetta sequel, Geoff? You’d think the time would be right - instead of railing against a Thatcherite government, you could cast Trump in that role. Who knows, maybe there is one in the works? Or not, given that the fat orange baby is out now.
Three Jokers is also the fulfilment of Johns’ tease from over four years ago in DC Universe Rebirth, the last teased storyline from that bumper issue (it’s been so long “Rebirth” isn’t even a thing anymore!). So was it worth the wait? Yay and nay. As ever with Papa Johns, I’m vexed by some of his narrative choices but overall I didn’t dislike the book. Jason Fabok draws some incredible pages here too, so Three Jokers isn’t a bad comic by any means.
And here I’ll say SPOILERS for the rest of this review to anyone who hasn’t read it yet but is planning to - my rec for the latter is above.
*
So I’ll just get right into my biggest problem with this story: it’s pointless.
Batman reveals that he’s known Joker’s real name and identity since the first week he met him, but doesn’t say anything further, saying that his name/identity isn’t important and never was. I totally agree with this and wouldn’t have wanted Johns to have given us those details anyway. So I wasn’t expecting to find out Joker’s full deets and we didn’t get it.
But: I was expecting to find out what the point of the three Jokers was. Have there always been three Jokers since the very beginning or is this a recent development - ie. Joker’s latest demented scheme? We didn't find that out either and that was disappointing.
Also, what’s the thinking behind producing multiple Jokers? One Joker - the Criminal - posits that the plan is to make a “better Joker”. What does that mean? Apparently, Joker(s) wants to create a Joker with a meaningful background to Batman to tie the two characters more closely together. On the one hand, The Killing Joke was an origin story and having its sequel also centre around origins is fitting, as is the motivation for Joker wanting to be closer to Batman, which is a recurring motive for Joker; on the other hand, it reads less like something Joker would want and more like something DC, as a corporate entity, would want for Joker - like we’re reading the minutes of a brainstorming meeting about a revision of one of DC’s most popular characters!
And what form does this actually take - making a “better Joker”? Nabbing a vat load of chemicals and throwing dozens of randos into it! How does that make a better Joker? That aspect of the story was completely stupid - what, Joker(s) just hoped that the arbitrary strangers they picked up would somehow have deep meaning to Batman?? What was a better idea was Joker(s) considering turning Jason Todd into the new Joker, or even Joe Chill - both have massive personal significance to Batman, but Jason would’ve been the only real choice, not least because Chill here is dying of Stage 4 cancer.
But what really underscores the futility of this entire concept of a “better Joker” is how it ends. Because it turns out only the Criminal was interested in making a “better Joker” while the real Joker was just going along with it until he got bored of it all. And even then the real Joker doesn’t explain why he felt the need to create other versions of himself! The book’s premise is a let-down because the “better Joker” concept is never realised, or fully committed to, or explained properly.
The thing I’ve seen most Alan Moore fans really get wound up about - and let’s be clear, nothing Geoff Johns wrote was ever going to placate that crowd - didn’t really bother me: the reveal that the Comedian’s wife and child are alive and kicking in Alaska. Eh, whatevs. I get that Johns had to do something to build on The Killing Joke - it’s not THAT bad, it’s just underwhelming.
The other critiques I have are smaller: Batman is uncharacteristically very accepting of Jason shooting Joker in the head - I guess guns don’t really bother him anymore? How is it a surprise to Batman that Joe Chill has been in a prison hospital for two months receiving treatment for terminal cancer - Batman keeps tabs on the Joker’s wife and child, who’re living in the middle of nowhere, who escaped Gotham years ago, but he doesn’t keep tabs on the man who murdered his parents, changing his life’s trajectory to becoming Batman, and living in the same city as him?! Also, in this story Gordon doesn’t know Barbara is Batgirl - which is crazy given how useless her mask is at hiding the features of her face anyway - but she flat out tells him by calling him “Dad” at the end - why??
Ok: the stuff I liked! As much as some parts of the story rang false to me, I was never bored reading it. This is an action-packed page-turner of a read. Johns throws in perfect cliffhangers at the end of each chapter to keep you interested and wanting to see what happens next, from the Joker execution at the end of the first part to the Joe Chill abduction at the end of the second. The showdown at the Monarch Theatre was exciting and unpredictable and I loved that Babs got to have payback of a sort by smashing Joker’s camera into his face yelling “Smile!” - a great callback to the infamous scene in The Killing Joke where he shoots and cripples her.
And this was a pleasant surprise: the story is as much about Babs and Jason as it is Bruce. We see the devastation Joker has wreaked not just on Bruce’s life but on Babs (The Killing Joke) and Jason (A Death in the Family). I liked that Johns acknowledged this, incorporated them into the sequel and delved into the psychological damage the Joker has caused these characters - and did so convincingly. You got a strong sense of the anger and frustration both Babs and Jason feel towards Joker and Batman too, for allowing Joker to continue to exist and create ever more suffering and turmoil.
I also liked that Johns toyed with the idea of a relationship between Babs and Jason. If Babs was going to be with someone in the Bat Fam, I always thought the more interesting choice would be Jason, not Grayson; Dick’s too “good”, like Barbara - Jason has that streak of malevolence to him that adds a frisson of excitement to the relationship (opposites attract, right?). Anyway, like everything else here, it doesn’t stick unfortunately.
Unlike Johns’ writing, Jason Fabok’s art is flawless. This is an absolutely stunning book and I loved looking at every page. There’s so much cool stuff here: the smiling shark, the design of the Red Hood helmet after Joker’s torture, the subtle differences in design between the Three Jokers, the Batman scar sequence that shows the years of physical trauma he’s endured, the homages to Brian Bolland, the numerous fight sequences. I can’t fault any of it, I can only gush at the skill that Fabok used in bringing this all to life - full marks on the art!
Like I said, Three Jokers is not a bad comic. It’s never boring, it looks amazing, and there’s some remarkably decent character work scattered throughout. What stops it from being a great comic is that it never delivers on what it sets up, making it an ultimately unsatisfying read. Three stars for Three Jokers!
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