The Joker: Year One kicks off today in Batman #142, setting out to contextualize the Joker’s origins. One might say DC Comics shouldn’t try to fix what isn’t broken, but with Chip Zdarsky at the helm, what’s the worst that can happen? In a story taking place via Joker telling Batman how things went down while they’re both behind prison bars, can one assume some of this tale is coming from an unreliable narrator? Whether it’s true or not, by the end of this issue, you’ll realize Zdarsky has a master plan to tie a few of these ongoing story threads together.
This issue opens with Batman dissecting Joker and finding a red pill inside him. Drawn by Andrea Sorrentino, it is vivid and gritty with a texture to it that makes it quite realistic—captions spoken by Batman detail Joker as a devil and something you can’t even kill. We then cut to Joker’s perspective on the next page and see Batman punching straight at us, drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli. The captions are from Joker’s perspective, seemingly commenting on how Batman has no fear and feels no pain as he wonders if that’s the joke all along.
The story jumps around a bit from there. Three Jokers are interacting at one point, then Joker confronts a woman and runs off, and then six months later, another Joker violently takes care of his annoying landlord. The captions from Joker’s perspective convey a man who has lost touch with his identity and what he’s been up to all along. Readers will feel confused, just like Joker, which is probably the point. The story jumps around a bit, cutting to Joker jailed in Arkham, James Gordon dealing with corruption before becoming Commissioner, and Joker starting a barroom brawl.
By the end of this issue, it’s abundantly clear you’ll get more out of this three-issue story arc if you have read Batman: The Knight. That story revealed Bruce Wayne’s past and how he learned from the best teachers, from detective work to martial arts. I’ll say no more about how that connects to this issue to not spoil a thing, but it does add a bit of a learning curve for casual readers who aren’t familiar with that series. It does seem the main crux of this story will connect to the past and I’m already seeing how clever it will be.
This page reminds us it must stink to be Joker.
Credit: DC Comics
Ultimately, it’s pretty clear the main story follows Joker after he falls into the vat of toxic chemicals. That’s the key, but the general flow of the story is wonky and hard to follow, maybe because it’s unclear when the scenes drawn by Sorrentino are taking place. Likely, they are in the future, given the involvement of Duke, but it’s hard to say. A little more detail on when things are happening would go a long way in helping capture how these pieces of the story relate to one another. At this rate, it’ll be far easier to track when all three issues in the story arc are complete, but it makes this read confusing.
Art by Sorrentino is visionary and absolutely stunning. His ability to draw striking and scary renderings of Joker is incredible. Camuncoli’s art is strong when it comes to character acting and blocking. It’s easy to follow how Joker pisses off some bar folk and the fight that ensues.
Your enjoyment of Batman #142 will vary based on how well you know your Batman history. This issue jumps around a bit too much, and seems to require you to know Joker’s history quite well, with little help along the way. Still, it’s very interesting to see Zdarsky show how mentors had a hand in creating the greatest rivalry in all comics. This story changes how you’ll think about Joker in a must-read story.
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