“Thirty years after Batman: The Killing Joke changed comics forever, Three Jokers reexamines the myth of who, or what, The Joker is and what is at the heart of his eternal battle with Batman. New York Times bestselling writer Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok, the writer/artist team that waged the “Darkseid War” in the pages of Justice League, reunite to tell the ultimate story of Batman and The Joker! After years of anticipation starting in DC Universe: Rebirth #1, the epic miniseries you’ve been waiting for is here: find out why there are three Jokers, and what that means for the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime. It’s a mystery unlike any Batman has ever faced!”
Feel free to express you excitement for these books or to talk about how much you’re enjoying reading them, but please don’t begin any spoiler conversations until Saturday, 08/29/2020.
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It was definitely a fun issue, but I’m withholding judgement until they give a reason why there are 3 Jokers, how long this has been the case, and what it means for the future. Until then, it feels like solving a problem that didn’t exist.
Really solid opening for this story. Much like with Doomsday Clock, Johns has done a really good job evoking the structure and mood of Moore’s works without blindly copying it and seems to be telling his own story. I can also really start seeing why it took Jason Fabok so long to do this book – it really could be his magnum opus.
I think the biggest thing that comes from this issue is what happens with Jason and the revelation of what else happened that day. I’m curious to see how people will react to that, because I could see people either thinking it adds to the tragedy of the character, or detracts from his will and drive. I’m not fully sure either.
And there’s the fact that Jason just…killed a Joker. That I didn’t see coming. Well…okay, I thought it would happen, but I didn’t think it would happen in the first issue. And Barbara “missing” the shot to save him was also interesting.
And then there’s the Three Jokers’ plan itself. I’m really curious to see what that’s about. Is it to create more Jokers? Is that what each one is, the original creating more of himself?
Overall, I’m very excited to see more of this, and where this story goes.
I really dug this issue, and can’t wait to see where things go. Three Jokers is likely to be the Batman story of the year, and we’re only one issue in.
Of course, I love anything by Johns and Fabok. They could respectively write and draw a story on a roll of Charmin, and I’d call it art.
So far it’s a really good premise, but i worry that we have reached the “jumping the shark” point.
also i wonder: which of them was “rip my face off and mail it” joker?
But OMG what was said to Jason Todd…ohh it hit home.
“you are MY Robin, you wear my old identity, and drive batman crazy while you kill people” ohh that sent chills up my spine.
I’m nervous, because i LOVE John’s concepts and he has GREAT openings, but he needs to work on his endings. I often feel let down by his endings which often are TOO sweet (like doomsday clock) and sort of go against the mood of the rest of the story. I maintain my insistence that it is a disservice to the Watchmen characters to give them a feel good fuzzy ending. I do understand thet John’s didn’t know what HBO was doing while writing Doomsday clock, but i still feel like Doomsday clock’s ending was weak
Theory 1- Big reveal, joker has been more than one person for some time. As Batman was never able to figure out who he is, he’d never be able to prove that Joker is a single individual, and not a clever system of doppelganger, bait and switch.
Theory 2- Every time there is a “crisis” and reality is re-made, a DIFFERENT person becomes the joker. The inter-dimensional mess made by the Batman who laughs, finally allowed the different jokers to converge from thier respective “dark universes”. Essentially Post Crisis Joker, Post Zero hour Joker, ,and New 52 Joker have formed a team.
I will be annoyed if they ignore “joker war” entirely during this story.
Yeah, they have been talking about three jokers for a long time. So concieving the time pierods for it seems wobbly. I suppose what i am wondering if the writers and editorial communicate while the different joker focused stories are in development.
How many issues or Books this supposed to run? Thinking I may hold off to read all at once. Won’t be on here since it’s Black Label (unless they change that!?)… and I’d rather not do another Pay Service monthly so thinking I’ll hold until it’s all Released
I was delighted with the 1st issue and can’t wait for the next! I read it (breath held at least part of the time, lol), then I immediately handed the issue over to my wife so she could read it and she enjoyed it too. The art was wonderful and I enjoyed the heck out of both the story and the writing. Unfortunately, sometimes I like one but not the other.
I was one of the unlucky souls who disliked White Knight, so I was a little skittish about going into another Black Label title with The Joker in it. And as a Watchmen nerd, I was lukewarm toward Doomsday Clock, but I’m not even a little bit disappointed in this first Three Jokers issue.
I’ll be curious to see why there are three Jokers, and are they 100% for really real Jokers? What exactly are they doing and why are they doing it? I don’t have enough information yet to give a good guess, so I’ll have to wait and see.
Overall, it was solid. I felt like the characterizations were accurate. Everyone featured rang true both visually and in dialogue/portrayal (even each Joker retained his own spirit), and I felt more curious than incredulous while reading it, so Johns really sold it (to me).
I was so apprehensive going into this book. But it met my expectations and surpassed them! One of the biggest things I was excited about was how the story would focus not just on Batman/Bruce, but on Barbara and Jason as well and how Joker has affected all three of them both physically and mentally. And while all three characters got a lot of focus I was really pleased with how they treated Jason’s character and trauma with the Joker particularly.
