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After twelvemonth of buildup and delay , the second masterwork ofDC Rebirthhas at last emerged . Batman : Three Jokers # 1is the nextsales - chart - shattering prestigiousness DC seriesfrom theBatmanpublisher , in the same vein as the much - heraldedDoomsday Clockthat finish up last year .
Only this meter around , theJokerof the future is really the Jokers of the past . Three Jokersis as much of a derivative work ofThe Killing JokeasDoomsday Clockwas ofWatchmen . The result is something that feel like a cover song – an earnest tribute , with raw elements that live up to , and others that do n’t quite work .
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Batman : Three jokester # 1is compose by Geoff Johns , illustrated by Jason Fabok , and color by Brad Anderson . The primal premise ofThree Jokerswas set up as a reveal in 2015’sDarkseid War , aJustice Leaguestoryline with the same creative squad , and then fully realized in the 2016 one - shotDC macrocosm : Rebirth . Rebirthwasdesigned as the antithesis to theNew 52relaunch from 2011 , a reboot that looked less like 2011 and more like Marvel in the nineties ( including creator credits ) .
Rebirthoffered an open allegory for why its predecessor did n’t work : it blamedWatchmen , the seminal 1986 body of work by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that propose costumed supermen might have serious excited issues . Watchmenwas thoughtful , fledged , and hugely successful . When the Big Two comic companies attempt to capture its charms , they interpret " paying attention " as " joyless " and " fledged " as " flaming . “DCRebirthconfesses this as the failing ofNew 52by makingWatchmenreality - warper Dr. Manhattan the in - history perpetrator for the New 52 change . The one - shot describes this as Manhattan stealing the joyfulness from the universe , while introducing the pre - reboot rendering of Wally West as a symbolic representation of promise betoken his revamps would be systematically done for . ( Critic David Uzumeri refers to this exercise of blunt , all - encompassing metaphor as " Johnsian literalism " , after Geoff . )
Johns followed up withDoomsday Clock , in which Superman confronts Manhattan for his multiverse - meddling . Clockwas a punctilious reassembly of Moore / Gibbons ' work with creative person Gary Frank : the ticking clock of the nine - instrument panel grid , the pastiches of Charlton Comics characters , the meaningful juxtapositions of narration and visuals . Like the moving picture adjustment , Johns ' variation has no pursuit in added subtlety , mould celebrity president Robert Redford as a golf - addicted Trump parallel .
This was n’t the first fourth dimension that Johns set out to elaborate on Moore ’s work . In the 2000s , Geoff was deep into his tally onGreen Lanternand introduced the Red Lantern Corps . Atrocitus , the leader , had appeared once in 1986 ’s " Tygers " , a short GL tale by Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill . " Tygers " is filled with one - off demonic noncitizen that Johns worked into the backbone of theBlackest Nightevent . Moore ’s response was fit for a Red Lantern . In an consultation with the defunctMania , he referred toBlackest Nightas " kind of desperate and humiliating " . TheKilling Jokeauthor accused the industry of " going through [ his ] trashcan like racoon in the dead of the Nox . " That was over a decade ago : beforeBefore Watchmen , beforeDoomsday Clock , and recollective beforeThree Jokers .
IfDoomsday Clockwas Johns’sWatchmen , thenThree JokersisTheKilling Joke , Moore ’s graphic novel with artist Brian Bolland and colorist John Higgins . The Joker ’s attack on Batgirl is one of the three traumatic outcome that define the book , each check off an earned run average of the Joker ’s 80 - year story and thus one of the trio of Joker theatrical role that have been work together in secret all along . The line of descent of the Joker as the Red Hood , also established byKilling Joke , is also reproduced here . ( More symbolically , Jokersopens with a shooter of the Batmobile ’s headlights in the rainwater , the same wayJokebegan and end . )
SinceDoomsday Clock , Johns ' expanding on Moore ’s work has pushed beyond brainchild into technical mimicry . Johns particularly delights in " cinematic " sequences where the book ’s viewpoint lingers on one smear across multiple panels , something Moore most famously used inWatchmen’sopening varlet . The overlap scene cuts are well - consider ; at one point Gordon watches Batgirl leave , but the legend is Batman in the next prospect say " You do n’t need to do this , Barbara " , inculpate Gordon ’s thoughts . But if you lack out on these touch , Johns makes certain you catch the significance ; on the very next page ; Batman talk over Gordon ’s expression and ask if he acknowledge Batgirl ’s identity . Three Jokershas gauze-like depths .
As for Fabok ’s art style , his detailed , realistic tone works perfectly with Johns ’s scripting . In the same way hisDarkseid Warachieved the feat of nominate antecedently abstract beings like the Anti - monitoring gadget look real and forcible , Fabok brings the appropriate proportion to these characters and their violence . Anderson ’s evocative color is n’t foreign and lurid like Higgins ' forJoke , but attain a similar consequence diegetically thanks to vats of chemicals . The visuals earn the ledger ’s prestigiousness .
Why is all that context so of import toThree Jokers ? Without it , the book is fairly incomprehensible . denotation to Moore ’s work and style are largegly whatThree Jokershas going for it . Beyond them , it ’s a moderately standard Batman story , with a central conceit that does n’t really make sense . Are these think to interpret the Golden Age , Silver Age , and Modern Age depicting of the Joker ? They ’re all manslayer , with only venial difference foretell out in the story . The Neal Adams - style " antic " Joker is treated like a forgotten relic , but has n’t he been work with the others up to now ? Why play back the Hawaiian shirt ? Does the Joker just wish to put on old wearing apparel he wear when he flash people to wear around the mansion ?
Best not to cogitate about it . Batman : Three turkey # 1is a cautiously - gather replication ofKilling Jokethat falls asunder on its initial impact . There is still a story to come , but given that Moore and Bolland have expressed letdown with the original , view it less than a career high spot , Johns may desire to think about finding some new screen textile .
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