From the sadistic mind of Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) and the twisted art of Lee Bermejo comes the graphic novel Joker.
Welcome Home, Joker
The Clown Prince of Crime has just been released from Arkham Asylum seemingly inexplicably, although Joker himself does supply a possible reason, ambiguous as it is: “Well . . . I’m not crazy anymore . . . just mad.” He is angry (furious, in fact) that, while away, his evil empire fell into incapable hands, divvied up between mob bosses and super-villains. Now, driven by Killer Croc’s muscle, Penguin’s money, Riddler’s stolen goods, Harley Quinn’s company, and Two-Face’s animosity, Joker plans to exact his revenge as only he can.
Ironically, the narrator of the novel happens to be Joker’s unwitting but ambitious chauffeur Jonny Frost, a low-life thug with dreams of becoming somebody by earning his way into Joker’s fold. Through Jonny’s eyes, the reader witnesses Joker commit a lengthy string of heinous crimes, namely gory (and often senseless) murder. After all, Joker’s idea of the greatest punch-line is death.
Not Your Traditional Joker
This particular Joker bears little resemblance to that of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke or Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Rather than joy buzzers and Joker Juice, Azzarello delivers victims flayed alive, straight-razor assaults, and lynchings. This particular version of Gotham City serves as much more than just a backdrop; instead, it’s essentially another character, whose shadowy, mucky underbelly the Joker’s gang explores extensively (scandalous strip clubs, cannibalistic meat lockers, etc.). Azzarello and Bermejo’s vision of Joker more closely resembles Heath Ledger’s incarnation from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
Joker Vs. The Dark Knight
Much has been made of the similarities between Joker and The Dark Knight. Although Azzarello and Bermejo claim to have started working on Joker long before anything Dark Knight-related leaked onto the Internet, it’s difficult to deny the eerie resemblance between this Joker and Ledger’s. The clothes, hair, makeup, posture, these are all the same; the only differences seem to be this Joker’s true Glasgow Smile and his propensity to be even more psychotic and show even less empathy. Regardless of who inspired whom, though, Joker can be read as the perfect sequel to The Dark Knight.
Joker: Anti-Hero?
Azzarello plays it safe by utilizing a narrator other than Joker because it would prove impossible to make sense of the Clown Prince of Crime’s inner thoughts and intentions. Such an effort would only come off as a kaleidoscopic and utterly complete disconnection from reality. And what compels him anyway? Is he simply an agent of chaos, a total anarchist? Merely a mass-murdering schizophrenic? An anti-hero doing Batman’s dirty work by killing villains and gangsters? Azzarello leaves this debate wide open, which ties in well with Ledger’s Joker’s comment: “I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just . . . do things.”
Joker and Batman Do Their Dance
Although Batman makes an appearance only at the very end of the novel, his presence is felt throughout, as Joker constantly searches the Gotham skyline for him. This epitomizes the ebb-and-flow dynamic between the two characters. They are, in many ways, inseparable. In this sense, the three works echo each other. It’s the “suicide course” they’re locked into that Moore refers to in The Killing Joke. The “cure” and disease in Joker. And the remark that Ledger’s Joker makes to Batman in The Dark Knight: “I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? No. You complete me.”
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