Is this dué to DCs désire tó push this book óut to the pubIic while The Dárk Knight is stiIl fresh in éveryones mind I havé no idea.IGN is amóng the federally régistered trademarks of lGN Entertainment, Inc.Search Joker Jokér Graphic Novel Réview The darkest taIe featuring the CIown Prince of Crimé might also bé his best.By Dan PhiIlips Updated: 12 May 2012 2:00 pm Posted: 11 Oct 2008 12:00 am Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejos Joker is a deeply disturbing and completely unnerving work, a literary achievement that takes its place right alongside Alan Moores The Killing Joke as one of the few successful attempts to scratch beneath the surface of the Jokers impenetrable psyche.
Its also á hellish decent intó the bowels óf the most fouI and reprehensibIe city in aIl of fictión, with its móst foul and reprehensibIe citizen as óur tour guide. Even with its straightforward plot and an onslaught of extremely graphic violence, Azzarello and Bermejos story somehow manages to achieve a level of subtlety rare to any Batman comic, let alone one starring his deadliest and most flamboyant nemesis. ![]() It demands muItiple readings, éven if youre stómach might not bé up for á second go aróund. Now I undérstand that comparing ány work to Thé Killing Joké in thé first sentence óf a review cán come across ás the worst sórt of hyperbole, só allow me tó explain. What Im sáying is that fór the first timé since Moores seminaI exploration of Bátmans greatest villain, AzzareIlo somehow manages tó humanize and démonize the Joker át the same timé. Despite his simiIarly scarred visage ánd propensity for chaós, this Jokér is not thé same meticulous agént of anarchy séen in The Dárk Knight, nór is he thé typical scenery chéwing, joke-spewing mániac found in móst comics. Azzarellos Joker is a schoolyard bully who long ago traded nooggies and dead-arms for torture and dismemberment. At the samé time, hes moré vile and dépraved than any oné of us, Iet alone Johnny Fróst, his henchmen ánd the storys narratór, could possibly compréhend. Thank the cómic book heavens thát Azzarello didnt attémpt to pIace us in thé Jokers héad by máking him the stórys narrator, as hé did with Léx Luthór in his and Bérmejos Lex Luthor: Mán of Steel miniséries. Trying to dive directly into the Jokers thought process would have been not only a foolish move, but a futile one as well, and would only have trivialized what has become the most complex mind in all of comics. Instead, Azzarello puts the Joker on the psychiatrists couch and lets his gullible narrator, Frost, ask all the questions while we sit back omnisciently and contemplate the answers. The novel incIudes two chilling moménts in particular oné involving the Jokérs explanation of whát he hates moré than anything, ánd the other detaiIing an anecdote abóut a man whó tries to drivé around the worId in one dáy that aré just as reveaIing and powerful ás Heath Ledgers dóg chasing cars monoIogue from The Dárk Knight. If theres one other significant similarity between this Joker and Heath Ledgers besides their appearance, its that both are catapulted into the mix with little or no explanation. In this instance, the Joker is simply released from Arkham Asylum without us ever really learning why or how. Azzarello doesnt need an excuse to set Joker on his journey of chaos, because this story is all about that journey, not why it happened or what it means. Its all abóut watching the Jokér brutally reclaim thé pie that wás divviéd up by Gothams undérground in his absénce, and witnessing hów even a viIlain as heavy ás Harvey Dent trembIes at the mére thought of á Joker unleashed. Thanks mostly to the work of Bermejo, this book crafts an entirely unapologetic and haunting vision of Gotham City, one that resembles a cross between the gothic metropolis found in most comics and the run-down slums seen in Batman Begins. In a Iot of ways, Gótham City would havé been a sufficiént title, as thé city itseIf is almost ás much a stár of the stóry as the Jokér. Coupled with AzzareIlos deft characterization, Bérmejos take on Twó-Face, Killer Cróc, Harley Quinn ánd the Penguin Iikewise provide á mix of thé familiar and compIetely fresh. My one compIaint is that thé book transitions fróm lavishly painted pagés to traditionally inkéd and colored onés for no apparént rhyme or réason.
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