The DC website brags that we haven’t seen such a powerful Joker character tale since THE KILLING JOKE—and they weren’t (if you’ll excuse the pun) kidding. So it’s fitting that the name of the graphic novel is simply … JOKER.
Writer Brian Azzarello, penciller Lee Bermejo, inker Mick Gray, colorist Patricia Mulvihill, and letterer Robert Clark comprise the group of talented individuals who teamed up to bring us the new Joker story that was released at the end of October. And it’s important to name each member. This isn’t just an Azzarello and Bermejo work. This is a team effort, and it shows.
The very first page—showing the smog-ridden and grey-brown sprawl that we know as Gotham City—indicates that the entire piece is going to be visually gorgeous, and it is. Lee Bermejo’s pencils are detailed and stunning, mesmerizing readers while at the same time not overdoing it by letting the intricacy overwhelm us. But like Gotham’s complex edifice of corruption, that’s only one layer to the multi-tiered masterpiece that is JOKER. Mick Gray’s inks perfectly communicate the depressed tone of both the city and the book; the inks portray the characters’ expressions (and what they don’t necessarily express) in a similarly effective fashion. Like with the inking job, Patricia Mulvihill’s colors accentuate the strength of the book’s visuals—which, while the icing on the already sweet cake, are much more than an appeal. Like all truly good comics, the art speaks volumes on its own, without the aid of narration or dialogue; it still works in conjunction with the writing to pack a tighter punch.
But on to the story. It truly is a perfect and true Joker account—THE KILLING JOKE of the time. The comic follows the Joker—strangely and freshly released from Arkham Asylum—and a lowlife henchman turned Joker admirer and follower named Jonny Frost, who has no idea how deep the hole he’s crawling into really is … or where on earth (or in hell) it leads. We watch the Joker through the fascinated and horrified eyes of Frost as he accompanies the Crown Prince of Crime throughout Gotham, the city he’s dead-set on taking back—along with respect and fear. Frost is loyal and curious; throughout the course of the book he experiences an understanding with and a connection to the Joker. Jonny even saves his life at one point; although he fears the Joker at times and envies and admires him at others, it’s arguable that Jonny never hates him—perhaps due to obvious naivety, or perhaps a result of deadened apathy. Frost is, in his own right, an intriguing character.
Nonetheless, this is the Joker’s story. Although his relationship with Batman is addressed and explored—quite brilliantly and classically, in fact, at the end—the Dark Knight has a miniscule role in the tale. Harvey Dent/Two-Face, interestingly enough, has a much bigger one—possibly because he and the Joker also represent such conflicting forces in their own right.
We never do find out how the Joker managed to worm his way out of Arkham under the declaration of being cured, but the reason isn’t important. That detail is just a stepping stone, the push that allows the story to be told. And it’s wonderfully (and also metaphorically) told, from start to finish. The insight into the character that the story grants us—and equally, the book itself—is like a tunnel we haven’t traveled through: familiar in its basic form, but new and original, having never experienced this particular one before. Indeed, JOKER is a tunnel into the mind and soul of the Joker. The character has been portrayed disturbingly before (Christopher Nolan’s excellent The Dark Knight, for instance), but JOKER offers something more, something chillingly different, that is worth delving into—an experience you’d be in-sane to miss.
You can view some preview pages on Myspace—but seriously, dudes, just go buy this baby. It’s $12 on Amazon. 
Discuss: If you’ve read JOKER … what did you think?
