After the revelations about Joker in “Darkseid War,” Batman, Red Hood, and Batgirl are now on the case to discovery the mystery of the supposed Three Jokers in Gotham. Spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers #1 follow.
First hinted at in the final issue of the “Darkseid War” storyline four years ago, it’s been a long time coming for Batman: Three Jokers to be released. But now, the series is finally out in the wild for everyone to read if they want to do so. Does it live up to the hype that had been building for years by this point though? In fact, it absolutely does. This is a phenomenal first issue of three and it effectively sets the tone and themes of the series moving forward.
On the surface, this first issue is great for a couple of reasons. The first being pitch-perfect characterizations of Batman, Batgirl, and Red Hood by Geoff Johns. The second being the gorgeous artistic renditions of them by the art team of illustrator Jason Fabok and colorist Brad Anderson. Just on these merits alone, this would make Three Jokers an enjoyable book to read. Well, enjoyable isn’t the correct word, it’s more intriguing than enjoyable, which is not a bad thing in the slightest.
When you start looking under the surface though, that’s when this issue really starts to shine. This series is about seeing our heroes dealing with their scars, both physically and psychologically, and that is very apparent here. Johns and Fabok go to extensive lengths to show the physical scars on Batman and Batgirl, with some hints of their psychological trauma, but the focus is on Red Hood in the end and his trauma is on full display.
What this issue does with Jason’s trauma is well done and surprising on top of that. He’s much more brutal than Batman and Batgirl, but he’s also willing to kill, which is what comes into play during the climax of the issue. It all comes down to an incredibly tense scene with him being taunted by (a) Joker and trying to be talked down by Batgirl. And really, this scene highlights what this series is all about. Once you start digging at your scars, you see that they never actually healed. And if this wasn’t made any clearer, it is when Jason pulls the trigger and kills The Joker that this issue refers to as The Clown.
Speaking of The Jokers though, this issue will give you more questions than answers. There’s not much to say about them right now other than that they represent three different eras of The Joker and are referenced as such here. First, there’s The Criminal who is the original Golden Age version. Then there’s The Comedian, who is the one who shot Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke. And last, there’s The Comedian, the Silver Age version who is also the one who killed Jason Todd. It’s an intriguing way to set up these Jokers and hopefully, the answers will come sooner than later.
But then we come to Jason Fabok’s artwork in this issue, which is phenomenal in every aspect. The amount of detail in every single panel, much of which is accentuated perfectly by Brad Anderson’s colors, is breathtaking. From the detailing of the scars across Batman’s body to the angry tears streaming down Batgirl’s face, Fabok captures the emotion and tone of nearly every panel perfectly.
And the way he’s able to differentiate between each Joker is fantastic. The subtle differences he gives to each of them is something that a lot of people may not think, nor be able to pull off, but Fabok does so wonderfully. There are only a couple of panels that he could have shown what was happening with them a bit better, but they’re not really consequential to the overall issue.