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DC’s Joker series will now be adopting the ‘season’ approach more common in the  TV world – or as it applies to comic books, a series of limited series that some comic book creators refer to as ‘the Hellboy format’.  

But for those of us who wince when a season of a favorite TV series ends without news of renewal in sight (in other words, likely cancelation), the way DC is phrasing the ending of The Joker could be inferred to mean the title will return for a second season down the road.

The last issue of Joker’s first season will be April 12’s The Joker #14, coinciding with the decision Tynion made back in August for this to be his final issue (as part of a larger decision to scale back non-creator-owned work for himself). At the time, DC continued to say Joker would continue an ongoing series – clearly suggesting the series would continue after Tynion’s last issue. But now, that’s changed.

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The Joker isn’t the first DC title to switch to a seasonal format – the cult-favorite series Sleeper (opens in new tab) did that nearly two decades ago. But it’s still rare, especially in the proverbial halls of DC.

More recently writer Grant Morrison and artist Liam Sharp took a ‘seasonal’ approach to two volumes of a Green Lantern (opens in new tab) series.

In his 14-issue run on The Joker, Tynion and artist Guillem March have centered the book on the retired Gotham City police officer James Gordon being pulled back in for one last case – to track down and capture the Joker. The title spun out of the events of ‘The Joker War (opens in new tab)‘ and the A-Day event in Infinite Frontier #0 (opens in new tab), in which the Joker instigated an attack on Gotham that caused widespread panic and mayhem – including the destruction of Arkham Asylum.

Guest artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Cam Smith join Tynion on The Joker #14, which will also include the regular backup story (which would also, assumedly be ending) ‘Punchline’ by Tynion, co-writer Sam Johns, and artist Belén Ortega.

The season finale of The Joker is coming April 12.

Get your Joker fix with our recommended best Joker stories of all time. 

The post The Joker is calling it quits on his ongoing comic, but will back for a second “season” appeared first on Game News.

And it all started as a YA teen Joker book. As you can imagine, it got dark really quickly.

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In Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity, prose novelist Kami Garcia partnered with artists Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew, and Jason Badower to hunt a serial killer Joker – and for it, they used psychologist Harleen Quinzel – and transformed the traditional Joker/Harley dynamic from being a romance gone wrong to Harley being an abuse survivor becoming a forensic psychologist to catch serial killers.

To continue a previous analogy, this Joker is to Hannibal as Harley is to Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs.

Garcia, who has written numerous crime novels, partnered with a real-life forensic psychologist/profiler to get a real look at what the Joker would be like as a real-life serial killer, and the kind of person Harley would have to be to catch him.

Newsarama: Kami, you wrote this series with a mind to really establish Harleen Quinzel as a legitimate forensic psychologist/profiler, and you even brought in a real-life one to consult with you, Doctor Edward Kurz. Why do you think in this case leaning into the implied realism helps with the story?

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Kami Garcia: At its heart, Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity is a psychological thriller with procedural elements. What I really wanted to explore is Joker as a terrifying figure, rather than a ‘larger than life’ pop culture figure. To me, he can go toe-to-toe with Hannibal Lecter, so I wanted to play on this idea of a very sane killer – an organized psychopath. The idea that this guy could be hunting, looking for prey at night when you’re leaving a store, and could be out there at large; like the Zodiac Killer and other real serial killers in the US in the last several decades. When there is a real killer preying on the public, FBI behavior analytics help police narrow their search.

Harley Quinn has always been an intelligent, formidable character, and I wanted to hold on to her survivor elements and the touchstones other women relate to. BUt instead of being the survivor of an abusive relationship, in Criminal Insanity she’s the survivor of an abusive mother so we could see her in her professional story doing things she’d never done if not in a romantic relationship. Redefining what she survived here retained the elation and intention of it, but changed it not to be in a romantic context.

Newsarama: Your depiction of Harley in Criminal Sanity reminds me of Clarice from the Hannibal novels, popularized in the Silence of the Lambs film. And with that, Joker being Hannibal Lecter – a reference you mentioned earlier.

Kami Garcia: When I brought this idea to DC initially five years ago, I framed it as it felt like Mindhunter and Hannibal – something really real and gritty. When Mico Suayan’s name first came up as an artist, I really wanted to have him. 

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Once he came on board, we were talking about our goals for Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity, and I brought up his work on Werewolf by Night; although that was horror, I told him what I was really going for is a sophistication like Hannibal – and he agreed. 

With Hannibal, what’s interesting is that the murder scenes are obviously gross, but also remarkable looking; so intricate, so sophisticated, throughout. That’s what you get from soemone organized, not insane. Something of a hunter; he’s out there, preying, not because he’s crazy or fighting mental illness, but what he wants to. There’s a rationale to it.

That’s what I really wanted to show, and that it made the Joker even more frightening. There’s been different itteratiosn fo the Joker, but my favorite ones always have him as cunning and smart – like Batman, but going down a different path.

Newsarama: How do you think the comics format influenced your depiction of forensic and psychiatric methodlogy in the storyline?

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Kami Garcia: I originally considered doing a prose novel about a serial killer. The idea was to do a Young Adult novel about the backstory of how a boy becomes a monster. Early on I thought it was too dark for that, so I built that into the background of Criminal Sanity.

It’s funny because when I originally pitched it to [DC editor-in-chief] Marie Javins years ago at Comic-Con International: San Diego when we first met, she said “that sounds a little bit dark.”

If I would have done this as a prose novel, we’d have to show his motivation in words and literally spell out what he’s thinking. With the comics format, it allows us to do that in such a better way, and to free me from having to explain our way through a killer’s thoughts. In a way, we did the opposite with Criminal Sanity.

One of the things I spoke with [then DC co-publishers] Jim Lee and Dan DiDio about early on is that I didn’t want to break the mystery of the Joker. I didn’t want to go so far in his head to demystify the mystery DC has managed to create over time.

With amazing artists, it’s best to let the art do what it’s intended to do in comics tell the story. The words should be the scaffold rather than the reverse. I’ve talked to people like Jim Lee and Brian Michael Bendis, and they’ve helped me understand that you let the art carry the narrative. The artists’ work is the narrative voice, and my dialogue is icing on the cake. 

Newsarama: Carrying that narrative along, you had a three-laker cake with Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity with three artists: Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew, and Jason Badower. How do you think the pairing with multiple artists affected the overall story?

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Kami Garcia: I talked to the artists a lot about the story. For example, in the book anything in present-day from Harley’s point-of-view is in full color, while any flashbacks and anything taking place elsewhere but not from Harley’s persspetive if greytoned with accent colors. 

One of the things I noticed early on with Mico is that he does incredible greyscale work. I asked Jim Lee if we could do something like this in Criminal Sanity, and he said it was up to the artist. Mico liked the idea and we went with it.

Mike Mayhew and Jason Badower are both so photorealistic, that it pays out like a movie.  Jason took over with the teen Joker progression. I wanted to give the Joker an authentic teen feel, and had lots of movie touchstones. Jason knew just what to do.

Jason was also really interested in depicting the city; he wanted Gotham to feel like a character in itself.

In general, I try to talk to the artists and figure out what they like and try to build that into the overall story. I also make sure to get everything they’ve done previously. 

When breakdowns come in, as part of my notes I try to always mention ‘If you have a better idea or a different manner, let me know and I can re-write the dialogue.’

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I always say to writers, if your artist is able to feel like a partner in the project, you’re going to get the best out of them. Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino; Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev; I love situations where writers really trusted the artist. In my experience writing the Titans OGNs, I trust Gabriel. 

For Criminal Sanity, I leaned on our three main artists and said ‘I want you to tell me if I’m getting in the way.’ It was tricky as some pages had a lot of procedural crime moments that didn’t allow for much elbow room. But wherever possible, I want them to be able to help guide the story and do their best work.

Newsarama: Tell us more about enlisting Dr. Edward Kurz, a real-life profiler, for Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity.

Kami Garcia: Ed and I worked together. He, and another clinical psychiatrist, consulted on my X-Files book about a serial killer. He loved doing that kind of thing, and I knew he loved comics and pop culture. 

I talked to him early on in this, back when it was going to be a teen Joker story asking how does a boy become a monster. One of the things he had said at the time was if you wanted it to be really accurate – if you wanted to work from a forensic standpoint – you need to know who the killer is. If you work from a profile and make sure everything is based on that profile, that’s how you can make a killer feel like a real person.

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We talked about it, and he wrote the profile – which we included in the pitch for Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity. When we later pitched the Secret Files one-shot, it was based on that profile with Joker’s notebook added in. At the time when I was talking with our editor Kristy Quinn, I pitched that Dr. Krz write all the psychiatrist stuff and I would do all the Joker notebook stories, including the entire house diagrams. 

Ed did some cool stuff for Zsasz so you could see what his Arkham write-up would look lik efrom psychiatrsits working with him. He really gets to show of what he does as a professional, and the kind of stuff that would be talked about. If you pulled a person like Zdasz’s wrap-sheet, this is the kind of stuff you’d expect.

The other thing we talked about, once I decided to deal with Joker as a present-day adult, he talked me through the evolution of that original teen Joker profile – obviously as an adult killer, but especially as someone who moved on to doing mass murder. Serial killer don’t start out in their final form; they eolve. HE walked me through how they’d evolve from their first kill to eight or ten years later when they’re good at this. Dr. Kurz was a consultant for the whole series, and he wrote for the Secret Files.

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I wanted to make sure that we were creating everything from make-up to costumes and the difference between the Jokers seen in the backstory to all be based on a psychiatrically-accurate evolution of a serial killer. That’s how you get something like Hannibal or Silence of the Lambs – an authentic serial killer at work. Ed would look at it and say ‘that’s a great idea,’ and/or point out a killer with this kind of profile wouldn’t do this or that with make-up or in terms of a weapon. He would look at the scripts and the art, and if we started to veer away from that profile, he’d always help is get back to that. ‘That’s great, but ifyou want to go by the profile 100%…’ he’d redirect us to make sure we didn’t go off by too much. It went into the Joker’s behavior as well, whether he would hide, run, or confront somebody. WIth Ed, it’s all about him walking me through the psychiatric aspects.

Newsarama: How do you deal with ending each issue on a cliffhanger, and knowing what comes next but not being able to discuss it with anyone until the next issue comes out?

Kami Garcia: It’s kind of like a book series. When someone reads the second book in a three-book series, you obviously can’t tell them about what’s coming; you have to kind of tease them, which I tried to do. 

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What I tried to do, and what was most important to me, is to deliver on a promise that every issue would get bigger and better. I wanted people to learn something new from each issue, then something new about the thread of the overall story. For me, that was achieved by outlining everything up front and making sure it was going to build in a satisfying way.

Newsarama: That two-month wait between issues – that must have been new, from where you came from.

Kami Garcia: Joker/Harley: Criminal Saniy was originally supposed to come out month, but a lot of things happened when the series was coming together.

I spent a lot of time outling the story, and reading the script aloud. Then when I would get the art, and then the lettered art, I would re-read it through again and again – aloud. Clive Barker once told me the most important thing is to read your words aloud and see how it falls for readers. And for readers, I sometimes have my husband in mind; he’s a comics fan, with a short attention span.

So it was tough. I struggled, knowing people would have to wait awhile between issues.

One of the important things was that we had flashback run in every issue of the series, showing the evolution of Joker as a killer; how he went from being a normal teen into this incredible serial killer that manages to elude the authorities in the past and in the present. I felt that was one thing for people to follow.

In the present-day story, there was a new string of murders taking place in Gotham; no material evidence is being recovered, leaving no way to track this killer except with a profile created by Harley, who is a clinical psychologist and behavior analyst.

Newsarama: Kami, Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity beats your Teen Titans graphic novels to be your longest comic book work to date. What would you say you learned from doing the story?

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Kami Garcia: Well, Criminal Sanity is obviously really different. The Titans books are graphic novels as opposed to single issues, but overall in comics I get to only write the fun parts, and none of the boring parts.

With Criminal Sanity being a limited series, it almost equates itself to a TV series – you can only watch an episode a week. For me, it was a big learning curve. I don’t know how people do it in the main DC books, but with Criminal Sanity we had two months between each issue.

Newsarama: Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity is definitely your most mature/adult work to date in comics. What do you think of the experience?

Kami Garcia: I really have two speeds. I love doing teen stuff, but with adult stuff I really like to go dark. I originally started at DC with Michelle Wells, and then moved over to Kristy Quinn- she’s been my editor from the second issue of Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity on. She’s been great in coordinating with anyone else at DC on what I’m doing. ‘Kami has to do this on the Joker, so for the next two weeks she’s going to be writing so many pages on the Titans books, then the fifth issue of Joker.’ She’s regulate my schedule, coordinating chunks of time for each of my DC projects.

Going back and forth between a teen project and a mature project isn’t bad, but not in the same day. I could do Joker and Titans in the same day. I don’t get stressed out writing dark stories – I thought Joker was fun. It’s just that there’s different kinds of vibes.

Titans is so funny, sweet, and genuine. It’s about found families, and I have such an affection for those characters. But it’s a big switch from Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity.

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Newsarama: Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity is out now in a big collection – could you see yourself doing more with these characters?

Kami Garcia: I’m always happy to keep writing.

I wanted Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity to have an end for her, whether or not I get to write more for the characters. I love to allow readers the opening to use their imagination to see where the story would take her next.

At the end of the day, like most comic creators, if it sells and has lots of readers, sometimes you can do more. If not, I felt like I made Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity full circle as a series and as a collected edition.

I have ideas. I wouldn’t be at a loss. But I didn’t want readers to feel like they are being left at a cliffhanger, after hanging with me for all those issues.

Whether you’re a fan of the hero or the villain, there’s a lot more to read-  check our recommended best Harley Quinn stories and the best Joker stories.

The post How a YA teen Joker pitch turned into a Hannibal-esque take on the Harley Quinn / Joker dynamic appeared first on Game News.

But the Clown Prince of Crime’s history stretches back decades – almost as long as Batman’s. And in that time, Joker has been at the center of some all-time classic tales.

So whether you’re a new Joker fan just digging into his infamous comic book past, or a longtime reader refreshing in preparation for his new title, here are the ten best Joker stories of all time.

10. ‘Joker’/’Joker Returns’ (Batman #1)

Considering the current state of comic book death, it’s pretty wild to think that the Joker was intended to die in his debut in Batman #1 (opens in new tab) (like, actually kick the bucket for good). But the Joker’s continued legacy is a testament to the fact that not all editorial interference is created equal.

The two stories here really lay the foundation for everything that the Joker would become later on. He’s clever and conniving. He’s intelligent and doggedly determined. And his motives are somewhat a mystery. His plans seem to serve a singular end: create chaos. Nothing more, nothing less.

Bill Finger’s script leans pretty heavily into the playing card motif, which opens up Batman for some killer puns, but Joker is positioned as a legitimate adversary to the Dark Knight. Plus Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson’s design for Joker with his Steeplechase grin, purple suit, and stark white skin is instantly iconic.

Even seven decades later, the Joker’s first appearance serves as a great primer for what the character would become.

9. Mad Love

Batman: The Animated Series (opens in new tab) remains a beloved piece of superhero media even in an age of endgames and countless TV adaptations. Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker is unforgettable, but the show also introduced a character that would help impact the laughing lawbreaker’s legacy to this day: Harley Quinn.

‘Mad Love’ (opens in new tab) explores the dynamic between Harley and Joker, allowing readers to see the villain from a slightly different angle. Sure, Harley’s infatuation might be misplaced, but her relationship with the Joker stands as an interesting juxtaposition to Joker’s relationship with Batman.

In a lot of ways, Joker is very much defined by the characters around him, and ‘Mad Love,’ despite its kid-friendly tone, is a great example of how great characters have room for endless exploration.

8. Batman: White Knight

The Joker isn’t a character keen to turn hero like so many other comic book supervillains, but Sean Gordon Murphy’s Batman: White Knight (opens in new tab) puts the funny book felon in something of a role reversal with the World’s Greatest Detective.

After winning a lawsuit against the GCPD and receiving a cure for his criminal condition, Joker jumps into the political arena to rule Gotham once and for all – through electioneering. But can he really walk the straight and narrow or are his plans more pernicious?

Murphy crafts a world that pulls in details from so many different iterations of the Batman mythos that this comic works as a sort of a love letter to one of the greatest hero/villain rivalries in fiction even while turning it on its head.

7. ‘A Death in the Family’ (Batman #426-429)

If there’s anyone that the Joker hates as much as Batman, it’s Robin – and ‘A Death in the Family’ (opens in new tab) is a testament to his loathing for the Dynamic Duo. A loathing so deep, so wretched, it leads directly to the murder of the second Robin, Jason Todd.

But this story is much more than just the infamous death of Jason Todd. It’s a reminder that for all the goofy gags and silly setups for his crimes, the Joker is dangerous. There is no line he won’t cross in the pursuit of chaos especially if it means Batman will suffer as well.

Fans looking to experience one of the peaks of Joker’s brutality will find exactly what they are looking for in this story.

6. Batman: The Man Who Laughs

For readers who prefer a more modern storytelling approach, Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s The Man Who Laughs (opens in new tab) serves as a great update to the Joker’s origin.

The script pulls some of the more disparate elements of the character together and repackages them to create a more complete picture of the Clown Prince of Crime.

Brubaker uses the weight of continuity to give the story more stakes and momentum. And coupled with Mahnke’s nightmarish vision of the villain, this is a stylish retelling of Joker’s origins that brings him some added depth and context.

5. ‘The Laughing Fish’ (Detective Comics #475)

Some Joker stories showcase his penchant for anarchy through nihilistic chaos. Others feature Joker trying to patent his sinister ‘laughing fish.’

‘The Laughing Fish’ (opens in new tab) might seem like it has a pretty goofy set-up, but too often we forget that Joker is a (failed) comedian. Jokes are supposed to be part of the shtick. 

While this is a funny story, it shows us just how diabolical Joker is. We’re able to better understand that it’s his unpredictability and intelligence that makes him a formidable foe for Batman.

Steve Englehart and Terry Austin strike that balance incredibly well and in the process deliver an iconic story.

4. ‘Joker’s Five Way Revenge’ (Batman #251)

Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams craft a stone-cold classic with Batman #251 (opens in new tab). The Joker is an unrelenting force of death and destruction but he does it with a severe commitment to the bit that makes this story so fun.

What’s funny is that he almost defeats Batman but decides against killing him because he doesn’t want to win out of sheer luck, but through his own planning and schemes.

Instead, he puts together a much more complicated plot involving a shark that doesn’t go as planned. It might be an unceremonious end for the Joker in this one as he gets beat up on the beach, but this story speaks to Joker’s single-mindedness and strange personal motivations.

3. ‘Soft Targets’ (Gotham Central #12-15)

Superhero comic books sometimes downplay the human element of the stories they’re telling, resulting in work that lacks stakes and something to ground it. Fortunately, there are books like Gotham Central (opens in new tab) to pick up the slack.

Focused almost exclusively on the Gotham City Police Department, Gotham Central gives us a Marvels-esque ‘man on the street’ look at the world of Gotham City. And the story ‘Soft Targets’ puts into perspective the severity of Joker’s crimes.

Superhero fans have become somewhat desensitized to the collateral damage inherent in the stories they enjoy but this arc (and really Gotham Central in general) showcases just how precious human life can be and the ripple effect felt by people who never asked to be part of Batman and the Joker’s never-ending war.

2. Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum (opens in new tab)‘s Joker is one of the most terrifying Jokers in history. And it starts with Dave McKean’s unnerving portrayal of the Joker. His strange proportions, his permanently bloodshot eyes, and hellish grin take on a much more horrifying vision of the character in McKean’s painted style.

Then Grant Morrison’s narrative ups the ante, forcing Batman to suffer through psychological torture in a prison somewhat of his own making. The writer doesn’t let up as he shows how broken Arkham Asylum is and how much more twisted the Joker can make it seem when he’s in control.

This is the Joker at his most strange and sadistic in a story that leans into the horror elements of Batman more than most and it’s better for it.

1. The Killing Joke

It’s almost not a Joker story list without The Killing Joke (opens in new tab).

While the story has undergone some critical reevaluation over the past few years due to the treatment of Barbara Gordon, it still remains a somewhat definitive word on the Joker – even if that statement is as dark as it is infamous.

The villain has never pushed Batman to the brink the way he does in ‘The Killing Joke,’ and while the events of the story can be hard to stomach at times, they show exactly who the Joker is: a nihilistic force of evil unparalleled in the DC Universe.

The Joker also lays out his own philosophy in the story, in the quote “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.”

The post Best Joker stories of all time appeared first on Game News.

Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Batman: Three Jokers has kept readers on edge for years since it was announced and it finally reaches its end during a year where current events feel more like the plot of Batman comic than ever before. But now that the wait is entirely over, we have to ask ourselves if it was worth it. Johns has positioned this as a great Joker story in the vein of The Killing Joke (opens in new tab). Fabok’s art appropriately homages Brian Bolland’s classic work. But in trying to create a seminal work about the Joker and Batman’s relationship, it’s clear that Johns might actually have less to say than he previously thought. 

Just a warning: we’re going to touch on a few spoilers as we talk about this limited series. 

Three Jokers credits

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson
Lettering by Rob Leigh
Published by DC’s Black Label
‘Rama Rating: 5 out of 10

I want to get this out of the way first and foremost: this is not a poorly made comic book on a technical level. The art team, Fabok, colorist Brad Anderson and letter Rob Leigh, make sure of that. However, solving a mystery that no one asked to be solved is a daunting task and Johns isn’t up for it. This is the conundrum of long-running serial storytelling –  at some point, satisfaction becomes so subjective that trying to create a resolution for years of contradictory plot points is a fool’s errand.

‘Who is the Joker?’ is a meaningless question because everyone from eight to 80 knows the answer: he’s Batman’s greatest villain. What can you say about him at this point that makes him more interesting? It’s this writer’s opinion that there is almost nothing and the more you try to pin down facts about him, the less interesting he becomes. 

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Batman: Three Jokers #1 preview

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The first two issues of this limited series force Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon to trauma-bond over their history with the Clown Prince of Crime. Johns positions them as two sides of the same coin. (Too bad this isn’t a Two-Face story, huh?) Jason’s penchant for violence grew after being killed and resurrected while Barbara never let her injury define her and eventually she recovered. And on some level, I think the setup here is interesting. Batman and Joker are arguably some of the most static characters in history. While you can put them in different sorts of situations, their dynamic remains the same and they don’t tend toward any meaningful growth. They are destined to do this dance forever. And most Batman/Joker stories come to that conclusion. But the rest of the Bat-family is not doomed to that same fate so there’s space for writers to tell us something significant about them.

Unfortunately, Johns never delivers on the promise of the Three Jokers title or the potential he sets up with Barbara and Jason. He doesn’t have anything insightful to say about the nature of trauma and its effects on these characters. He doesn’t have anything incisive to say about the eternal dynamic of good and evil that Batman and the Joker represent. He does little more than paint past stories in extremely broad strokes, turning other creators’ work into somewhere else to mark his territory. Because of his reputation, he’s made himself into something of a continuity bully – cheapening future stories with a hollow comprehension and appreciation of past ones. We saw something similar with Doomsday Clock (opens in new tab) (though combining Watchmen with a DC Universe that is constantly in flux seems like the ultimate thankless task). 

Another warning for those trying to avoid spoilers.

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Batman: Three Jokers #2 preview

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What is there left for the Joker to do? And how can Johns possibly reconcile so many versions of the character that we’ve seen in the past? Who are the Three Jokers? Is one Alfred Stryker, the first man to die by a vat of acid only to be retconned later in a trim purple suit? Or could one be the deranged son of Joe Chill? Or even the man who actually committed the crime Joe Chill went away for a la Jack Napier? Is one the Comedian… from Watchmen?! (I’m kidding…. Unless… no, I’m actually kidding… or am I?) 

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Johns’ story isn’t all that concerned with the answer. The place he lands is the widely accepted reason for so many contradictory iterations of the Joker in the first place. He even has the character say it: “I am chaos. I am the devil. I am nothing to you and everything.” In essence, The Joker is Batman’s greatest villain. 

Joker engineers a plan to make Batman save Joe Chill’s life so that he can help Bruce move on from the trauma that defines him, positioning the Joker as the greatest pain in his life. That almost works. Arguably, Batman takes on his various wards to help them move on from the trauma that defines them. But Joe Chill is a character that very few writers have been able to make feel significant and at this point, he’s just an old man. While it’s safe to say that Bruce has not been kind to his own mental health over the years, the character has been given the opportunity to mourn his parents. But relitigating Batman’s origin story for readers is about as tired as seeing Martha Wayne’s cheap pearl necklace burst onto the sidewalk or seeing anyone on Twitter say that Bruce Wayne should fund more charities and social programs if he wants to save Gotham. What do we gain from this? Absolutely nothing. 

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Batman: Three Jokers #3 preview

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Across the three issues, the art team does acquit themselves well. Jason Fabok is the guy who makes this feel like an Important Read because his style lends that kind of weight to almost anything he works on. This is a very tangible and realistic Gotham. All of the Jokers are surprisingly easy to tell apart as Fabok does a good job rendering each one with care. The layouts tend to stick to a nine-panel grid across the board, breaking occasionally as the story calls for it. Fabok’s lines work well with this kind of traditionalist approach. But nine-panel grids will always call back to Watchmen especially when your writer seems intent on letting readers know that he too has read one of the best-selling comic books of all-time. However, Fabok is not asked to take the same chances with that layout that Gibbons did and in that way, the nine-panel grid becomes more of a lifeless delivery system than an intentional storytelling device. As highly as I think of Fabok as an artist, there’s nothing particularly exciting about a slow zoom over three panels of Joe Chill’s headstone that lands with just the letter’s “JO” in the frame. (Though admittedly, that’s on Johns’ script and the editorial team.)

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Three Jokers will be a divisive book. While lots of fan theories were bandied about with the release of the first two issues, the finale really sucks all the air out of any potential fun there is to be had with a book like this. The artwork is effective. The idea of reconciling the Joker’s various approaches over the years has some legs. Even the potential exploration of trauma amongst the Batfamily is a concept with a lot of avenues to consider. However, Johns never puts it all together. He’s not able to make the exciting connections or answer the mystery that he thinks he’s setting up in a meaningful way. At the end of the day, the series delivers on the promise of the title and little else.

Batman: Three Jokers #1 – #3 are available now. A hardcover collected edition of Three Jokers (opens in new tab) goes on sale on November 17.

Check out our list of the best Batman/Joker stories of all time.

The post Best Shots review – Batman: Three Jokers “delivers on the promise of the title and little else” appeared first on Game News.

“He doesn’t kill her,” Phillips reaffirms to IndieWire (opens in new tab). He confirms that in an earlier version of the Joker script, which was leaked online, “we had [Sophie] watching Murray Franklin,” presumably during Arthur’s late-night debut and after the failed stand-up entered her apartment.

So, why was it left on the cutting room floor? Phillips said it was solely a creative decision: “We made a choice in the film to only show everything from Joaquin’s perspective. We cut out a great scene with Marc Meron and Bob De Niro that didn’t involve Joaquin because it didn’t involve Joaquin. Everything was being told from his point-of-view and perspective. So, to suddenly cut to this woman – it would literally change the DNA of the film.”

Phillips also describes the scene where Joker breaks into Sophie’s apartment – and her unseen fate – as “a little bit of a litmus test for an audience to say, ‘Ok, how crazy is he?’ and most people I have spoken to believe he didn’t kill her.”

Joaquin Phoenix himself has previously stated (opens in new tab) that his “favourite scene, what both [himself and director Todd Phillips] thought was my best scene because of a particular take, that scene is not in the movie.”

There are now a handful of Joker deleted scenes that we know of. The home release can’t come soon enough.

Have any more questions? Chances are, we’ve covered them in our Joker ending (opens in new tab) breakdown.

The post Joker originally included a scene that would have revealed Sophie’s fate appeared first on Game News.

When asked by Deadline (opens in new tab) about the Joker movie’s Oscar prospects, including the interviewer name-checking Best Picture, Alberto Barbera said: “They’re very good. Absolutely, it will be in the running [for an Academy Award nomination].” He added that it is “a strong, unexpected and original film.”

In fact, when faced with predicting some of the Oscar big hitters come 2020 from the Venice Film Festival, Barbera firmly stated, “It’s hard to say. It’s so unpredictable and there’s a long way to go,” before doubling down on one movie, “Joker, for sure.”

If the Joker movie does get the Best Picture nod, it would be the second comic book movie ever to do so, with Marvel’s Black Panther (opens in new tab) having been nominated for the top Academy Award earlier this year.

As Barbera says, though, there’s still a while to go yet. There are plenty of movies between now and the expected Academy Awards nomination release date in January 2020.

This news, though, should put a smile on the faces of fans who are eagerly anticipating Joker’s October 4 release and may yet prove the tide is turning when it comes to more quote-unquote ‘popular’ movie successes at the Oscars.

Sister publication Total Film has even more from the Joker movie, including an interview with director Todd Phillips (opens in new tab) on the possibilities of a sequel.

The post The Joker movie should be “in the running” for a Best Picture Oscar, according to film festival director appeared first on Game News.

So, you wanna know how the Joker movie got its R-Rating? US ratings board Motion Picture Association of America has its verdict plastered over the Joker movie’s official site (H/T CBR (opens in new tab)), and states that the film features “strong bloody violence, disturbing behaviour, language, and brief sexual images.”

It’s clear that Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker isn’t going to be clowning around when he makes his standalone debut in October. We’ve yet to see much of the psychopathic element of the Crown Prince of Crime in the first Joker trailer (opens in new tab), yet the R-Rating hints that’s merely bubbling under the surface, waiting to explode.

The Joker movie now joins the likes of Deadpool (opens in new tab) and Logan (opens in new tab) as comic book movies recently slapped with the R-Rating, which is the highest commercial rating a movie can receive in the US.

A UK rating for the Joker movie hasn’t yet been released, though expect it to be given a 15 or 18 certification. The former is far more likely; an 18 has to push some serious buttons for the UK ratings board, and both Logan and Deadpool were only rated with a 15-age certificate despite copious amounts of blood ‘n’ cussing.

Meanwhile, it sounds like the Joker movie might not be a one-and-done deal, especially if audiences forgo the semi-restrictive rating and turn up on opening weekend in their droves. Director Todd Phillips recently told sister publication Total Film magazine (opens in new tab), “If [Joaquin Phoenix] was willing to do [a sequel], and if people show up to this movie… I have a feeling that he and I could think of something pretty cool.”

Joker isn’t the only superpowered R-Rated show in town. Read our review of The Boys season 1 (opens in new tab) to see how it soars above its profanity-laden peers.

The post The Joker movie gets an R-Rating and will include strong violence and sexual imagery appeared first on Game News.