The Joker #1

[cyberghostface]

"And then there’s The Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime, himself. The devil of the DC Universe… Where does he lurk in between his bouts with Batman… What is he planning, and what does he want. The Joker bends and changes like a dark reflection of his true adversary, so what happens to him as a character when you take that adversary away. I’ve always been fascinated about the Joker, and I’ve always loved writing the Joker interacting with and against the villains of the DC Universe, going back to when I wrote the back-up stories to Death of the Family storyline in the New 52 Batman run. I’m already having so much twisted fun writing him here, and I am so excited for you all to see it." -- James Tynion IV

Comments

[leahandillyana]

The art style is so freaking ugly it puts me off the otherwise promising story :(

[lucean]

Really digging the sense of the story here.

By the way, as I currently follow primarily by buying the trades later, did Gordon retire in the main books?

[cyberghostface]

I think it happened offscreen. He hasn't really showed up in the recent Batman run by Tynion at least.

[lucean]

Thanks and it would make sense as I kept thinking on how could I have missed Gordon's retirement.

Tynion probably intentionally kept him on the side while planning this story.

[dcbanacek]

25 million for killing the Joker and the job goes to Jim Gordon?

Was Deathstroke too busy? Was Deadshot a victim of the ammo shortage? Lady Shiva? Cheshire? Drakon? Merlyn? Black Spider? Lady Vic? Hell, what about LOBO? (now there's a story for you)

And yes, I'm sure they wanted to do some sort of character study and all that, but I really don't want to see another story with Gordon having the chance to kill him and deciding not to and just trying to maim him instead.

[shakalooloo]

Those that you name would not take the job for such a low sum.

[kurenai_tenka]

Lobo might do it for shits and giggles?

[donnblake]

"Jim Gordon, the deadliest assassin in Gotham..."

Er...

"Well, Jim Gordon, Gotham's Greatest Detective,"

I mean...

"Okay, but Jim Gordon, who at least has never failed to demonstrate that given sufficiently extreme provocation such as a brutal assault on his family he would choose extrajudicial execution of the Joker rather than relying on the legal process."

Wait, where are we on The Killing Joke and continuity these days?

[cyberghostface]

It’s still canon.

[donnblake]

"Jim Gordon, who may not be the deadliest assassin or the greatest detective in Gotham City, and who may once have demonstrated that even in the event of extreme provocation such as a brutal attack on his family, he wouldn't opt for the extrajudicial execution of the Joker, but who is retired these days and thus has some free time on his hands. I mean, what else are we going to do, give an unlimited credit card to that Bao Pham kid and send him after the clown?"

[thezmage]

Twice, I thought. Didn't the Joker kill his wife at the end of No Man's Land and he still wanted to bring the Joker in?

[cyberghostface]

He came close to killing Joker at that point and only relented after shooting him in the knee. And this was with Batman at his side effectively prodding him not to.

[donnblake]

Well... third time's the charm?

[cyberghostface]

She tells him they don’t want any costumed individuals involved.

[fra080389]

The blond woman is an actually Joker's henchman right? I mean, she has his eyes

[cainofdreaming]

Please. After the face thing lets not give them ideas like that.

[cyberghostface]

She’s with a guy who is huge and has his face covered so people are guessing it’s Bane who is alive somehow.

[donnblake]

Well, that would go some way to explain the giant looming Bane on the cover.

[filthysize]

Jim, I'm pretty sure you can retire somewhere warm for less rent than the price of a Gotham apartment.

[tcampbell1000]

I dunno, all those supervillain attacks have got to be murder on property values...

[super_fly]

So, just a completely normal splash page of Joker standing in front of a half-naked redhead's corpse with one bullet between the breasts and three in the face. Nothing to see here.

[tcampbell1000]

Intriguing idea, and I'm glad to see Gordon given something to do that doesn't involve continuing to divorce Bat-comics from the realities of modern policing. The Magistrate is not exactly a perfect metaphor but it's a lot closer.

Yes, Gordon HAS already not-killed the Joker in response to the Joker's offing his wife and torturing and paralyzing his daughter... that's the POINT. He was strong enough to stick to his principles before, but can he continue to do it now that he is (1) mourning yet another family member, (2) no longer a cop, and (3) being offered a skidillion-dollar retirement package?

Only the last one makes me cock my eyebrow a bit. Whoever's setting this exercise up (maybe Graves, the 100 Bullets guy? I think he died at the end of that series, but you know comics) may not understand that huge amounts of money isn't the best way to motivate someone like Gordon. He may be worried about making rent, but offer him a sum he can't even comprehend and a life spent resisting bribes is going to make him more resistant to your pitch, not less. Reminding him that he's almost too old to even have a chance of avenging his family, making him feel the injustice of Whiteface going on while they're scarred or in the ground, seems like a better button to press.

[mrwalker]

If the whole "hiring Gordon to kill Joker" thing does not turn out to be a ruse, it's REALLY gonna stretch the story's credibility.

The Joker is such a monster, its a safe bet you could find competent (if not Deathstroke level) killers who would pay YOU for a chance to end him. As opposed to Jim Gordon, who has both spared and saved the man at least once (No Man's Land and Hush)....