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A review by mediaevalmuse
Joker by Brian Azzarello
3.0
I honestly love the world of Batman and his rogues, and I’m always looking for a story that does justice to these characters. With someone like the Joker, who is widely popular, most stories are either hit or miss for me. I picked this up on recommendation from a friend who knows more about Batman than I think is humanly possible. I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest Azzarello fan, so I went into this a little wary. I’m glad I did - this book needs a massive trigger warning for violence and sexual assault. Most of the things I don’t like about Azzarello’s writing are in here (namely, his treatment of female characters), but this story was saved for me by the angle on the Joker and the art.
Things I Liked
1. Art: I really like the art in this book. It’s detailed an full of deep, black shadows and detail work - and it really does fit the tone of the story without being so dark that a reader can’t see anything.
2. POV Character (Johnny Frost): This book gives us a look at the Joker through the eyes of one of his henchmen, Johnny Frost, and I think that outside look was really beneficial. Johnny gave us a POV that was easily relatable (in that he had an admiration for the Joker that I think a lot of fans have), and though most readers will have some idea of who the Joker is, the POV character acted as a good filter for balancing expectations versus reality.
3. Joker’s Psyche: There are some stories which portray the Joker as a complete psychopath, others that show him to be more of a mischievous goof. This story gave us a scary, reckless, violent Joker, who was emotionally unbalanced, moving back and forth between confident criminal and insecure mess.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Treatment of Women: I know that some stories about criminals are not going to show women in the best of situations, but I honestly have a hard time with stories that use rape to show how bad someone is. At one point, Joker rapes Johnny’s wife to punish him for something. Thankfully, you don’t actually see it, but you know it happened - you see the Joker pulling up his pants, and there’s a terrified, broken look on Johnny’s wife’s face. I also hated that Harley was in a number of scenes but had no lines. She was, at most, decoration, especially in the scenes where she’s literally stripping at a club. Giving her a few lines during the bank heist would have helped.
2. Riddler Design: This is me being picky, but I love my Riddler in a full suit. Not whatever his outfit was in this book.
3. Use of Other Rogues: For a story that’s touted as being Joker’s big fight with rogues who betrayed him, there wasn’t a lot of substance to his conflict with the other rogues. I felt like they just popped in when convenient for a fight. It didn’t feel personal to me.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in Joker stories (especially ones without Batman), but I don't think it's a good read if you're just getting into Batman comics.
Things I Liked
1. Art: I really like the art in this book. It’s detailed an full of deep, black shadows and detail work - and it really does fit the tone of the story without being so dark that a reader can’t see anything.
2. POV Character (Johnny Frost): This book gives us a look at the Joker through the eyes of one of his henchmen, Johnny Frost, and I think that outside look was really beneficial. Johnny gave us a POV that was easily relatable (in that he had an admiration for the Joker that I think a lot of fans have), and though most readers will have some idea of who the Joker is, the POV character acted as a good filter for balancing expectations versus reality.
3. Joker’s Psyche: There are some stories which portray the Joker as a complete psychopath, others that show him to be more of a mischievous goof. This story gave us a scary, reckless, violent Joker, who was emotionally unbalanced, moving back and forth between confident criminal and insecure mess.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Treatment of Women: I know that some stories about criminals are not going to show women in the best of situations, but I honestly have a hard time with stories that use rape to show how bad someone is. At one point, Joker rapes Johnny’s wife to punish him for something. Thankfully, you don’t actually see it, but you know it happened - you see the Joker pulling up his pants, and there’s a terrified, broken look on Johnny’s wife’s face. I also hated that Harley was in a number of scenes but had no lines. She was, at most, decoration, especially in the scenes where she’s literally stripping at a club. Giving her a few lines during the bank heist would have helped.
2. Riddler Design: This is me being picky, but I love my Riddler in a full suit. Not whatever his outfit was in this book.
3. Use of Other Rogues: For a story that’s touted as being Joker’s big fight with rogues who betrayed him, there wasn’t a lot of substance to his conflict with the other rogues. I felt like they just popped in when convenient for a fight. It didn’t feel personal to me.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in Joker stories (especially ones without Batman), but I don't think it's a good read if you're just getting into Batman comics.