Azzarello, Brian
About the Author:
Brian Azzarello is from Chicago, USA.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3 out of 5
(1 book)
Joker
(Art by Lee Bermejo and Mick Gray)
The Joker is unexpectedly released from Arkham Asylum and, with the help of his new right-hand man Jonny Frost, sets about reclaiming his lost criminal territory from the likes of the Penguin, the Riddler and Two-Face.
Now, this is what once would've been called an Elseworlds story, which is to say that it's not part of the mainstream DC Universe and is instead its own offshoot continuity. What that means here is that the characters and situations are just a little different to what we may be used to (so be prepared for the Penguin to be called Abner instead of Oswald, for some reason).
This book seeks to recast the Joker as a more serious underworld type, still insane but much more focused on his criminal operations and in underworld prestige, rolling that aesthetic out to the larger world of Gotham too. For me this premise held three main problems, the first and most important of which is that it sort of misses the point of the Joker. The likes of Penguin or Two-Face work excellently as mob boss-type characters but the Joker has always been the one who breaks the criminal mould and refuses to conform. There's an element of that here, but by trying to take the Joker too seriously it detracts from just how horrific his actions can be when he's being 'silly' (just look at the ludicrous 80s version dressing as an Iranian before beating Jason Todd to death with a crowbar). The other two problems of this more serious take on Gotham are two other characters who I felt were done an injustice. The first is Killer Croc, who's just a big muscly dude who likes eating raw meat, rather than a terrifying crocodile-person. The second, and worse for me, was seeing Harley Quinn recast as a coke-snorting stripper. I know that character has come a long way since this book was published, but this feels diminutive and exploitative since we get almost two full pages of her topless on stage.
3 out of 5