In Batman #144, lessons from the past lead Batman to save the world from Joker’s virus in the future.
Title: Batman #143 — “The Joker: Year One” Part Three
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli & Andrea Sorrentino
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez & Dave Stewart
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Nesi & Tomeu Morey
Variant Covers: Yasmine Putri, Razzah, Matteo Scalera, Lee Loughridge & Alan Quah
Release Date: February 20, 2024
Please Note: This comic book review may contain spoilers
Batman #144 opens in the future timeline, wherein a Jokerized Bat-Family is released from their holding cells at the GCPD, giving chase to Batman. He uses smoke bombs to obscure their vision, running off to solve the mystery of the two “Red Hood” capsules, the disintegration ring, and how this all ties into whatever Joker wants/is up to. Behind him, a garish, emaciated vision of Joker follows in Batman’s steps, watching. As Batman narrates this opening, he refers to Joker as Death, and the nightmarish, macabre art of the future timeline, that label feels apt. This is, after all, seemingly the final great Joker story, one that is somehow interwoven into Joker’s origins, which readers have seen in Batman #142 and Batman #143.
In the past, Bruce Wayne hosts a benefit to save the opera. However, it’s all a ruse, as Bruce is using it as a lure to coax the Red Hood Gang out, who have crossed paths with Mr. Wayne before. Alfred Pennyworth hands Bruce the Batphone, and he communicates with Gordon, who has been tailing Manny Gabris, a dirty cop connected with the Red Hood Gang somehow.
Jim Gordon enters the GCPD. Though suspended (in the last issue), he uses the excuse that he needs to get some personal belongings to get by. Manny Gabris also enters the station, bragging about the biggest narcotics bust this department has ever seen. Meanwhile, sitting at another officer’s desk, Joker, disguised as a kids’ party clown (named “Mr. Grimaldi”), delivers a sob story about being terrorized by kids. For those who have seen the Joaquin Phoenix movie, Joker, the art is a nice nod to Arthur Fleck’s getup early on in the film.
In the evidence room, Manny walks with some other men. They taze the man going over the narcotics, and Manny’s henchmen don Red Hood Gang masks. Jim realizes too late that the cameras in the station are turned off. The Red Hood Gang isn’t going to come after Bruce Wayne. They have a new leader, and the target is the GCPD! Suddenly, Jim takes a bullet to the shoulder from a masked Red Hood member.
The rest of the GCPD is taken by surprised by the Red Hood Gang. Mr. Grimaldi, who appears surprisingly calm, lets it be known that he’s more of a “stand-up guy” when told to get down. Interim Commissioner McLeod, who yells that Manny should have waited until he left for the day, opens his desk drawer to find a gun with a post-it note with his name on it.
In the past couple of issues, I’ve griped about the cartoony style of the past timeline sequences. Characters’ faces come across more cutesy and cherubic rather than just youthful, except for Gordon, who retains his older, grizzled face with a much younger tuft of fiery, red hair on his head. However, the paneling in this sequence is straightforward and effective. The way the art team juggles the parallel sequences of events that culminate in this assault on GCPD draws readers’ attention to the important notes, building and adding new details with each panel. While not flashy, it’s expertly done and is reminiscent in the effective, yet seemingly straightforward, composition and sequencing of a Steven Spielberg thriller or action film. It shouldn’t be understated how the setup is perfectly paid off, meeting readers’ expectations and adding in a few surprises that keep us turning the page. It’s a big improvement over the plethora of expository info dumps in the previous issue.
What follows are panels that jump between several different events. Gordon struggles with a masked gang member, one he recognizes as “Danny,” Manny and his men are raiding the evidence room, and McLeod opens a note to reveal a communication allegedly from Batman, which reads “I know everything.”
The station then explodes into a shooting gallery. Red Hood members shoot police officers. “Mr. Grimaldi” drops to the floor, seemingly stifling laughter, and Gordon, in this arc’s best moment, is forced to fire upon another officer. The way this is handled is incredible. As readers, we don’t see Gordon shoot Danny. We see “Bang Bang” on another panel, followed by Gordon saying, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The empathy, compassion, and horror with which this is handled feels very much in character for Jim, and it’s a testament to an art team that carefully crafted a moment that pulls back from violence for a moment of levity.
As Manny and his men load up a van, Commissioner McLeod runs up to inform Manny that Batman “knows.” Before they can continue their conversation, Mr. Grimaldi starts laughing on the floor. The balloons he arrived with float up in the air and explode. The explosion distracts everyone, including Jim, who has run up to confront McLeod and Manny. McLeod uses the distraction to fire at Gordon.
Gordon ducks for cover, and when the smoke clears, Joker stands fully armed with grenades and an AK-47 plucked from the armory.
In the future timeline, Batman has put together the clues off-panel. The dissolved ring and revolver were meant to indicate a certain point in time in the GCPD history. Paired with the “Red Hood” pill capsules, Batman surmises that Joker is referring to the station assault incident with McLeod, who was only acting commissioner for a few months. Batman lets readers know that McLeod served a prison sentence and then simply disappeared upon release.
Batman enters an office, looking for clues on McLeod. A Jokerized Jason Todd arrives, and Batman quickly puts him to sleep. Narration tells us that Batman feels the guilt of what happened to Jason, of how he hurt his second Robin so much over the years. For those who read Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War, this seems to be a very subtle nod to the abducting and traumatizing of Jason while Batman was under the control of Zur En Arrh. It’s a moment many of us would like to forget as well.
Batman opens a file on Matthew McLeod, filling in the gaps that McLeod was the second Red Hood after Joker. He finds a laughing bag, which Joker, who has been following him this whole time, encourages Batman to activate. A decibel that humans can’t hear rings out, and bats fly through the window. Joker tells Batman that, over the years, he could have killed the Caped Crusader at any time. He didn’t because he loves Batman, and Batman returns the comment by saying he didn’t kill Joker despite hating him.
In the past, McLeod makes a run for it, but he’s stopped by Gordon. When McLeod says the cameras are turned off and that Gordon has nothing, Jim mentions that he turned them back on. Meanwhile, some of the Red Hood members have made it to the van. They flee with their haul, but one of their bags is ticking.
McLeod charges at Jim, who leads him back to where everyone else is, so he can fight back and show the other officers that he can beat their traitorous commissioner. The bomb in the van goes off, filling it with paralyzing gas. It stops, and some members fall out of it, their faces frozen. Joker shows up with a wicked smile on his face. From the distance, Batman has arrived, watching Gordon tower over McLeod.
Elsewhere, Manny awakens in a mirror maze. Joker taunts him from an intercom system, and he makes a break for it. First, he finds Brian, the friendly Red Hood Gang member who helped Joker in the first issue of this arc. Brian is tied to an elephant riding toy, a smile painted on his face. Manny finds a door, and before he can open it, Joker shatters it, stepping into the room with a knife. He tells Manny that he’s using the Red Hood gang for his experiments, and McLeod will be part of it when he gets out of prison. As for Manny, Joker just wants to have some “fun.”
In the future, Batman rides on a horse while bats fly around him, attracted to the laughing bag signal. Narration tells us that laughter was the point and bats were the antidote. As Batman rides around with the bats, the citizens of Gotham City are being cured. He sends messages across the world so other heroes and leaders can free their civilians from Joker’s grasp.
We’re told it’s a game Joker has played. He used the body of Matt McLeod to perfect his infection, and with the discovery of McLeod’s body, this can be confirmed. Oddly enough, all of this information is delivered through narration, repeating the problems of the last issue. This whole future mystery readers have been led on since Batman #142 is solved off-panel, which is frustrating and undermines the whole point.
In the past, as news of McLeod’s arrest and sentencing plays out on Gotham City News Network, Joker returns to Flunky’s Bar, the bar he was assaulted at in the beginning of Joker: Year One. His eyes are darker now, and his visage is that of a more fully formed killer. He locks the door, and the lights go out.
What Did We Just Read?
While the action and pacing of this issue was an improvement over the previous issue, this whole “Year One” storyline ended in the biggest whimper. Batman solves the mystery off-panel, and a world of Jokerized people are cured in the page or two where Batman rides around on a horse, leading bats throughout the city. Meanwhile, after killing Batman’s former mentor, Joker is now the Clown Prince of Crime he was meant to be.
That’s it. That’s the story. Let’s recap.
Joker is born, seemingly kills the other two Jokers he was born with. He then learns from Batman’s former mentor, whose skin in the game is to make the ultimate foe for Batman. Through this mentor, Joker learns how to split his mind into different personalities, and once he’s gained this knowledge, Joker kills the mentor. While Batman and Jim Gordon work to round up the Red Hood Gang and clean house, Joker gets revenge by rounding up the members himself and experimenting on them. This results in a “patient zero,” who later serves as the source of a virus that Jokerizes the world long in the future. But it’s all a game. Batman solves most of that mystery off-panel, thanks to clues from Joker, and it ends in this theme of laughter as the poison and bats as the antidote, which is another way of solidifying that Batman and Joker are mortal enemies destined to do this forever.
The road to this narrative is messy, though there are moments of heart and emotion, particularly with Jim Gordon. But what were readers supposed to gain from this? What was this supposed to be? It feels rushed, clunky, and disjointed, and seemingly the point is to reaffirm to audiences what we already know — Batman and Joker are the ultimate good and ultimate evil battling it out for all time.
So what?
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by pre-ordering this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
