Graphic Novel Review – Joker

Author: Brian Azzarello
Penciler: Lee Bermejo
Publisher: DC Comics
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 2008

Synopsis:

The Joker has been mysteriously released from Arkham Asylum, and he’s none to happy about what’s happened to his Gotham City rackets while he’s been “away.” What follows is a harrowing night of revenge, murder and manic crime as only The Joker can deliver it, as he brutally takes back his stolen assets from The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face, Killer Croc and others.

I was looking forward to reading Joker and seeing what Azzarello’s take on the characters would be. But I came away from the book underwhelmed. I don’t know if this qualifies as a formal review, maybe its more of an essay, but I wanted to riff off of the book and try to get to the core of why it didn’t work for me. Needless to say, there be spoilers ahead.

Given the release date of the book there are two ways to take Joker; linked to The Dark Knight and on its own merits. The former is unfortunate and the latter is necessary. Readers, reviewers and publicists have been quick to point out that Joker is similar to The Dark Knight and isn’t that such a great reason to buy the book!!!! But I think that it suffers from the comparison and needs to be read with a mindset that is as far removed from the movie as possible. My own personal reading of Joker was very close to The Dark Knight.

One way in which the book suffers is the central character. Joker in the book feels static as if he is the eye in the center of the storm. Joker has never been the calm center and always been THE agent of chaos. Joker has no life and suffers from the movie comparison because Heath Ledgers was SO dynamic. But putting comparisons aside it just doesn’t work for the story.  Again, if Joker is taken as an agent of chaos, why should we the readers be concerned with such a mundane criminal enterprise as re-consolidating his power in the underworld. Quite frankly it’s an activity that is beneath him.

I also don’t think that framing the story around a lackey POV was the best choice. Joker is unadulterated chaos and filtering it through a non-chaos lens just dilutes the brand. We want that pure uncut shit when it comes to Joker not something that has been stepped on with baby powder and laxative.

The ending of the book is intentionally anti-climatic and I honestly have to re-read it and think about it to see if it works. My thoughts, initially, are that it doesn’t work. I do have to wonder if we are seeing the start of a trend in the wake of both the book and the movie adaptation of No Country For Old Men. No Country For Old Men has a highly unique (and frustrating for some) ending that confounds expectations by completely side-stepping it. McCarthy did something rare in fiction — he created his own rhthym for the story rather then dancing to someone else’s; McCarthy gambled huge and (and so did the Cohen brothers by staying faithful) and it paid off. The similar gambit doesn’t pay off for Azzarello. Putting structure aside it also feels off for the story as well. Everyone seems surprised that Joker is out so its reasonable for the reader to assume that he’s not supposed to be there at all. Since he’s not supposed to be there then its safe to assume that he won’t last, therefore it comes as no surprise when Batman swoops in for the win.

Given Azzarelo’s writing background (100 Bullets) one way to try and look at the story was an attempt to filter the Joker character through a crime fiction story. As an intellectual exercise it has promise but the practical application just didn’t pan out. This really becomes a kind of trees and forest thing for me. I like some of the individual aspects of the book but taken as a whole it just doesn’t come together and work.

But I look forward to the day, long in the future, when I can read Joker with much clearer (and non-Dark Knight influenced) eyes.

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About Brian

Brian loves both kinds of books -- fiction and non-fiction. He is an all around book john and reviewing roustabout. His semi-regular columns at BSC include BSC Radar Screen, The Electric Mayhem, Conversations with the Bookless and Short Thoughts on Short Fiction. He blogs at Observations From the Balcony.