Writer: James Tynion IV / Penciller: Guillem March / Colour Artist: Arif Prianto / Letterer: Tom Napolitano / Editors: Ben Abernathy & Dave Wielglosz / DC Comics.
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9th March 2021
The Pitch: Following the events of Infinite Frontier #1, the Joker is the most wanted man in the world! But the Clown Prince of Crime is several steps ahead of law enforcement—and he’s on the run overseas. James Gordon, facing retirement, realizes this is the manhunt of his life and the last piece of a storied career…but what mysterious and deadly forces are also in pursuit of the Joker? And in the backup story, following the events of the smash-hit Punchline #1, DC’s most controversial new villain navigates the infrastructure of Blackgate Penitentiary. While on the outside, Harper Row takes up the mantle of Bluebird to stop her brother from falling under Punchline’s influence.
The Joker as a concept has become something of an easy target for social anger in the last couple of years. Some of it is justified, as the world moves from the prevailing ideology to the new one (which, to put it glibly, comes across as grim-dark versus hope-punk). However, I feel that quite often, we forget that the villains in our fiction are supposed to be villains. They're evil by design. And in these days of justified villainy, where every bastard has to have a point, it's almost comforting to realise that some characters are just born to be bad. And we love them for it. How else do you explain the explosive popularity of The Joker? Personally speaking, he's not one of my favourites. Even someone like me, a person that loves an a-hole has trouble swallowing the monstrousness of Mistah J most of the time. And even a life-long Bat-fan must look at the damage he does, the lasting legacy of his chem-trailed, blood-soaked path of destruction and think “For Christ's sake, just shoot him and be done with it!” Well, obviously, it wouldn't be a very good or long-lasting comic if all the villains got two in the chest and one in the head Frank Castle style would it? But characters like The Joker present another dilemma for those that craft their fiction: do you adopt their POV and feed the monster or do you write about something else? How do you write about the monster without having him be the star of the show? That's got to be tricky, especially when your book carries the beast’s name.
LIKE MILLER AND MAZZUCCHELLI’S YEAR ONE, THIS IS A JIM GORDON STORY
But with a sleight-of-hand, Tynion manages it. He gives a story about the ripple effect of The Joker's wake, what it does to lives and what it does to one life in particular. Jim Gordon, the man who perhaps more than any other has reason to take out The Joker. Here, we find Gordon sullen, depressed. He's retired, no longer a cop and at a loss. The Joker has played a hand that has destroyed Arkham and left more lives shattered. Tynion uses this as a chance to get inside the weight on Gordon's shoulders. Within that, we get a detective story in all but name. Gordon is a beautifully heavy and shambolic figure in this. He moves through Gotham and through the locations one expects to find a good detective in. Bars, diners, graveyards. There's even a beautiful 'dame' who gives Gordon a case. Not a case, but THE case. High risk, good money And we know from every detective story in the world that beautiful women and money spell trouble. For a man who turns down Harvey Bullock's offer to become a P.I., Jim Gordon sure looks like one. And that's definitely a book I want to read! Tynion keeps the clown prince at bay through most of the book and it's all the better for it. This, like Miller and Mazzucchelli's Year One, is a Jim Gordon story. It also touches on religious themes and imagery like no book in recent memory. Gordon is persecuted, the good man in a town of idolators who worship Bane and Punchline. There are shrines to evil everywhere in Gotham. Worse, there are people who seem to want oppression. It's fascinating to compare this to all the charges of fascism that Batman (as a character) faces from people (real people) who should know better.
March's art is as good as it's ever been. The texture and depth of places and faces in Gotham are rich and weathered in his hands. He plays on key moments in the joker's history, in particular, The Killing Joke and embellishes them with a living, moving reality. His expressions are emotional and large, his eyes being the focus of the panels. You see the thought going on behind them, the weariness of living in Gotham tiring them out. They're eyes that have shed a lot of tears. His lighting and shade, enhanced by the colours of Arif Prianto, make Gotham modern but lined with Gothic traces. Prianto adds touches of neon, sodium and gold to take us from street level to the home of Cressida, the mysterious lady who arrives to change Gordon's life. Prianto's colours are deep in the texture of the book, held superbly by DC's paper stock. Tom Napolitano's letters are heavy with the years Gordon has been fighting the good fight and losing. His morals are strong but on a knife edge. You can hear all those years of pipe-smoking in every word. This is definitely a book I didn't want. But it's now the book I'll absolutely be picking up.