Batman: Three Jokers
Written by: Geoff Johns
Art by: Jason Fabok
Colors by: Brad Anderson

So, I was at my local comic book store, looking for a trade paperback to pick up for this review. As I ran through the giant selection my eyes gravitated to the cover on Batman Three Jokers. This title is a part of the DC Black Label line. Black Label was launched in September of 2018. It was designed for writers and artists to create more adult oriented/”edgy” stories, without having to follow the rules of continuity and age ratings.

With the discontinuation of DC’s Vertigo imprint, new and current series, as well as reprints of old titles, are being published under the DC Black Label imprint beginning in 2020.

The story starts out with Bruce back at the bat cave getting stitched up from his latest encounter with the Penguin. As he takes off the cape and cowl, we see all of the scars he has accumulated over the years, along with panels showing how he obtained said scars.

We get sort of the same thing when we see Barbra and Jason. Barbra is at the gym, killing it on a tread mill, while thinking back to when the Joker shot her in the events of The Killing Joke. She goes home to take a shower and we see the scar off the entry wound. Jason, after dealing with some thugs, and getting his helmet knocked off in a graveyard recounts his “death” at the hands of the Joker.

This leads us to a crime scene in said graveyard where we see a bunch of bodies wearing the classic red hood tubular helmets. When they remove the helmets they find that they have all been poisoned by the Joker and have taken on his facial expression. This leads the team of Batman, Batgirl and Red Hood on a search for the perpetrator.

This sets up the premise of the book, where we find out that there are actually 3 different people that are “The Joker”, and the hunt is on to find all 3, figure out their plans and stop them before anyone else gets hurt.

As to not to go too much into spoiler territory on this book I will just say this was a really fun read. I liked that it kind of just took place in its own little world. I think Geoff Johns excels at elseworld tales like this and I’d love to read more about it. So go ahead and pick this up if you are a fan of the Joker or would like to see Bruce Wayne get a little bit of closure for once!

7/10 stars.