Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez taking over Batman after issue 125

[thwhtGuardian]

Closing the book permanently on 3 Jokers is decent but this is still very "overtly explaining Joker" through some nonsense of him and Batman sharing mentors.

I'm not sure how Zdarsky does it but everything he writes here keeps being profoundly dull and mediocre.

Yeah, I don't know what sharing a mentor really brought to the table except to make it feel overly contrived.

[phonogram12]

Had problems with Zdarsky’s run but this explanation for the Three Jokers is in line with what Morrison was trying to do, and is less idiotic than what Johns did. I like it. It demystifies the Joker somewhat but y’know I think I prefer Joker being a man at heart. A terrifying man, a man pushed beyond the realms of sanity, but he’s still a man and not this avatar of evil or an immortal demon the way Scott Snyder portrayed him.

Agreed. I'm liking Joker Y1 way more than I expected to.

[K. Jones]

So Joker Classic, Snyder Boogey-Man Joker and Morrison Joker are just Zur En Arrhs that Joker cycles between, then. It's novel and tidy, for sure. I don't hate it, because it's basically just codifying Morrison's artistic reinvention metamorphosis thing. Even Joker being touched by multiversal inverse chosen one meta-narrative structure fits that mold because his low-fantasy cosmic awareness has been winked at before. And the Zur En Arrh thing just draws direct lines, too, where it was more of an "I see what Morrison's doing with the compare & contrast" before.

But it tracks with Bruce's original reason for doing the 1960s Doctor Hurt sensory deprivation experiments that created Zur En Arrh in the first place, which was to "understand the Joker". It seems like he's had an understanding that the Joker is using this kind of arcane personality device since the Grim and Ghastly Ghoul he faced in the 1940s/Early Years turned into a silly prankster and went non-lethal. Doctor Hurt was involved in Bruce's creation of Zur En Arrh but it stands to reason some mentor could have teed up some interest in this technique years prior (and wouldn't make sense for Hurt to be this guy here, since Batman didn't know who he was in the Sixties issues and his meta origin is to target Batman, not Joker, who proves to be a thorn in his side).

There's definite leaking between the three primary personalities that Joker manifests. And I'm curious about the baseline. In Bruce's case, his alt persona definitely resembles his baseline, just taken to an extreme. In Joker's case ... is there a baseline after his mind breaks? Historically he can selectively remember memories from his past that become relevant when like, "somebody from his past shows up on the scene" in various stories and media. The multiple choice Alan Moore thing is fine and dandy for him lying about who he really is, but when somebody who knew him before he got bleached shows up, "Multiple Choice" goes out the window.

Weird run. I haven't commented much on the Zdarsky run as a whole. I like the elements he's playing with and a lot of the ideas. I have found the whole thing to be pretty decompressed and the pacing to be wildly off because of it. And the art is all over the place. There's good art, there's bad art. Sometimes there's great panels and kind of "what are they doing with their deadlines?" panels by the same artist. I know the Monthly game, but this issue for instance, all I could think was "there's some novel ideas here that aren't being pushed to the extreme by the art". I like seeing a bit of the ultra simple color pallet of a Batman: Year One in scenes of Batman in alleys or Gordon dealing with cop drama, but then we jump over to Joker "awakening" into full Joker mode and I'm like "you know, this could really use the Original Acid Chemical colors of Killing Joke, not the dismal Bolland re-coloring".

Does it call come down to "There's Three Batmen" too in the scheme of things?

Last thing ... I dipped out on Batman: The Knight pretty early on. I vaguely recalled who "mentor # 1, hot older thief lady" was, but who's Daniel the Supposed Smartest Man guy?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I liked Zdarsky's work on the Knight but feel like his run would've been better served as an Earth One entry or a Black Label book like Gargoyle of Gotham.

[Frontier]

Runs like this makes me long for the days when writers scale things back and actually try to do genuine build up instead of continually trying to top themselves or past stories.

[lefthanded]

Runs like this makes me long for the days when writers scale things back and actually try to do genuine build up instead of continually trying to top themselves or past stories.

Does Batman even stop normal criminals anymore? It seems like its all just supervillains now.

[marvelprince]

Runs like this makes me long for the days when writers scale things back and actually try to do genuine build up instead of continually trying to top themselves or past stories.

When was this?

[phonogram12]

When was this?

Yeah, I was wondering this, too, tbh.

[Frontier]

When was this?

Early Morrison?

For outside Batman, I guess Nick Spencer's Spider-Man. Or Joshua Williamson's Superman.

[Morgoth]

Does Batman even stop normal criminals anymore? It seems like its all just supervillains now.

It's been like that for a while.
Writers who get his books mostly just aren't interested in stuff like that, he became too big for small stories, I guess.

[Frontier]

It's been like that for a while.
Writers who get his books mostly just aren't interested in stuff like that, he became too big for small stories, I guess.

It's because Snyder made everything an event.

[charliehustle415]

Early Morrison?

For outside Batman, I guess Nick Spencer's Spider-Man. Or Joshua Williamson's Superman.

definitely Morrison because after that we had placeholder writers and then the New 52 happened

[Bruce Wayne]

It's because Snyder made everything an event.

That's preceded Snyder though. That was something Mike Marts (the editor on the Batman books during the Morrison/Snyder era) was really was into in creating a mainline book and trying to create events around that book. Remember how Detective Comcs (Dini's Heart of Hush) as well as the storylines in Nightwing and Robin all got labelled as part of Batman RIP despite having no connections (in the case of the Dini story).

[charliehustle415]

That's preceded Snyder though. That was something Mike Marts (the editor on the Batman books during the Morrison/Snyder era) was really was into in creating a mainline book and trying to create events around that book. Remember how Detective Comcs (Dini's Heart of Hush) as well as the storylines in Nightwing and Robin all got labelled as part of Batman RIP despite having no connections (in the case of the Dini story).

true, but the Batbooks did have a spine and you can really tell they all functioned in the same universe.

Dini's run was running a parallel story to Morrison's but intersected when RIP happened. With Bruce missing Hush tried to take his place and there were some great interactions between him and Damian.

[Frontier]

That's preceded Snyder though. That was something Mike Marts (the editor on the Batman books during the Morrison/Snyder era) was really was into in creating a mainline book and trying to create events around that book. Remember how Detective Comcs (Dini's Heart of Hush) as well as the storylines in Nightwing and Robin all got labelled as part of Batman RIP despite having no connections (in the case of the Dini story).

Even then we had a solid few Batman and Robin stories before the Return of Bruce Wayne, same with Batman Inc. before the New 52 hit.