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Batman: The Brave and The Bold (2023) #1-2, 5, 9
Batman: The Brave and The Bold: The Winning Card
Prepare yourself for a shockingly brutal retelling of the first bloody clash between The Joker and the Batman!
Detective Jim Gordon must call on the mysterious Dark Knight to help investigate the latest string of murder and mayhem terrorizing Gotham City. But what will it take to find the culprit behind these darkly comedic antics, and what will the repercussions be for everyone involved?
The Eisner Award-winning team of Tom King and Mitch Gerads reunite to give life to what may be the most frightening Joker story in a generation! Collects King and Gerads's The Winning Card storyline from Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1-2, #5, and #9.
Detective Jim Gordon must call on the mysterious Dark Knight to help investigate the latest string of murder and mayhem terrorizing Gotham City. But what will it take to find the culprit behind these darkly comedic antics, and what will the repercussions be for everyone involved?
The Eisner Award-winning team of Tom King and Mitch Gerads reunite to give life to what may be the most frightening Joker story in a generation! Collects King and Gerads's The Winning Card storyline from Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1-2, #5, and #9.
112 pages, Paperback
Published April 2, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
May 11, 2024
This is basically a Year One story where Batman and Joker come into conflict for the first time. The art is really strong, and Tom King's writing is sharp as always. The Joker in this story is terrifying. If you're interested in a horror take of the Joker, this is a good book to read. Alfred is also written very well in this story. I would like a bit more personality from Batman. He is written as a force of vengeance in this story, which makes sense for a Year One story, but it isn't really the Batman that we know and love from stories set later in his timeline.
April 14, 2024
Having written a Batman run that ran for 85 issues, you would think that Tom King had said everything he needed to when it comes to the Dark Knight. And yet, from that run as well as the numerous limited series he has written about the character, King takes a similar cue from when Grant Morrison was doing their seven-year-long run, which is to explore every aspect of Batman, who can go from a hero of campy theatrics, or a brooding vigilante who lurks in the streets of Gotham.
Last year, DC Comics relaunched The Brave and the Bold, a comic book series that was originally published in 1955. Like the original publication, it serves as an anthology series that features stories centred around Batman and other Gotham City-based characters, in addition other DC Universe superheroes. Some of these stories, written and drawn by various creators, span across multiple issues, including “The Winning Card” that reunites King and his frequent collaborating artist Mitch Gerads.
As a retelling of Batman #1 from 1940, which served as the introduction of the Joker, this Year One-based story starts with Detective Jim Gordon seeking the help of the mysterious Dark Knight to investigate the latest string of murders and mayhem terrorising Gotham City. As Batman gets closer to the main culprit, who happens to be a clown-looking serial killer, their confrontation is only the beginning of a conflicting relationship that will define them both.
By this point, when it comes to the Joker, I can’t help but feel fatigue, given how much Batman’s archenemy has been exposed in comics and other media. With Joaquin Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning role in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux, and Barry Keoghan possibly reprising his Joker in Matt Reeves’ Batverse, there are many members from Batman’s rogues gallery who deserve a chance on the big screen. Although King has written the Joker in previous storylines, his approach to the Joker here takes a sinister turn.
Following a similar aesthetic to when King and Gerads were doing Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1, the story doesn’t attempt to deconstruct the Joker, but re-visualizing his role as a figure of horror. Taking inspiration from Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs – which served as the main influence when Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson created the character – and that period of silent cinema, King and Gerads come up with interesting techniques. From the silent film-styled title cards used for his dialogue, to his white eyes with black sclera, the Joker is presented as this somewhat supernatural figure.
What could’ve been a Joker-centric narrative that negates Batman himself, King is still interested in him. A recurring theme that certain creators like Alan Moore have latched onto is how Batman and the Joker have this weird connection that is not just as the hero and the villain. Both characters are insane in their own way as they come to realise that with one another, hence why they are destined to battle each other. Looking very much how he did in Batman: Year One, Mitch Gerads also presents Batman as a figure of horror through panels where he is just a silhouette, whilst showing how the Batman persona creeps in whenever he is the playboy philanthropist Bruce Wayne by showing the white slits.
As previously stated, Tom King isn’t interested in bringing any new wrinkles to the Joker himself as he is presented here as a mysterious force of nature but provide some great moments of characterisation towards Batman who is arguably just as insane, despite wanting to do good in the city. As for Mitch Gerads, his art continues to shine with a style that leans to grim realism that fits well with this psychological horror that is a stunning retelling of the first clash between these two iconic comic book figures.
Last year, DC Comics relaunched The Brave and the Bold, a comic book series that was originally published in 1955. Like the original publication, it serves as an anthology series that features stories centred around Batman and other Gotham City-based characters, in addition other DC Universe superheroes. Some of these stories, written and drawn by various creators, span across multiple issues, including “The Winning Card” that reunites King and his frequent collaborating artist Mitch Gerads.
As a retelling of Batman #1 from 1940, which served as the introduction of the Joker, this Year One-based story starts with Detective Jim Gordon seeking the help of the mysterious Dark Knight to investigate the latest string of murders and mayhem terrorising Gotham City. As Batman gets closer to the main culprit, who happens to be a clown-looking serial killer, their confrontation is only the beginning of a conflicting relationship that will define them both.
By this point, when it comes to the Joker, I can’t help but feel fatigue, given how much Batman’s archenemy has been exposed in comics and other media. With Joaquin Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning role in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux, and Barry Keoghan possibly reprising his Joker in Matt Reeves’ Batverse, there are many members from Batman’s rogues gallery who deserve a chance on the big screen. Although King has written the Joker in previous storylines, his approach to the Joker here takes a sinister turn.
Following a similar aesthetic to when King and Gerads were doing Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1, the story doesn’t attempt to deconstruct the Joker, but re-visualizing his role as a figure of horror. Taking inspiration from Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs – which served as the main influence when Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson created the character – and that period of silent cinema, King and Gerads come up with interesting techniques. From the silent film-styled title cards used for his dialogue, to his white eyes with black sclera, the Joker is presented as this somewhat supernatural figure.
What could’ve been a Joker-centric narrative that negates Batman himself, King is still interested in him. A recurring theme that certain creators like Alan Moore have latched onto is how Batman and the Joker have this weird connection that is not just as the hero and the villain. Both characters are insane in their own way as they come to realise that with one another, hence why they are destined to battle each other. Looking very much how he did in Batman: Year One, Mitch Gerads also presents Batman as a figure of horror through panels where he is just a silhouette, whilst showing how the Batman persona creeps in whenever he is the playboy philanthropist Bruce Wayne by showing the white slits.
As previously stated, Tom King isn’t interested in bringing any new wrinkles to the Joker himself as he is presented here as a mysterious force of nature but provide some great moments of characterisation towards Batman who is arguably just as insane, despite wanting to do good in the city. As for Mitch Gerads, his art continues to shine with a style that leans to grim realism that fits well with this psychological horror that is a stunning retelling of the first clash between these two iconic comic book figures.
July 12, 2024
A retelling of Batman issue 1 by Rebirth’s Tom King, nearly 84 years later with a similar plot but different tone. This feels more rooted in the horror genre with a note of action.
The two stand-outs in the novel were the beautiful art work and the sinister depiction of Joker in his first encounter with Batman. I liked how King payed homage to The Man Who Laughs silent film (Joker’s inspiration) as well as homage to Jokers first appearance and how he recreated iconic scenes from the original comic but with a dark twist, turning Joker into something truly terrifying. At times this version of the Joker reminded me of Art the Clown from the Terrifier franchise. Every time he showed up it was special.
My only issues with the comic were the times the dialogue directly states “Brave and the Bold” it was too on the nose. I also wasn’t a fan of the dump of curse words. Nothing is wrong with mature verbiage but at times it seemed to use cursing for the sake of cursing with no real point in doing so.
In conclusion, the art was extraordinary, Joker was at his best, the story was engaging, some of the dialogue was a bit juvenile at times but didn’t ruin or take-away from the story. Overall, I really enjoyed the comic and am happy to add it to my Batman collection!
The two stand-outs in the novel were the beautiful art work and the sinister depiction of Joker in his first encounter with Batman. I liked how King payed homage to The Man Who Laughs silent film (Joker’s inspiration) as well as homage to Jokers first appearance and how he recreated iconic scenes from the original comic but with a dark twist, turning Joker into something truly terrifying. At times this version of the Joker reminded me of Art the Clown from the Terrifier franchise. Every time he showed up it was special.
My only issues with the comic were the times the dialogue directly states “Brave and the Bold” it was too on the nose. I also wasn’t a fan of the dump of curse words. Nothing is wrong with mature verbiage but at times it seemed to use cursing for the sake of cursing with no real point in doing so.
In conclusion, the art was extraordinary, Joker was at his best, the story was engaging, some of the dialogue was a bit juvenile at times but didn’t ruin or take-away from the story. Overall, I really enjoyed the comic and am happy to add it to my Batman collection!
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September 19, 2024While I’ve never personally seen a man stuff himself down a porta potty, I did not expect him to do it that way
July 20, 2024
Was this the best Batman Year One interpretation I've read to date? No, but it wasn't bad.
It's a Joker-Batman meet cute with a copious amount of homicides. Some relationships begin with a bang, others with a whimper but the rare few begin with both.
It's a Joker-Batman meet cute with a copious amount of homicides. Some relationships begin with a bang, others with a whimper but the rare few begin with both.
April 15, 2024
I like Tom King, can’t help it. And Mitch Gerard’s is an amazing ally for his storytelling. I read the first 2 issues of this story when they came out and I loved the dark, scary atmosphere of it, I knew this was going to be something great. Joker is genuinely menacing and violent, the dialogue panels add to the mysticism he represents on his first appearance, this new design is perfect too. We have an early days Batman trying to figure out how to handle this demon that will end up haunting him for the rest of his life. We do have this homage to The Killing Joke, specially with that Batman joke, which lands weirdly in a well constructed conclusion to the story.
April 9, 2024
The Winning Card is a retelling of Batman #1 from 1940, which featured Batman's first encounter with the Joker, his eventual arch-nemesis. TWC updates the original story to fit in the modern Batman continuity (whatever that is, I don't even know anymore after all the retconning and rebooting).
The creative team is a pairing I'm a huge fan of. I think Tom King is one of the best writers working in the comic book medium right now and Mitch Gerards is a wonderful artist whose style is part Alex Ross and part Bill Sienkiewicz. These two crafted the Riddler one shot in the Batman: One Bad Day imprint in 2022, which was my favorite comic of that year, and Strange Adventures (or, at least the sequences set in the present), which was one of the best comics of the late 2010s.
I'm also a huge fan of Batman, and, by extension, the Joker. Batman would probably rate as my second or third fictional character of all time (Superman, by other contender for second or third, sometimes has Bats beat depending on my mood). I especially love stories set early in Batman's career, when he was a lone vigilante with more limited resources and only one true ally outside of his loyal butler/father figure Alfred. Batman's relationship with the Joker, likewise, is incredibly fascinating to me. I love the order vs chaos motif, the straight man vs funny man routine, and the endless stories that can be mined from said elements.
So, long story short, TWC was one of my most anticipated comics in a long, long time. Two creators I adore retelling the beginning of a fascinating relationship set in my favorite time period of one of my favorite characters' history? Sign this guy up!
When I finally sat down to read this as a collected trade, I found the experience to be a mixed bag.
I think King (who I adore) leans into some of his worst habits as a storyteller. You see, King rarely tackles a story in the typical comics format. Almost everything he's done has some kind of motif. Repeating dialogue, nonlinear sequence of events, re-using phrases or metaphors. Usually, this is an asset, but here, I think King was using his trademark style to overcompensate for such a simple story rather than having anything especially new to say. The motifs came off gimmicky and unearned to me (a story about using a worm as bait was particularly eyeball worthy).
Moreover, the portrayal of several characters felt off. Alfred, as usual, is unhappy with Bruce's war on crime, but here, in a truly baffling conversation near the end, he goes as far as implying that what Bruce is doing makes him just as crazy as the Joker (the usual "you're not so different" routine). If Alfred was aware of the Joker's backstory (let's say, as soul that Gotham damaged), then I'd accept the comparison. But Alfred knows nothing of the Joker in this story aside from his being a bogeyman who murders multiple children, along with several adults. Therefore, I find the comparison completely unwarranted.
Similarly, Batman himself was off-model. His dialogue is overly stilted and it feels that his skills as a crimefighter are both inconsistent with Batman: Year One (which this very much wants to be a sequel to) and entirely dependent on the needs of the story. Now, I know this is almost always the case in superhero stories. I'm not someone who cares about power scaling or whatever. But there's a point where Batman's incompetence breaks my suspension of disbelief. You'll know what I'm talking about if you've read the story. He also fails to save a single person from the Joker's rampage (except for a guy who he manipulated the Joker into targeting). I think Batman should be fallible this early in his career, and I think the Joker should be an opponent that gives him something of a wakeup call when they first meet, but this went way too far for me. Fallible isn't the same as incompetent.
There's also a callback (or call forward) to the Killing Joke at the end that was a step too far (a joke a bout a battery that I've been baffled by for a week).
However, I can't say this thing is a total whiff. The artwork by Mitch Gerards is incredible, with so many images that have stayed with me in the week since I read this. In particular, there's an image of the Joker in a porta potty that is absolutely chilling. Ditto for another sequence, set in Arkham Asylum, near the end. Honestly, I loved almost every sequence with the Joker himself. This portrayal is very much in line with the unstoppable bogeyman from Scott Snyder's run.
I also have to give King credit for always finding cool things to do with the comic book medium. The use of silent film dialogue frames to convey the Joker's dialogue was such a cool and effective idea.
Overall, I'm not sure I like Winning Card, but I'm glad this exists, and I'm glad Tom King and Mitch Gerards are working in the industry. I would gladly take the chance on more of their collaborations.
As a companion piece to this, I also read Batman: The Man Who Laughs, which was Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke's retelling of the first Joker story from 20 years ago. The two stories re fascinating to compare. Brubaker's is less ambitious, less memorable, but somehow is more effective (for me, at least). Man Who Laughs' portrayal of the Joker is much less inspired, but I found it far more enjoyable as a Batman story. It's less flashy than this book, but the story is more believable (of course, if you accept the conceit of this being a superhero universe).
The creative team is a pairing I'm a huge fan of. I think Tom King is one of the best writers working in the comic book medium right now and Mitch Gerards is a wonderful artist whose style is part Alex Ross and part Bill Sienkiewicz. These two crafted the Riddler one shot in the Batman: One Bad Day imprint in 2022, which was my favorite comic of that year, and Strange Adventures (or, at least the sequences set in the present), which was one of the best comics of the late 2010s.
I'm also a huge fan of Batman, and, by extension, the Joker. Batman would probably rate as my second or third fictional character of all time (Superman, by other contender for second or third, sometimes has Bats beat depending on my mood). I especially love stories set early in Batman's career, when he was a lone vigilante with more limited resources and only one true ally outside of his loyal butler/father figure Alfred. Batman's relationship with the Joker, likewise, is incredibly fascinating to me. I love the order vs chaos motif, the straight man vs funny man routine, and the endless stories that can be mined from said elements.
So, long story short, TWC was one of my most anticipated comics in a long, long time. Two creators I adore retelling the beginning of a fascinating relationship set in my favorite time period of one of my favorite characters' history? Sign this guy up!
When I finally sat down to read this as a collected trade, I found the experience to be a mixed bag.
I think King (who I adore) leans into some of his worst habits as a storyteller. You see, King rarely tackles a story in the typical comics format. Almost everything he's done has some kind of motif. Repeating dialogue, nonlinear sequence of events, re-using phrases or metaphors. Usually, this is an asset, but here, I think King was using his trademark style to overcompensate for such a simple story rather than having anything especially new to say. The motifs came off gimmicky and unearned to me (a story about using a worm as bait was particularly eyeball worthy).
Moreover, the portrayal of several characters felt off. Alfred, as usual, is unhappy with Bruce's war on crime, but here, in a truly baffling conversation near the end, he goes as far as implying that what Bruce is doing makes him just as crazy as the Joker (the usual "you're not so different" routine). If Alfred was aware of the Joker's backstory (let's say, as soul that Gotham damaged), then I'd accept the comparison. But Alfred knows nothing of the Joker in this story aside from his being a bogeyman who murders multiple children, along with several adults. Therefore, I find the comparison completely unwarranted.
Similarly, Batman himself was off-model. His dialogue is overly stilted and it feels that his skills as a crimefighter are both inconsistent with Batman: Year One (which this very much wants to be a sequel to) and entirely dependent on the needs of the story. Now, I know this is almost always the case in superhero stories. I'm not someone who cares about power scaling or whatever. But there's a point where Batman's incompetence breaks my suspension of disbelief. You'll know what I'm talking about if you've read the story. He also fails to save a single person from the Joker's rampage (except for a guy who he manipulated the Joker into targeting). I think Batman should be fallible this early in his career, and I think the Joker should be an opponent that gives him something of a wakeup call when they first meet, but this went way too far for me. Fallible isn't the same as incompetent.
There's also a callback (or call forward) to the Killing Joke at the end that was a step too far (a joke a bout a battery that I've been baffled by for a week).
However, I can't say this thing is a total whiff. The artwork by Mitch Gerards is incredible, with so many images that have stayed with me in the week since I read this. In particular, there's an image of the Joker in a porta potty that is absolutely chilling. Ditto for another sequence, set in Arkham Asylum, near the end. Honestly, I loved almost every sequence with the Joker himself. This portrayal is very much in line with the unstoppable bogeyman from Scott Snyder's run.
I also have to give King credit for always finding cool things to do with the comic book medium. The use of silent film dialogue frames to convey the Joker's dialogue was such a cool and effective idea.
Overall, I'm not sure I like Winning Card, but I'm glad this exists, and I'm glad Tom King and Mitch Gerards are working in the industry. I would gladly take the chance on more of their collaborations.
As a companion piece to this, I also read Batman: The Man Who Laughs, which was Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke's retelling of the first Joker story from 20 years ago. The two stories re fascinating to compare. Brubaker's is less ambitious, less memorable, but somehow is more effective (for me, at least). Man Who Laughs' portrayal of the Joker is much less inspired, but I found it far more enjoyable as a Batman story. It's less flashy than this book, but the story is more believable (of course, if you accept the conceit of this being a superhero universe).
April 30, 2024
I was really enjoying The Winning Card up to this point, but I feel like this final chapter really sunk the story. It tries to say a lot about Batman, but it falls flat. The quality of the stories themselves ends up being inconsistent. It's a shame. The art is good though, despite how often I could tell corners were cut to get this story out.
May 8, 2024
Recopilada y publicada hace apenas unas semanas en EE.UU (ECC ya ha anunciado que la sacará en español durante este año), "The Winning Card" reúne la historia que el maravilloso dúo de Tom King y Mith Gerards fueron contando a goteras el año pasado en algunos números de la serie "Batman: The Brave and the Bold". Se trata de una reversión (una más) del clásico primer encuentro entre Batman y el Joker, publicado hace 80 años por Bob Kane y Bill Finger. De estas previas reversiones la más destacada, y quizás insuperable, es "Batman: El hombre que ríe" (Brubaker, Mahnke, 2005), y Tom King -gran conocedor de la historia de los comics- en cierto modo parte de ella, pero le da una vuelta de tuerca más. La historia -tal como se nos recuerda en la primera página- se desarrolla en el "Año Uno" de Batman. El héroe recién está conociendo el mundo criminal de Gotham, Gordon es apenas capitán de policía y Alfred aún guarda esperanzas de que su pupilo abandone su obsesión por vestirse de murciélago. De pronto, aparece un sujeto disfrazado de payaso que avisa de antemano los crímentes que cometerá en contra de ciudadanos famosos de Gotham. Gordon no se lo toma en serio, y Batman, en principio, tampoco, pero ocurre que, a pesar de que toman todos los resguardos posibles, los crímenes sí llegan a cometerse. Para peor, luego el Joker comete otros crímenes horrorosos, pero que no tienen nada que ver con los anteriores. Batman, desesperado, nota que no hay un patrón en su conducta. Decide, entonces, él crear ese patrón y urde una emboscada contra el Joker, que no resulta y que lo deja mal herido. Tal como en la original "Batman: Year One" (Miller, Mazzuccelli, 1987), este es un Batman que se equivoca, que recibe golpes, que duda de sus capacidades. Incapaz de salir de la cama a causa de sus heridas, contempla cómo el Joker continua con sus matanzas aleatorias. Su sufrimiento es tal que -en un patológico deseo de autoflagelo-, le pide a Alfred que lo golpee, como si con ello pudiera limpiar la culpa que siente. Semanas más tarde, por fin logra apresar al Joker tras una sangrienta batalla en la cual ambos pudieron perder la vida.
A pesar de todo lo dicho, esta es una historia principalmente psicológica. Primero, Tom King quiere poner énfasis en algo que la versión del gran Ed Brubaker ya contenía, pero que no se desarrollaba, a mi juicio, con consistencia: la inexistencia de un patrón en los crimenes del Joker, reflejo de su locura, y que hace casi imposible su captura. Y segundo, King insiste en otro tópico: que la locura del Joker espejea una, por lo menos, inestabilidad mental en Bruce Wayne: su obsesión, su culpa, sus deseos de autoflagelo y las bromas con las que intenta responder a las propias bromas del Joker, así lo demuestran.
En términos de forma, la historia es un lujo. El Joker, por ejemplo, nunca habla a través de globos de texto, sino en viñetas oscuras aparte, que imitan las cintas de celuloide de las películas viejas, lo cual le añade más horror. Además, cada vez que Bruce Wayne se enfada, Gerards lo dibuja con los ojos angulosos, como un murciélago, y el rostro oscurecido, muy similar a la máscara que usaba su padre en el batman de Grant Morrison (el propio título de la historia alude a uno de los arcos del clásico run de Morrison en Batman). Y hablando de Gerards, su arte está en un nivel superlativo, quizás lo mejor que ha hecho desde "Mr. Miracle" (2018). Pinta a un Joker de pupilas blancas y esclerótica negra, y de una sonrisa que nunca deja de parecer atroz.
El único contra de la historia es que, en su retrato del Joker, recae, a pesar de los logros ya mencionados, en ciertos clichés (eso de que el Joker pase la lengua por el cuchillo luego de sus crimenes es innecesario). También podría criticarse que cierta ambiguedad en el final es también un defecto, pues King da a entender que ya tras su primer encuentro Batman intuye que tendrá que enfrentarse, en el futuro, constantemente contra el Joker, a pesar de que este en ese momento esté en la cárcel. ¿Acaso sabía que el Joker no tardará en escapar?
Pero lo centrar en esta historia es su desarrollo y el análisis psicológico (como es típico en King), de Batman y el Joker. No alcanza para estar entre lo mejor de King, pero eso no quita que sea una gran historia.
A pesar de todo lo dicho, esta es una historia principalmente psicológica. Primero, Tom King quiere poner énfasis en algo que la versión del gran Ed Brubaker ya contenía, pero que no se desarrollaba, a mi juicio, con consistencia: la inexistencia de un patrón en los crimenes del Joker, reflejo de su locura, y que hace casi imposible su captura. Y segundo, King insiste en otro tópico: que la locura del Joker espejea una, por lo menos, inestabilidad mental en Bruce Wayne: su obsesión, su culpa, sus deseos de autoflagelo y las bromas con las que intenta responder a las propias bromas del Joker, así lo demuestran.
En términos de forma, la historia es un lujo. El Joker, por ejemplo, nunca habla a través de globos de texto, sino en viñetas oscuras aparte, que imitan las cintas de celuloide de las películas viejas, lo cual le añade más horror. Además, cada vez que Bruce Wayne se enfada, Gerards lo dibuja con los ojos angulosos, como un murciélago, y el rostro oscurecido, muy similar a la máscara que usaba su padre en el batman de Grant Morrison (el propio título de la historia alude a uno de los arcos del clásico run de Morrison en Batman). Y hablando de Gerards, su arte está en un nivel superlativo, quizás lo mejor que ha hecho desde "Mr. Miracle" (2018). Pinta a un Joker de pupilas blancas y esclerótica negra, y de una sonrisa que nunca deja de parecer atroz.
El único contra de la historia es que, en su retrato del Joker, recae, a pesar de los logros ya mencionados, en ciertos clichés (eso de que el Joker pase la lengua por el cuchillo luego de sus crimenes es innecesario). También podría criticarse que cierta ambiguedad en el final es también un defecto, pues King da a entender que ya tras su primer encuentro Batman intuye que tendrá que enfrentarse, en el futuro, constantemente contra el Joker, a pesar de que este en ese momento esté en la cárcel. ¿Acaso sabía que el Joker no tardará en escapar?
Pero lo centrar en esta historia es su desarrollo y el análisis psicológico (como es típico en King), de Batman y el Joker. No alcanza para estar entre lo mejor de King, pero eso no quita que sea una gran historia.
May 3, 2024
The Winning Card is a retelling of Batman and Joker’s first encounter. In Tom King/Mitch Gerads’ version, Joker’s threatening to kill prominent members of Gotham society - and pulling it off, despite GCPD protection - but also targeting random civilians. Batman, still learning how to vigilante, must learn Joker’s methods to stop him from killing any more people.
Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s The Man Who Laughs is such a brilliant story of Batman and Joker’s first meeting that it really doesn’t need a retelling. I can see why DC would want to do it though for commercial reasons (Batman and Joker stories sell) and King/Gerads’ version isn’t bad either so, while The Winning Card isn’t going to supplant The Man Who Laughs as the definitive first time Batman meets Joker, it’s still a decent Batman/Joker book for the fans.
Framed from the beginning as “Year One”, The Winning Card follows the same four issue format of the original Year One and, as it’s set in the past, Gordon is only Senior Detective and Alfred’s still alive. Batman’s also relatively inexperienced and doesn’t know Joker yet so that’s why Joker’s able to surprise him and seem more formidable here than he sometimes does.
Like in The Man Who Laughs, Joker targets prominent Gothamites for assassination but King has him also go after random citizens to lend the character an extra edge of chaotic danger, which I think is a good touch - although I’m still not sure what Joker’s plan was in all of this. The vagueness of it makes it less memorable. It just felt like he was being Joker - scaring people by going around killing arbitrarily. Any point besides that? Something to do with a nursery rhyme maybe but it wasn’t clear.
And speaking of that, the third chapter has King deploying his annoying habit of repeating lyrics to a song in lieu of writing anything himself. So we’re subjected to the “knick-knack paddywhack, give the dog a bone” rhyme for most of that issue. Bah!
Mitch Gerads’ Joker is quite ghoulish and looked really cool and terrifying. His Batman looks great as well, although generally I’m not that big a fan of Gerads’ wide, murky panels. I liked that the Joker’s dialogue is mostly presented in the same way as silent movies’ dialogue was, to add to the flavour of yesteryear and Joker’s macabre, otherworldly air. And some of his jokes weren’t bad either (“I read a whole book about an immortal dog. It was impossible to put down”).
The title seems to be a clever way of signposting the book as a Joker story as the “winning card” in the game he’s playing with one of his victims is the joker of the pack. But what makes this “The Brave and the Bold” - a series where Batman teams up with other DC characters to defeat a villain, when this story seems to be just Batman and Joker? Apparently the other issues in this series include other DC characters, it’s just this book that collects King/Gerads’ storyline in one place.
Which is probably the best format to read this story in given that the publication of the singles was nonsensical - the first half appeared in issues #1 and #2, then Part 3 was in #5 and the final part appeared in #9. Makes perfect sense! Must’ve been quite frustrating to readers of the singles waiting for what seems to be the best story in this run of The Brave and the Bold.
And The Winning Card isn’t bad for a Batman/Joker origin story although it does feel unimpressive, especially compared to the vastly superior The Man Who Laughs. I kept waiting for King to give us something new and exciting in his retelling but the story he told was fairly unremarkable. Joker does bad things, Batman stops him. Meh. It’s not poorly written or drawn, it’s just an average Batman/Joker story - disappointing given that King’s written some truly fantastic Batman comics in the past.
Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s The Man Who Laughs is such a brilliant story of Batman and Joker’s first meeting that it really doesn’t need a retelling. I can see why DC would want to do it though for commercial reasons (Batman and Joker stories sell) and King/Gerads’ version isn’t bad either so, while The Winning Card isn’t going to supplant The Man Who Laughs as the definitive first time Batman meets Joker, it’s still a decent Batman/Joker book for the fans.
Framed from the beginning as “Year One”, The Winning Card follows the same four issue format of the original Year One and, as it’s set in the past, Gordon is only Senior Detective and Alfred’s still alive. Batman’s also relatively inexperienced and doesn’t know Joker yet so that’s why Joker’s able to surprise him and seem more formidable here than he sometimes does.
Like in The Man Who Laughs, Joker targets prominent Gothamites for assassination but King has him also go after random citizens to lend the character an extra edge of chaotic danger, which I think is a good touch - although I’m still not sure what Joker’s plan was in all of this. The vagueness of it makes it less memorable. It just felt like he was being Joker - scaring people by going around killing arbitrarily. Any point besides that? Something to do with a nursery rhyme maybe but it wasn’t clear.
And speaking of that, the third chapter has King deploying his annoying habit of repeating lyrics to a song in lieu of writing anything himself. So we’re subjected to the “knick-knack paddywhack, give the dog a bone” rhyme for most of that issue. Bah!
Mitch Gerads’ Joker is quite ghoulish and looked really cool and terrifying. His Batman looks great as well, although generally I’m not that big a fan of Gerads’ wide, murky panels. I liked that the Joker’s dialogue is mostly presented in the same way as silent movies’ dialogue was, to add to the flavour of yesteryear and Joker’s macabre, otherworldly air. And some of his jokes weren’t bad either (“I read a whole book about an immortal dog. It was impossible to put down”).
The title seems to be a clever way of signposting the book as a Joker story as the “winning card” in the game he’s playing with one of his victims is the joker of the pack. But what makes this “The Brave and the Bold” - a series where Batman teams up with other DC characters to defeat a villain, when this story seems to be just Batman and Joker? Apparently the other issues in this series include other DC characters, it’s just this book that collects King/Gerads’ storyline in one place.
Which is probably the best format to read this story in given that the publication of the singles was nonsensical - the first half appeared in issues #1 and #2, then Part 3 was in #5 and the final part appeared in #9. Makes perfect sense! Must’ve been quite frustrating to readers of the singles waiting for what seems to be the best story in this run of The Brave and the Bold.
And The Winning Card isn’t bad for a Batman/Joker origin story although it does feel unimpressive, especially compared to the vastly superior The Man Who Laughs. I kept waiting for King to give us something new and exciting in his retelling but the story he told was fairly unremarkable. Joker does bad things, Batman stops him. Meh. It’s not poorly written or drawn, it’s just an average Batman/Joker story - disappointing given that King’s written some truly fantastic Batman comics in the past.
June 9, 2024
I...think I like this? Tom King is one of those strange writers for me where most of his work I'm just fine towards; don't hate, but don't love, right in the middle. There will, usually, be some brilliant aspects marred by some questionable things, ranging from dialogue or characterization. And the few things I've really enjoyed by him, was in spite of the bad things in them...or a form of Stockholm Syndrome, at this point.
This is another retelling of Batman and Joker's first encounter and...it's something. Where the original comic with these two is still pretty good, and Ed Brubaker's fantastic modern take with "The Man Who Laughs", this doesn't feel wholly necessary. So, what's the difference? It's, essentially, recent Joker. And by that, I mean how he's been portrayed in the last few years being retconned(?) to back then too, when he was originally a bit goofier...which was kind of the point. Even the other Batman comics acknowledged this a few times, with Grant Morrison positing that he has a "super-sanity" where he, subconsciously, constantly reinvents himself, hence why sometimes he's a criminal mastermind one day, a comedic doofus another, or a deranged psychopath another. It's even been stated elsewhere that Joker was either hiding how truly evil he was from the start and only lately has been going full-blast with it, or just over time he worsened. Either way, throw all that out the window, this is spawn-of-Satan Joker, hiding under beds, in backseats of cars, waiting in the shadows, just to kill anyone and everyone, which I will admit, are pulled off quite effectively in some 'scenes,' being genuinely creepy or terrifying. Other times, it just feels a bit much, like "look how adult I am, my story has blood and murder!"
And the $%^& dialogue in this &$%^* thing doesn't help, with some characters just ranting and !@#$%^ raving with keyboard symbols and punctuation marks to replace the swears, and will go on for so long it just gets tiresome. Like, seriously? I get he's swearing, but once again, REALLY comes off as if it's REALLY trying to be edgy and 'mature'!
The characterization of Commissioner Gordon also felt kind of off, where he seemed a lot more jerkish than I'm used to with the character, berating others and even Batman, who he called up for help. It didn't fit, for me at least.
Interspliced with this problems, as always with King, are some clever ideas and fine execution. Having Joker's dialogue be in separate panels like a frame from old-timey silent films I thought was interesting, and I do like the idea that even the cops are becoming aware, with the Joker around, things are changing in Gotham, and maybe not for the better.
I'm always intrigued by Tom King, and weirdly look forward to reading other stuff from him. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't a great Batman/Joker story either.
This is another retelling of Batman and Joker's first encounter and...it's something. Where the original comic with these two is still pretty good, and Ed Brubaker's fantastic modern take with "The Man Who Laughs", this doesn't feel wholly necessary. So, what's the difference? It's, essentially, recent Joker. And by that, I mean how he's been portrayed in the last few years being retconned(?) to back then too, when he was originally a bit goofier...which was kind of the point. Even the other Batman comics acknowledged this a few times, with Grant Morrison positing that he has a "super-sanity" where he, subconsciously, constantly reinvents himself, hence why sometimes he's a criminal mastermind one day, a comedic doofus another, or a deranged psychopath another. It's even been stated elsewhere that Joker was either hiding how truly evil he was from the start and only lately has been going full-blast with it, or just over time he worsened. Either way, throw all that out the window, this is spawn-of-Satan Joker, hiding under beds, in backseats of cars, waiting in the shadows, just to kill anyone and everyone, which I will admit, are pulled off quite effectively in some 'scenes,' being genuinely creepy or terrifying. Other times, it just feels a bit much, like "look how adult I am, my story has blood and murder!"
And the $%^& dialogue in this &$%^* thing doesn't help, with some characters just ranting and !@#$%^ raving with keyboard symbols and punctuation marks to replace the swears, and will go on for so long it just gets tiresome. Like, seriously? I get he's swearing, but once again, REALLY comes off as if it's REALLY trying to be edgy and 'mature'!
The characterization of Commissioner Gordon also felt kind of off, where he seemed a lot more jerkish than I'm used to with the character, berating others and even Batman, who he called up for help. It didn't fit, for me at least.
Interspliced with this problems, as always with King, are some clever ideas and fine execution. Having Joker's dialogue be in separate panels like a frame from old-timey silent films I thought was interesting, and I do like the idea that even the cops are becoming aware, with the Joker around, things are changing in Gotham, and maybe not for the better.
I'm always intrigued by Tom King, and weirdly look forward to reading other stuff from him. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't a great Batman/Joker story either.
June 11, 2024
So, Batman The Brave and the Bold: The Winning Card (April 2024) is Tom King and Mitch Gerrad’s contribution to the Batman-Joker “origin” story, and while it is a well-told and scarily well-illustrated straight-up horror story, it doesn’t add much new to our understanding of these two beyond what we already know. Not that I’m complaining; what is here is still very good, if you think of itt as a stand-alone, an introduction to the beginning of their relationship.
What do we know already? Well, just to name a few things, just for some context, King and Gerrad's work here is in conversation with Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s excellent (and better) The Man Who Laughs; Frank Miller and David Mazzuccheli’s Batman: Year One; Miller’s Dark Knight; Scott Snyder’s The Batman Who Laughs, and Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, of course.
But then you gotta go back to the guys that created The Joker, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson. But they didn’t create that out of thin air. In their creepy creation, they drew on a short 1928 film featuring Conrad Veidt, The Man Who Laughs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdW5y...
Just look at 5 minutes of it, at least, to get the chilling effects, and to see The origins of The Joker face, but not before you go to bed, or he will rob you of some sleep.
But even before that there was a 1909 film, no copies still existing, but even before that there was Victor Hugo’s novel The Man Who Laughs (1869), about a man with a disfigured slash across his mouth that looks like a macabre smile.
Cool, eh? Now, comics historians; write your books! Enough for a dissertation here, surely!
What do King and Gerard add to the mythos? Maybe this two-sides-of-the-same-coin-they’re-both- insane approach is a little darker than most: Real terror, real horror, real dark humor. Four central characters: Jim Gordon, Joker, Batman, and Alfred. The homage to the original silent film is that the Joker’s words are framed by cards in the manner of silent film “dialogue;” that’s very cool, right?
A nit about this and many of these PG-13 super hero series, especially given the changing nature of profanity in all social media, tv, film, comics, is the $%^& dialogue in this &$%^ thing. By that I mean there’s a lot of replacements for swear words in it, and it is completely getting very annoying. Can we just get beyond this? But it’s a nit, ultimately, a plea to the industry to stop appearing to keep swear words form the potentially virginal ears of potential teen readers. This ain't the fifties. The code ain't comin' back.
But even if you do know a lot about the Joker-Batman history, this volume is still good, I say.
What do we know already? Well, just to name a few things, just for some context, King and Gerrad's work here is in conversation with Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s excellent (and better) The Man Who Laughs; Frank Miller and David Mazzuccheli’s Batman: Year One; Miller’s Dark Knight; Scott Snyder’s The Batman Who Laughs, and Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, of course.
But then you gotta go back to the guys that created The Joker, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson. But they didn’t create that out of thin air. In their creepy creation, they drew on a short 1928 film featuring Conrad Veidt, The Man Who Laughs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdW5y...
Just look at 5 minutes of it, at least, to get the chilling effects, and to see The origins of The Joker face, but not before you go to bed, or he will rob you of some sleep.
But even before that there was a 1909 film, no copies still existing, but even before that there was Victor Hugo’s novel The Man Who Laughs (1869), about a man with a disfigured slash across his mouth that looks like a macabre smile.
Cool, eh? Now, comics historians; write your books! Enough for a dissertation here, surely!
What do King and Gerard add to the mythos? Maybe this two-sides-of-the-same-coin-they’re-both- insane approach is a little darker than most: Real terror, real horror, real dark humor. Four central characters: Jim Gordon, Joker, Batman, and Alfred. The homage to the original silent film is that the Joker’s words are framed by cards in the manner of silent film “dialogue;” that’s very cool, right?
A nit about this and many of these PG-13 super hero series, especially given the changing nature of profanity in all social media, tv, film, comics, is the $%^& dialogue in this &$%^ thing. By that I mean there’s a lot of replacements for swear words in it, and it is completely getting very annoying. Can we just get beyond this? But it’s a nit, ultimately, a plea to the industry to stop appearing to keep swear words form the potentially virginal ears of potential teen readers. This ain't the fifties. The code ain't comin' back.
But even if you do know a lot about the Joker-Batman history, this volume is still good, I say.
August 31, 2024
What Tom King does is that he asks too much of some readers. He expects everyone to reach upward. Some are capable of that. Some aren’t. And he just keeps writing like that.
This time it’s the Tom King version of Batman’s first war with the Joker. In terms that aren’t just Tom King, let’s say it’s The Batman crossed with The Dark Knight. So Tom King is the guy writing comic books that’s capable of approaching them the way the best best filmmakers are making Batman movies.
When he was writing Batman, his whole premise was Bruce Wayne’s trauma, a pre-existing trauma, from when his parents were still alive, a kind of obsession with death, which later became “a good death,” something he could offer in tribute to the deaths of his parents. And that was how he reached across all the stories he told, a psychological deep dive that pivoted in part on whether or not he could find happiness (such as, say, marrying Catwoman, which he had the audacity to spurn by suggesting Catwoman herself might decide otherwise).
So when he tackles the Joker directly…what else could you expect but The Winning Card?
This is a further look at Batman’s own trauma. It’s like the Batman Frank Miller wrote in the pages of All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, who was being seen from Dick Grayson’s young perspective, a maniac capable of anything and least of all concerned with what a boy might think of it except join him on his mad quest.
Alfred has been consistently presented, in recent decades, as questioning that quest. Not just the obsequious manservant going along with the plan. Because there is no plan. It’s really the plan Bruce Wayne suggests to Brute Nelson, when he lets slip the facade without the listener have a clue. Because Batman, like the Joker, plays by rules no one else understands. Like James Gordon.
Many readers think Tom King drove himself to distraction in his deconstructions years ago, that he’s just amusing himself wrecking everything in his path, now, that he, heh, just wants to see the world burn, every hero turned into a villain.
But he sees complexities. And that’s how he tells his tales. And the comic book medium is better off for it. After all, the movies can’t have all the fun, can they?
Most of all, this is finally a Joker story that isn’t just about the Joker’s depravity. And that’s pretty funny!
This time it’s the Tom King version of Batman’s first war with the Joker. In terms that aren’t just Tom King, let’s say it’s The Batman crossed with The Dark Knight. So Tom King is the guy writing comic books that’s capable of approaching them the way the best best filmmakers are making Batman movies.
When he was writing Batman, his whole premise was Bruce Wayne’s trauma, a pre-existing trauma, from when his parents were still alive, a kind of obsession with death, which later became “a good death,” something he could offer in tribute to the deaths of his parents. And that was how he reached across all the stories he told, a psychological deep dive that pivoted in part on whether or not he could find happiness (such as, say, marrying Catwoman, which he had the audacity to spurn by suggesting Catwoman herself might decide otherwise).
So when he tackles the Joker directly…what else could you expect but The Winning Card?
This is a further look at Batman’s own trauma. It’s like the Batman Frank Miller wrote in the pages of All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, who was being seen from Dick Grayson’s young perspective, a maniac capable of anything and least of all concerned with what a boy might think of it except join him on his mad quest.
Alfred has been consistently presented, in recent decades, as questioning that quest. Not just the obsequious manservant going along with the plan. Because there is no plan. It’s really the plan Bruce Wayne suggests to Brute Nelson, when he lets slip the facade without the listener have a clue. Because Batman, like the Joker, plays by rules no one else understands. Like James Gordon.
Many readers think Tom King drove himself to distraction in his deconstructions years ago, that he’s just amusing himself wrecking everything in his path, now, that he, heh, just wants to see the world burn, every hero turned into a villain.
But he sees complexities. And that’s how he tells his tales. And the comic book medium is better off for it. After all, the movies can’t have all the fun, can they?
Most of all, this is finally a Joker story that isn’t just about the Joker’s depravity. And that’s pretty funny!
May 1, 2024
This story was so dark and yet thats why it was so good, seriously Tom knocking it out of the park with this one yet again but omg its Mitch, the artist whose the standout here because the way he has set up panels and giving perspective of scenes from diff. angles like Batman waking up and Joker around him, or how Joker is smiling when killing people and Gordon being confronted when killings suddenly happen like the one with the knight armor.. its perfect seriously and just shows how dark and scary the Joker is.. Idk how Tom managed to make him even more scarier but lets say this maybe one of the best Batman/Joker stories and one of the best I have read from DC.
I love how this is a retcon and shows the first meeting of Batman and Joker and the sudden killings and all and why the latter is killing and the clues that are being left and how that brings Gordon and Batman together and Gordon failing to protect and the way with Joker is killing people and their first meet and like how Batman loses and just the ruthlessness of it is, the violence shown here is next level and after reading this you truly understand how dangerous Joker is.
What I love is the end pages and how it flips the whole thing and actually defines the relation between Batman and Joker so well.. order and chaos.. sanity and insanity.. its all a game to him specially and when that conversation happens in the end between them just wow.. redefines the relationship like I said!
Truly a wonderfully written story and makes Joker so dangerous and the art is just so well drawn and the combination of this a must read and a quintessential Batman story!!
I love how this is a retcon and shows the first meeting of Batman and Joker and the sudden killings and all and why the latter is killing and the clues that are being left and how that brings Gordon and Batman together and Gordon failing to protect and the way with Joker is killing people and their first meet and like how Batman loses and just the ruthlessness of it is, the violence shown here is next level and after reading this you truly understand how dangerous Joker is.
What I love is the end pages and how it flips the whole thing and actually defines the relation between Batman and Joker so well.. order and chaos.. sanity and insanity.. its all a game to him specially and when that conversation happens in the end between them just wow.. redefines the relationship like I said!
Truly a wonderfully written story and makes Joker so dangerous and the art is just so well drawn and the combination of this a must read and a quintessential Batman story!!
May 11, 2024
The winning card is a retell of the first encounter between Joker and Batman. It basically follows the structure of the original Joker first appearance by Bob Kane, minus Robin. The story is set in the year one of Batman, you can read it after Frank Miller’s Year One or after Chip Zdarsky’s Joker Year One.
First you need to know that I like Tom King, I didn’t not read his Batman run, and I don’t intent to, given the mix reviews. I read most of the rest of his stuff (Vision, Human Target, Supergirl). He thrives in short runs (4-12 issues) and he has a unique and distinctive voice.
So how was the writing in the winning card? Nothing groundbreaking, we have seen this story told multiple times. I like the scenes, I like SOME of the dialogues (the jokes part got repetitive pretty quickly) but the overall story is meh. It takes the figure of the Joker to the next level, almost like a ghost / demon figure, which I honestly like. But nothing new happens: we know the Joker likes killing and he is crazy.
What about the art? The art was WOW, what an amazing work! Mitch always delivers!
So? What are my conclusions? For me it is three stars because I read this same story about the first encounter multiple times. If you are looking for a good Batman and Joker story and you are starting to read Batman, go for it. It is not a bad comic, but there are better comics out there.
First you need to know that I like Tom King, I didn’t not read his Batman run, and I don’t intent to, given the mix reviews. I read most of the rest of his stuff (Vision, Human Target, Supergirl). He thrives in short runs (4-12 issues) and he has a unique and distinctive voice.
So how was the writing in the winning card? Nothing groundbreaking, we have seen this story told multiple times. I like the scenes, I like SOME of the dialogues (the jokes part got repetitive pretty quickly) but the overall story is meh. It takes the figure of the Joker to the next level, almost like a ghost / demon figure, which I honestly like. But nothing new happens: we know the Joker likes killing and he is crazy.
What about the art? The art was WOW, what an amazing work! Mitch always delivers!
So? What are my conclusions? For me it is three stars because I read this same story about the first encounter multiple times. If you are looking for a good Batman and Joker story and you are starting to read Batman, go for it. It is not a bad comic, but there are better comics out there.
June 6, 2024
Not sure what to think of this one. It's a retelling of the very first joker story, while also trying to be a crowd pleasing early batman story, giving fun batman/gordon scenes and Bruce/Alfred scenes. I'm ok with both of those elements, and the art is great too. But I've never liked stories that treat Joker as an otherworldly force of nature. His face is often depicted in shadow with only white dots as eyes, and his dialouge takes up whole panels, shown as slides of text from a silent movie, complete with film grain that gets more pronounced as he gets further away. Also he just walks around telling jokes and then saying "GET IT? GET IT?" Which is kind of annoying. And then the book ends with references to killing joke, which isn't surprising but is kind of lame. Anyway if you really like tom king you'll probably really like this book, but if you only kind of like him you'll probably only kind of like it. Makes sense to me.
April 6, 2024
King and Gerads together is usually a recipe for success (which reminds me, I should read Sheriff Of Babylon one of these days).
This collection features all of their contributions to the latest Batman anthology book, The Brave & The Bold, which showcases Batman's first confrontation with the Joker. We've seen stories like this before across continuities, and while this one doesn't add much to the actual relationship between the two of them, the way it's presented means it does deserve to be recognised. Gerads' artwork and the layouts that he and King employ, mostly the classic 9 panel grid, give this book a very specific feel, and even the way they approach Joker's speech patterns is oddly compelling too.
Nothing revolutionary overall, but some stylistic choices make it stand out above the rest.
This collection features all of their contributions to the latest Batman anthology book, The Brave & The Bold, which showcases Batman's first confrontation with the Joker. We've seen stories like this before across continuities, and while this one doesn't add much to the actual relationship between the two of them, the way it's presented means it does deserve to be recognised. Gerads' artwork and the layouts that he and King employ, mostly the classic 9 panel grid, give this book a very specific feel, and even the way they approach Joker's speech patterns is oddly compelling too.
Nothing revolutionary overall, but some stylistic choices make it stand out above the rest.
Read
September 16, 2024Several writers have done their own versions of the first face off between Batman and the Joker, and this is King’s version. It’s appropriately creepy and has similar elements to the Joker’s first ever story in Batman #1 from the Golden Age.
Joker has Batman and the GCPD on the runaround as he kills people at random and kills high-ranking Gotham citizens planned out by letters he releases to the public. The story has several of King’s trademarks: repetition, nine panel grids, faux realistic dialogue with “likes” and “you knows,” and nursery rhyme lyrics. I don’t know why he uses panels of silent film reels for Joker’s speech. I guess to make it feel noir or something? The jokes aren’t very good either (though I did notice King uses Terry Pratchett’s line about setting a man on fire).
Mitch Gerads’ art is excellent. Perfect for the creepy story.
So, a well-done comic overall, just nothing we haven’t seen before.
Joker has Batman and the GCPD on the runaround as he kills people at random and kills high-ranking Gotham citizens planned out by letters he releases to the public. The story has several of King’s trademarks: repetition, nine panel grids, faux realistic dialogue with “likes” and “you knows,” and nursery rhyme lyrics. I don’t know why he uses panels of silent film reels for Joker’s speech. I guess to make it feel noir or something? The jokes aren’t very good either (though I did notice King uses Terry Pratchett’s line about setting a man on fire).
Mitch Gerads’ art is excellent. Perfect for the creepy story.
So, a well-done comic overall, just nothing we haven’t seen before.
July 6, 2024
3.5 stars
I’ve really enjoyed Gerads’s starkly realistic art on every comic he’s drawn with King, and this one’s no different; it’s a great looking comic. King’s retelling of “When Batman Met Joker” is well-trod territory at this point and nothing about this version is particularly necessary or new, but he does a great job hitting the familiar notes of early Joker being a terrifying inhuman serial killer, and a couple of the kills are framed chillingly enough to be genuinely scary without resorting to gore. Less impressive is how many panels are devoted to King’s usual writing tics, like full-panel quotes that get endlessly repeated; that sort of thing has worked in some of his more original work, but felt like distracting padding in an already short story here.
I’ve really enjoyed Gerads’s starkly realistic art on every comic he’s drawn with King, and this one’s no different; it’s a great looking comic. King’s retelling of “When Batman Met Joker” is well-trod territory at this point and nothing about this version is particularly necessary or new, but he does a great job hitting the familiar notes of early Joker being a terrifying inhuman serial killer, and a couple of the kills are framed chillingly enough to be genuinely scary without resorting to gore. Less impressive is how many panels are devoted to King’s usual writing tics, like full-panel quotes that get endlessly repeated; that sort of thing has worked in some of his more original work, but felt like distracting padding in an already short story here.
June 25, 2024
Yet another version of Batman and Joker's first face off. Mitch Gerad's art is great when we get it. About a third of the panels though are just text made to look like a old timey silent picture reel where the Joker tells jokes or sings a nursery rhyme. King does this all the time and it's starting to drive me bonkers. It seems like a way to stretch out the story and help the artist draw less more than anything else.
The way this story came out was really stupid. It's issues 1, 2, 5 and 9 of Batman's latest anthology comic. Traditionally, the Brave and the Bold are Batman team up stories. It's the main reason why I didn't pick it up at my LCS.
The way this story came out was really stupid. It's issues 1, 2, 5 and 9 of Batman's latest anthology comic. Traditionally, the Brave and the Bold are Batman team up stories. It's the main reason why I didn't pick it up at my LCS.
April 21, 2024
This to me feels like a classic Batman read. The joker is a legit scary, psycho killer that has no rhyme or reason, you feel genuine fear when imagining living in a city where someone like this exists. The art style is amazing and matches the noir vibe of Gotham perfectly, the characters look amazing, Gotham feels rundown, old school, dark, and dreary. Batman is of course Batman, the only thing I would even question is Bruce getting whooped ok by joker so easily at first, but hey it is year one and otherwise a perfect Batman book imo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2024
I just read the Joker Year 1 arc from Zdarsky's run, so that is a lot of early Joker being published (and they do not reconcile, they cannot both be Gordon's first encounter with the Joker).
As a Tom King's Batman story, that was exactly as expected: small panels with quotations in between (here jokes or songs), gruesome acts of violence, portraying of mental illness. And 4 issues to setup a punchline. It was an ok read, one of the better ones actually, but nothing new in 2024 and the Joker again (I would give 4 stars to the same team on a other villain).
As a Tom King's Batman story, that was exactly as expected: small panels with quotations in between (here jokes or songs), gruesome acts of violence, portraying of mental illness. And 4 issues to setup a punchline. It was an ok read, one of the better ones actually, but nothing new in 2024 and the Joker again (I would give 4 stars to the same team on a other villain).
June 11, 2024
Talk about the darkest time line. The Winning Card (TWC) takes a golden age Batman comic of Jokers first appearance and brings it up to 11. If you have read Ed Brubaker's Batman The Man Who Laughs (which is another retelling of the same story) then you'll know the plot of this book.
Batman must find and deal with Joker who is creating patterns of muggings and murder as a set ups and punchline due to his criminally insane nature.
This definitely jumps up there with some of the darkest Batman stories such as The Cult. If that's your jam (like it is mine) then this book is for you.
Batman must find and deal with Joker who is creating patterns of muggings and murder as a set ups and punchline due to his criminally insane nature.
This definitely jumps up there with some of the darkest Batman stories such as The Cult. If that's your jam (like it is mine) then this book is for you.
May 4, 2024
As a whole, not that great. There was some classic Batman tropes when read carefully. The balance between batman and Bruce. The relationship between Alfred and Bruce And the overarching theme of the joker and his relationship with batman. The art was the best part. Understanding it was a retelling of an old comic, not something intentionally new or purposefully intricate. It’s aim was to be exactly what it succeeded as. It just wasn’t exciting for me.
May 10, 2024
Tom King a veces funciona para mí y otras no, sobre todo cuando confunde un comic con una novela y llena de texto cada panel.
Es esta ocasión me funciona. A pesar de ser una variación de una historia que se ha contado mil veces, logra describir el primer encuentro entre Joker y Batman de forma emocionante.
Además la ilustración es muy buena y apreció que es claro que usaron a Jon Hamm como referencia para Bruce Wayne.
Es esta ocasión me funciona. A pesar de ser una variación de una historia que se ha contado mil veces, logra describir el primer encuentro entre Joker y Batman de forma emocionante.
Además la ilustración es muy buena y apreció que es claro que usaron a Jon Hamm como referencia para Bruce Wayne.
August 9, 2024
Gerads art in this volume is exceptional and incredibly appropriate to the content and tenor of the story. After being most familiar with the work he did for Mister Miracle, it is interesting for me to see how he handles a narrative that is both thematically and chromatically dark. As for King's writing, I don't know that this is as deep an exploration of the Batman character as he is known for. I'm also not convinced he has the fundamental understanding of the Joker he has of, say, Bane or The Riddler. Whatever we might conclude on these points, King and Gerads take us on an exciting ride in this 4-issue arc. At the end of the day, that's worth a helluva lot.
April 13, 2024
Such a simple premise, yet told so well!!! I loved the art style a lot and the choice of using the silent film intertitles instead of comic bubbles for most of The Joker's parts of dialogue was so clever, it fits him so well!
The story itself is really plain, but it's just... the way it was delivered, that's what made it charming and unforgettable, frankly.
The story itself is really plain, but it's just... the way it was delivered, that's what made it charming and unforgettable, frankly.
June 26, 2024
As this is my second foray into graphic novels, I may be being a tad harsh but I really did not connect with this at all. I couldn’t put my first one down but this was just a struggle to finish. As a newbie, I get that I may not have the knowledge yet but I’m basing my reviews solely on my personal experiences with the stories I read.
July 20, 2024
Loved this dark retelling of the first clash between Batman and the Joker. The art was amazing. The colouring and the creeping illustrations of the joker really added depth to the plot. The decision to have the Joker's lines as separate cells rather than speech bubbles was a cool addition that added mystery to the character.
April 4, 2024
A dark, dizzying, funny, violent telling of an early-career Batman meeting his nemesis for the first time around a series of jokes and murders, this is playing so many of the hits that bring us back to Batman time and again. A tense thrill from a terrific creative team.
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