Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Alan Moore, Batman, brian bolland, geoff johns, jason fabok, joker, killing joke, three jokers

How The Three Jokers Rewrites The Killing Joke (BIG SPOILERS)

Bleeding Cool told you yesterday that Batman: The Three Jokers #3 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok worked as a direct sequel to Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Here's where it breaks down most visibly. Big spoilers going in, you have been warned.

So Batgirl gets her own revenge in the moment, using the same language that The Joker used when he shot her, with the camera he used as a prop, and to take photos of her prone body. There's plenty more about Barbara Gordon going on – and with Jason Todd as well.

And we also see the version of what happened with the Joker and his pregnant wife. The Killing Joke showed a loving couple, even if the husband was frustrated by his lack of success, competence and ability.

But The Three Jokers suggests something else. Lines are repeated but they stop before there is the tenderness, the love and the care shown in The Killing Joke.

In The Killing Joke, there is a couple in love, and the Joker is shown to be sent mad by her accidental death and that of their unborn child. Or that's the reason he is giving in that telling. In The Three Jokers, it is implied he is an abusive partner and the wife fled to the police for protection. So this scene from The Killing Joke plays out again…

…but now we see what really happens to his wife.

And that the Joker has a son. Without any knowledge of his existence, his wife's survival, and with only Batman knowing the link between the two – and keeping it that way. Son Of Joker in Future State, anyone? There's no way people will leave this little thread tangling…

BATMAN THREE JOKERS #3 (OF 3)
JUN208214
The final chapter of the most terrifying and personal Batman mystery is here!
Still reeling from their last encounter with the three Jokers, Batman, Batgirl, and Red Hood discover the terrible truth about the Three Jokers' plot. Will the caped crusaders have the strength needed to put an end to the maniacal menaces' master plan once and for all, or will it be lights out for good? You won't want to miss the stunning conclusion of Batman: Three Jokers as it completes its trajectory as the ultimate examination of The Joker and his never-ending conflict with Batman.In Shops: Oct 27, 2020 SRP: $6.99

I bought my DC Comics this week from Piranha Comics in Kingston-Upon-Thames. Piranha Comics is a small south London comic store chain with a small south-east store in Kingston-Upon Thames's market centre, which runs Magic The Gathering nights on Fridays, and a larger south-west store in Bromley, which also runs Magic nights and has an extensive back issue collection and online store. If you are in the neighbourhood, check them out.

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