Current Events > so, the consensus is that the Three Jokers storyline was disappointing, right?

(+) Yeah! (+)

basically, Batman used some cosmic chair thing with all the knowledge of the universe to ask the Joker's identity, and it told him that there were three Jokers.

we find out that the three are - the Clown, the Comedian, and the Criminal.

bunch of stuff happens, where Red Hood kills the Clown (I guess that was the one that originally killed him; idk); we find out that the Jokers wanted to create a "perfect" Joker, where Red Hood was a candidate, iirc, but they decide with Joe Chill because he's the one who created Batman.

but Bruce finds out that Joe Chill has been repentant ever since killing his parents, and that he's also dying of cancer, and Bruce saves him before he's turned into a Joker.

Bruce forgives Joe Chill, and Joe Chill dies not long after.

somewhere the Criminal dies along the way, and all that's left is the Comedian.

turns out the Comedian is the one from The Killing Joke, and he tells Batman that he didn't have the same plan as the other two Jokers - he wanted to help Bruce heal some of his long held trauma that led him to becoming Batman so that the Joker would now be the worst thing in his life, his only real focus.

then we find out that Batman found out Joker's identity (the Comedian) not long after their first run in, and that he helped create a new life for his wife and kid who he thought had died, and that Joker's identity can't be known because it would put the two innocents in danger.

I probably messed up on a bunch of the details, so here's a wiki link just in case

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Three_Jokers

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g0ldie posted...

basically, Batman used some cosmic chair thing with all the knowledge of the universe to ask the Joker's identity, and it told him that there were three Jokers.

we find out that the three are - the Clown, the Comedian, and the Criminal.

Without reading the rest of the post yet - this sounds pretty dumb.

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It achieved nothing imo. It didn't really deliver on its promise either. It also seems ludicrous that Batman wouldn't recognise a guy whose FACE was always in the open was three different dudes (Detective Comics!).

My theory is this: After Leto's Joker went down like a cup of cold vomit with audiences, they needed away to make it seem plausible in the films that Joker was different people by first establishing it in comics. Geoff Johns was way too deep in film shit (and probably hitting on 17 year olds, idk how that turned out) to not have an incentive imo.

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Seems like trash. There was 3 Jokers? Why did 2 never appear at the same time concurrently?

Also, Batman knowing Joker's identity is...dumb.
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DeadlyNinjaBees posted...

(and probably hitting on 17 year olds, idk how that turned out

whoa what

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Im curious if there was ever an original plan for this, or if they just dropped a three jokers hook and hoped to figure out the story later.

everything Ive heard about this story just sounds like a bad attempt at being deep.

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Ah wow so the retcon is since KJ Joker learned that his wife died over the phone, that it was all just a big ruse to protect her.

Idea pool is running a little dry, methinks.

But hang on, isn't DC Black Label non-canon stuff?

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Yea this sounds pretty bad

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That whole story just seemed so convoluted, contrived, and dumb. Lots of stuff in comics in general seems to have to be so intricate and there's all the multiversees and alternate realities and timelines I don't know how people follow it. I know you can't really tell the same stories over and over, but does something like this Joker story actually appeal to anyone?

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Southernfatman posted...

I know you can't really tell the same stories over and over, but does something like this Joker story actually appeal to anyone?

It literally appeals to dudes who have string boards on their walls of the Joker and all the stuff he did, and even they weren't very satisfied with it.

This is my favorite Joker from the last few years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raaTXyXXsDM

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RetsuZaiZen posted...

Yea this sounds pretty bad

Welcome to comic books

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CyricZ posted...

But hang on, isn't DC Black Label non-canon stuff?

Black Label is the new Elseworlds IIRC

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Such a dumb concept.
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CyricZ posted...

It literally appeals to dudes who have string boards on their walls of the Joker and all the stuff he did, and even they weren't very satisfied with it.

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to be disappointing, isn't there an expectation that it was going to be good?

pretty sure everyone knew this was gonna be doo doo butter.

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I thought it was gonna be good. At his height (around and just after Infinite Crisis, minus Superboy Punch) Johns was an amazing writer. His work after 52 (not New 52) got better and better (with JSA, Superboy relaunc, Teen Titans, his Superman stuff incl. Planet Krypton up until the last 1/4), so i expected this to be perhaps his best thing ever. That career defining series he does.

But nah. I was being unrealistic.

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DeadlyNinjaBees posted...

That career defining series he does.

IIRC isn't his Green Lantern run considered the defining part of his career?

Well, his comic career at any rate. Dude's upgraded to movies and TV these days.

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I didnt like it cause what makes the joker cool to me is batman is the world's best detective but the joker (also a non super human) is able to remain a complete mystery to him. Batman figures out everybody even superman who fools an entire world while not wearing a mask, amanda wallers personal home when she's as top secret in the government as it gets and so on. But this one clowns identity eludes him. This one clown also knows batmans identity and has even broke into the batcave.

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Yet Batman apparently knew who he was all along. Even though we saw his internal thought monologue for years on end, he never even thought about this aloud to the reader.

Also, he straight up ASKED the magic chair who the Joker was, so he stright up LIED to Alfred there.

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DeadlyNinjaBees posted...

Yet Batman apparently knew who he was all along. Even though we saw his internal thought monologue for years on end, he never even thought about this aloud to the reader.

Also, he straight up ASKED the magic chair who the Joker was, so he stright up LIED to Alfred there.

Such good writing.
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Southernfatman posted...

That whole story just seemed so convoluted, contrived, and dumb. Lots of stuff in comics in general seems to have to be so intricate and there's all the multiversees and alternate realities and timelines I don't know how people follow it. I know you can't really tell the same stories over and over, but does something like this Joker story actually appeal to anyone?

Pretty inevitable when they're constantly creating stories about the same characters over decades (gonna be an entire century soon enough) written and passed through hundreds of writers who all want to have their own big revelations and plot twists.

Tbh a lot of the time comic books aren't that much better than daytime soap operas.

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It seems like a shitty rehash of the main plot points of the booster gold / mr. Mind stuff. "Oh I knew everything the whole time I just have to pretend to be dumb because reasons"

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I thought it was decent. Unfortunately they had way too much hype built up after the Mobius chair revealed there were 3 jokers like 5 years ago. No way they would be able to live up to it. I thought the plot twist at the end w/ the Joker revealing his true plan was great, but really didn't like the idea that Batman knew who the real Joker was 1 week after their first encounter.

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