Let’s get something straight right off the, well, off the bat, here. Alan Moore’s Batman: Killing Joke is damn near as perfect a Batman story if ever there was one. In addition to The Dark Knight Returns (Frank Miller, Lynn Varley), Batman: Year One (Frank Miller, David Mazuchelli), Arkham Asylum (Grant Morrison/Dave McKean) and more recently, Batman: Year 100 (Paul Pope, Jose Villarubia), there is none better. Each one of these titles raised the bar on the adult graphic novel in a way that their contemporaries weren’t capable or talented enough to brush the bottom of. And along comes Batman: Lovers & Madmen.
This handsome hardcover hits the soft reboot on the Joker’s origin story in the same fashion that Batman Begins flipped the film mythos on its ear. When I saw that Michael Green (the screenwriter of NBC’s hit show Heroes) penned the story, I went into it with low expectations. And believe you me, I’ve read more than my share of Batman stories. In my mind, the Joker is the main character of the series and Batman is the garnish. So it takes a lot to impress me, but I keep buying the onslaught of hardcovers and graphic novels and one-shots, praying for that original rush. Lovers & Madmen hits the brain like a sledgehammer and doesn’t let up.
Much like a folk story, comic legends can change within the structure of the original construct. One great story can ripple back and add a new dimension, a separate viewpoint on the basic premise. In Lovers & Madmen (the working theory being that the Joker and his arch-nemesis are both full-tilt lunatics), we get a different take on how a sociopathic criminal thug with a warped sense of humor and little regard for the death of others, as well as his own, turned into perhaps one of the greatest supervillians of all time. Superhero stories are built on their criminals. This is why The Flash, Wonder Woman, and so many other footnotes are less popular, because their enemies aren’t fleshed out as well as the main protagonists. Michael Green writes the Joker so convincingly that it puts a lot of the other greats into serious question. Denys Cowan’s pencils complement the tale beautifully and grittily, with a rough style and a rugged landscape.
And I’ve got to agree with Brad Meltzer’s (Identity Crisis) introduction. There’s a panel shortly after Jack climbs out of the pharmaceutical drainage ditch to be reborn as the clown prince of evil where he looks at the moon and sees a bunny etched into the middle of the moon. Batman shows up and he calls him Bunny. It’s preposterous and brilliant at the same time. The Joker’s dialogue switches over in color as well as content to a sort of free-rambling bohemian ecstasy throughout the rest of the book, and his cavalier manner of super consciousness is bone-chilling and mythic.
The book closes out with the hypothesis that Batman created the Joker. That if he hadn’t eradicated the petty thieves, middlemen and power brokers in the underworld, there wouldn’t be a philosophical impetus for a villain with super powers, an unquenched bloodlust or an unmarked streak for vicious mass murder. And in turn, the Dark Knight Detective comes to the conclusion that he is his brother’s keeper, and that he’s responsible for rehabilitating the Joker whenever there are pieces to pick up.
As food for thought, it’s an all you can eat buffet. Bravo, Michael and Denys. This is the best Batman story I’ve read since Paul Pope’s Year 100. With the new film out, march into your local comic retailer and buy a copy before the bandwagon drives the price and the value of this precious volume through the roof. It is that good.