DC FIRST: BATGIRL/JOKER #1
"Clowntime"
Neutral (4/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Steven Grant
Pencils: Bill Sienkiewicz & Terry Moore
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh
Letters: John Workman
Editor: Lysa Hawkins
Price: $3.50 US/$5.75 CAN |
When the DC First specials were first announced, I figured this book would be the one to watch. With Sienkiewicz and Moore on art, Steven Grant flexing his super-hero chops after a strong run on X-Man and plenty of emotional storytelling potential given the title characters' history, it seemed a safe bet this would be the strongest -- and most in demand -- of the specials. Unfortunately, some confused art and a forced premise detracts from the writer's novel view of one of comicdom's best known villains.
Oracle, AKA Barbara Gordon, reflects back on her first meeting with the Joker when she wore the Batgirl cape and cowl. The new Batgirl takes the shared memory from her mentor as a cue to a new lesson, and she goes off to confront the Clown Prince of Crime in order to prove herself worthy of her heroic title. Oracle calls in Black Canary and the Batman to help, but the Batgirl/Joker duel goes ahead.
Normally, I thoroughly enjoyed the art of Bill Sienkiewicz and Terry Moore, and using their radically contrasting styles to differentiate between the flashback scenes and the main plotline was a smart move. But there just seems to be a lack of visual flow throughout the book. Sienkiewicz's work is normally chaotic, but here, it just seems out of control. And Moore's sequences look like a series of detached, unrelated super-hero action images. The backgrounds are sorely lacking throughout the issue as well, and the murky colors further obscure the action.
Maybe it would have worked 20 years ago, but DC's writers have spent so much time and effort building up the Joker to be the most the dangeorus killer that ever lived -- especially since The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: The Killing Joke -- that I just can't buy into the notion that the new Batgirl would be so stupid to break him out of his asylum cell in order to prove herself.
It's a shame that central plot falters, because Grant has struck upon one of the most plausible and interesting examinations of the Joker I've read since... well, ever. Through the original Batgirl's intelligent but more innocent eyes, Grant explains the Joker's madness quite convincingly.
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