BATMAN JOKERS ASYLUM TP

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Avg Rating: 3.5
 
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Size: pages
Price: 14.99

One of the weirdest mini’s to come out in a while. To be apart of the huge release of the ‘Dark Knight’ film: DC decided to release a bunch of one-shot’s with The Joker as the narrator. Does it hold up with each issue? Or more importantly…is there any reason to pick this up? Well it would be tough to review this as a whole, considering there are five seperate stories. So I’ll review each in a bite sized reviews.

The Joker’s Wild! (Arvid Nelson as writer and Alex Sanchex as artist): Again you would think a series that is devoted to Joker as narrator….would have a great Joker story. Alas Nelson did not provide the best here, mainly a very bad 70’s game show setting. Joker’s bad puns only get worse as the issue goes on, and the idea of television producers are sleazy is just as old as this storyline is claimed to be. Harmed by some of the worst sketchy art I have ever seen. All the faces and body movements are absolutely hideous, I have no idea what Sanchez was trying to do here. Not the best way to start off the one-shots, especially coming from the guy who is doing Kull and Rex Mundi (Nelson)….I would’ve though better of him. (Story: 2 and Art: 1)

He Who Laughs Last…. (Jason Aaron as writer and Jason Pearson as artist): Hands down, the best of the bunch here. This got me into Jason Aaron fan and it’s such a depressing story when you think about it. The story is on the lines of the Batman: Animated Series tale where Penguin is an outcast and he falls in love with a girl who doesnt love him back….but much much darker. Everything works in this issue with the story, it’s funny, sad, and mean spirited at the same time. That whole sequence with Cobblepot saying great things about his new girl while Batman is knocking out his bodyguards is classic. Pearson’s (Body Bags) art is also well done; nicely expressed faces and just some funny designs make this worthwhile to read. My praise isnt doing this justice enough. (Story: 5 and Art: 5)

Deflowered! (J.T. Krul as writer and Guillem March as artist): This story is somewhat a good tale, mixing both a cat and mouse game with a semi-origin as well. Poison Ivy is a villain that works remarkably well today because of all the controversies with the enviroment. It feels forced at times with Batman and Gordon talking about ‘is she that evil?’ routine and the whole backstory for Pamela is not really nessicary. (Krul does the recent Fanthom issues if anyone is wondering) March’s pencils are down right gorgeous (surprise! He did Detective Comics #851 that is out this week) and his Ivy is drop dead beautiful. It’s really cheescake for the most part, but he knows how to draw a woman….incidentally, find his blog and you’ll see a lot more skin then you were probably looking for with his art…Didnt think he was that type of artist, heh. (Story: 3 and Art: 4)

Dark Knight of the Scarecrow (Joe Harris as writer and Juan Doe as artist): This is a puzzling story, mainly because I didnt get the whole gist of what was happening. The art was very distracting, again the story was confusing, and overall I got bored of it before we got to the end. Harris (Nightmare Factory) was trying to do something here but I just dont know what it was. Why the art is distracting is because Doe’s style (see Secret Invasion: FrontLine) is very 1950’s. If anyone sees those cartoony ad’s from old TV commercials will know what I’m talking about. Simply in a lot of ways, but abstract in others. Again, my simple discription of it doesnt help or hurt it, you’ll need to see it for yourself. (Story: 2 and Art: 2)

Two Face, Too! (David Hine as writer and Andy Clarke as artist): This is probably the 2nd best story out of the bunch for me. Hine (Son of M) idea of a similar victim of a facial burn really is compelling. I was really thinking Dent would see just how vastly different his life is to someone who has the exact same problems. The idea that Dent knows his new ‘friend’ true self makes the tension that much better. With Clarke’s art (See the most recent Batgirl mini) it’s also is pretty good. Very realistic in some ways and the only thing that hurts it is the coloring….I swear there is one or two panels that looks like Dent has no scars at all. Oh well (Story: 4 and Art: 3)

Overall….well I’m not sure I would say pick this entire trade up. The majority of these one-shots just arent successful and it’s really expensive of a trade considering how short each story is. Here’s what I think you should do: Go to your LCS and find the Penguin one-shot by Aaron and Pearson. That is the best of the bunch and it wont be as costly as buying this whole trade will be.

Story: 3 - Good
Art: 3 - Good

Comments

  1. By far. Very far, the best review I’ve read from you.

    Check out my profile and you’ll see my review for each of these in there. I dissected the Scarecrow issue so it might help you out with your confusion here. I too, enjoyed Jason Aaron’s Penguin for both story and art. Personally however, I’m not fond of Guillem’s women. Them legs are freakishly long! And dude, Juan Doe kicks friggin’ ass!  -> [url]http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=31456&mode=search[/url]

    And, I can’t help but put in this friendly jab, for a guy who understood R.I.P you seem to be confused by some comparitively straight forward stories… Ah, I’m just ribbin’ ya! I know what you meant. 😉

    Good job on this!

  2. This mini was great. The Penguin and Two Face stories were great.  I loved Juan Doe’s art on the Scarecrow story. His work on SI Frontline was covers only, right?

  3. Doe’s art is just on and off for me. On one hand I love the retro feel, but in the other it’s too simplistic for me. It has better art then the first Joker story with Sanchez…God that art was a peice of crap.

    @JJ: I love Guillem’s art, especially for the ladies. Okay that makes me sound like a perv, but it’s true! He draws the sexiest women right now, but do check out his blog…..One thing for the pornography (which I had no idea he did stuff like that), but more of an important thing is his ‘normal’ looking women. Normal meaning they arent superheroines or all supermodel like. Love it.

  4. That’s a nice Jason Pearson cover for this mini. That guy’s going places! If he’s not at those places already…

  5. It was interesting mini because of all the different artists and story qualities.  Agree, NextChampion, that the best story was Penguin with Two-Face in second and Poison Ivy getting the bronze.

    The Penguin story is a CLASSIC.

  6. I’d tie Poison Ivy and Scarecrow for bronze myself.

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