How many origins can one character have? If you're the Joker, no number is the right answer. Since Alan Moore's essential read of the Clown Prince of Crime, many writers have taken the opportunity to put their own view of how the villain came to be. Some of them good, others not so much. With Brave and the Bold, JMS is showing us yet another Joker origin for the DCU....or is he?

Out of all the issues, this is the weirdest pairing JMS has done so far. Atom and Joker don't really have much history together, but that's ok! Cause essentially it is Ray Palmer trying to cure the Joker from a neurological condition other wise he will die from a seizure. Obviously that seems to be a bit of a joke in itself, why would he want to do that? There are some funny stuff in the beginning of this where Palmer tries to kill Joker almost purposely but for the sake of science he tries to cure him anyways. Once he hits his brain, it suddenly turns into a look back into the life of Joker, as Palmer suddenly starts to go insane from witnessing the birth of the villain.

Now I have to say that I was thinking this was a bit so-so at first. I mean how many more Joker origins can we have? But then a panel came that totally hit me by surprise. Now some will say that this is just an homage or a joke panel....but I'm not so sure. The panel in question is where we see an almost exact copy of a scene from 'The Dark Knight'. Where Joker begs Batman to run him over after the amazing  truck chase. So while it doesn't seem offical in the pages of this comic but I think this isn't just an origin for Joker. It's THE origin for 'The Dark Knight' Joker. It totally makes sense in the early days of Joker we see in the beginning of this. Then you have the speech that he makes towards the end of the comic, which fits perfectly with what he stated in the film countless times. So while again it isn't offical, I saw this as an origin for the film version of the character. Re-reading it again with that in mind, this comic worked more for me. Sure The Atom doesn't fit in the word of Nolan films, but who's to say other superheroes don't exsist in those films?

Anyways the one thing that bummed me about this comic was: Jesus Saiz is not the artist. I was so devastated to learn that he wasn't on this. He drew a great cover, but this time there are 2 pencillers and 3 inkers/colorists on this. You really can't tell though, and honestly I couldn't see the transition from Hardin and Justiniano. It is a good looking book, don't get me wrong. It's also still just as colorful as it was before, so it hasn't lost it's total aura with the art. But still, it is a huge drop from Saiz and I really hope we see him again next issue.

I enjoyed the hell out of this comic once I felt this was an origin for 'Dark Knight' Joker. If you read it that way, like I did, it is an amazing read by JMS. The art is a bit of a bother but it still is a good looking book on the basis of what Hardin/Justinano did. Not the strongest issue of Brave and the Bold, but I have yet to see a bad issue by JMS.