The Joker, Volume Three

The Joker (2021) #3

by James Tynion IV, Giuseppe Camuncoli (Artist), Francesco Francavilla (Artist)

The Joker is about to learn the harsh reality of the motto “Don’t Mess with Texas” as the Sampsons bring him back home to their infamous ranch…for dinner!

Following the harrowing events of Batman: The Killing Joke, the course of James Gordon’s life—and that of his family’s—was forever changed. When The Joker crosses paths with him again, bullets will fly, blood will be shed, and a dreaded choice will have to be made. Will Vengeance fulfill her programming? Will the hunters have their way with The Joker? Or does The Clown Prince of Crime have one more trick up his sleeve?

Don’t miss this third and final volume collecting The Joker #10-15 by James Tynion IV (The Joker War Saga, The Nice House on the Lake) and Giuseppe Camuncoli (The Other History of the DC Universe, John Constantine, Hellblazer).

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Superheroes, Fantasy, Comic Book

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 21, 2023

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joker ends on a bit of a weaker note but still solid.

Basically we get everything tied up. Who's behind this all is revealed and it's not that hard to guess. But just because we find out who it is, doesn't mean the final actions can't count for something. As Jim talks to Bruce about what happened, revealing what happened to the JOker, we get some pretty cool "oh snap" moments.

But overall it felt like the story wrapped up too quick. That we had more to tell but we never got it, and that's a shame. But I still enjoyed it and landed on a 3.5 to end it.

[Benji Glaab · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This wraps up the Joker series, but to call it a Joker book is strange. This is a Jim Gordon tale where we see him struggling with mental health issues caused by recent clashes with the Joker.

It seems Old Jimbo has been changed and will have to make strange alliances to track down the Joker into a Texas Chainsaw Massacre esque turned billionaires estate.

Writing, and dialogue remains strong however the plot is flimsy like a light wind could blow it all down. Regardless I enjoyed this series and Tynion remains one of my current "must read" creators at the moment.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Review is for all 3 volumes

Bait and switch that has been normalized over the last few years -- It may be called 'Joker' but he's not even a tertiary character in the story - instead you'll be forced to read about a string of uninteresting, super-stronk, spunky, Mary-Sue clones.

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chase concludes

A great ending to Jim Gordon's months long chase of the Joker. I am very head though this us called the Joker, Jim Gordon is the main character. On a personal level, I am very glad to see him move on and developing. I have heard of dramatic pauses before, but the breaks in the story of "what happened" really add to the tension of the book.

Gordon, must face his and his family's past with the Joker and overcoming a number of obstacles to complete his mission. Plans and players are revealed. Other loose ends are tied up. Also, a look into what is next.

I like the idea of the bigger war, and this book is a great look at the past and possible future for both Gotham and Gordon. How will this change the Batman universe? I am not sure, but I am looking forward to finding out. The book finishes with a variant cover gallery.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lumping in another series read as digital floppies into one review. It's gotten kind of frustrating trying to track beginning dates, but I'm getting better at tracking completion dates.

This was not a series I expected to like, nor to finish. I did not expect to see in some ways Joker sidelined, and to have to work so well. Hell, I'm not that fond of the character. What worked very well was that the tale is really about Jim Gordon's journey. What does a man do when he's no longer a cop, his nightmare still runs free, and then someone offers you essentially unlimited fund to go track down and kill your nightmare.

Pretty tempting offer, but maybe you better be careful about deals made with a devil?

This becomes a globe spanning tale and one with multiple conspiracies.

Tynion continues to turn out very enjoyable material.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Joker Vol. 3 collects issues 10-15 of the DC Comics series written James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Francesco Francavilla, Cam Smith, Lorenzo Ruggiero, and Adriano Benedetto.

The Samson family has brought the Joker back to their family ranch in Texas in order to exact revenge on killing one of their family members who was committed in Arkham Asylum when it was destroyed during A-Day. Jim Gordon is closing in on the mystery surrounding all the events and powers that be, but will he be able to solve it in time?

For a series that started so strong it sure went out with a whimper. I wasn’t even aware this was the final volume of the series until after I finished and felt like it ended strange and looked to see when the next volume would be coming out. The whole last issue is incredibly anticlimactic and is basically just an epilogue. I don’t feel like the book accomplished much than a couple of twists at the end, but they didn’t leave me excited to find out more. It just felt like loose plot threads that weren’t tied up.

All that being said, I loved issue 10 which was a flashback to shortly after Joker had shot Barbara Gordon (The events in The Killing Joke) with both Barbara and Jim Gordon trying to get on with their lives. I though that was an incredible issue and wanted more.

Overall, being billed as a follow-up to The Killing Joke, this should have been so much more impactful. I think it will be largely forgotten over the years. This book could have been really special and felt like it was at the beginning, but then just got messy with the bizarre idea to bring in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-like deranged cannibalism family.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Again, this book continues to be not so much about the Joker and more about Jim Gordon. Still pretty good, but it makes me question why it wasn't titled appropriately. Sales maybe...?
Highlights:
- As Gordon heals from his stabbing, he remembers a time (post-Killing Joke) when Junior was left with Gordon by his mom. Desperately needing psychiatric help, Junior is obsessed with the Joker and almost gets shot by Jim responding to a call.
- A large portion of this book deals with the Sampson Family. Owners of a Texas oil company, they live beyond the law being cannibals. They've captured Joker and he's next...
- Barbara takes her Dad's place, but her involvement brings Bane out of hiding. Surprise, he's not dead!
- Vengeance, Daughter of Bane, is heading for the Sampson Ranch to kill Joker...
- Gordon trades his help to Bane for the life of Barbara and the others he's brought along for the ride.
- The whole story comes together.... Bane stops Vengeance from killing Joker, Vengeance kills the butcher of the Sampson family, and the news finds out about their cannibalism...
- Joker gets away, but Gordon explains it all to Batman.

Overall, this Volume was alright, but it still seems wrong to me to have the "Joker" take second fiddle in his own book. Maybe next Volume... it will be more like Carnage's Marvel comic.

Recommend, but heed the warning.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid ending. I waited a bit too long between reading the trades, so I lost some of the plot, and I think that impacted my enjoyment.

The first issue goes back to James Gordon Jr. and The Black Mirror storyline and is even illustrated by Francesco Francavilla, which really increased my expectations. Unfortunately, that aspect of the story is pretty anticlimactic, and I think is maybe fleshed out in the Talon series, which I guess I’ll read soon.

The rest of the trade ties everything up in some fun, but arguably too neat ways. I did really enjoy the Sawyer family, who feel like characters from Preacher. And the art, mostly by Giuseppe Camuncoli, is solid.

[Darik · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish, this has been a FANTASTIC detective yarn! Good, solid hardboiled private-eye storytelling, with a healthy dose of horror-movie elements and just the barest hint of superhero stuff.

In the end, the Joker comic was a success because the Joker himself was a small part of a much, MUCH bigger story-- he's the inciting element, and the motivating factor for our main character, but hardly the focus of the plot. Rather, he's a chaotic element that stirs up the other characters and bring them into conflict-- which is smart, because it means we don't have to empathize with him at all.

Instead, this is the cathartic journey of former commissioner Jim Gordon, who gets to move past the trauma he's experienced at the hands of the Joker. Jim is a decent (if inarguably flawed) man who is pushed to the edge of his moral principles by the sheer depths of evil he experiences, both from the Joker and from the wider conspiracy that he gets tangled up in; his story is a call for decency in a seemingly hopelessly corrupt and cruel world.

There's a LOT of other stuff in here, though. We get more of Bane's clone daughter Vengeance, and the plot culminates with a confrontation with the Sampson family: a disturbing twist on the Sawyers from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which explores the idea of what would happen if the Sawyers suddenly had oil money. There's a satirical brilliance in taking this monstrous hillbilly clan-- representative of the ideological decay of American society in the '70s-- and transposing them with the grotesque decadence of unchecked capitalism and the evils of the ultra-wealthy in the 2020s.

In the end, Gordon realizes that, while the Joker IS evil, he's hardly the only evil thing in the world-- and certainly not the worst. (Which is a pleasant inversion of the messaging of The Dark Knight, which saw lone anarchists as the greatest possible evil and disregarded systematized corruption entirely.) Jim gets to move past the Joker and work to do real good in the world; he stops obsessing over an individual criminal and starts targeting systems that allow criminality to flourish so that it can be profited from.

... In other words, this is the story of how Jim Gordon finally stops being a COP.

[Dexter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damit habe ich nicht gerechnet. Als ich irgendwann las, dass es eine Joker-Miniserie geben würde, in der der größte Feind Batmans um die Welt gejagt wird, hab ich vermutlich müde abgewunken. Als die deutsche Veröffentlichung näher rückte und klar wurde, dass es der einstige Polizeichef James Gordon ist, der den Joker schnappen will, weil er von einem mysteriösen Geldgeber dafür bezahlt wird, hatte man doch wieder meine Aufmerksamkeit. Ein alter Mann jagt … einen Wal, wenn man so will. Die Figur Gordon wurde oft vom Joker gequält, physisch wie psychisch. 2022 ist diese Miniserie im Abstand einiger Monate komplett auf Deutsch erschienen. Gerade habe ich den letzten Band fertig gelesen. Und das wirklich mit angehaltenem Atem. Solche abseitigen ungewöhnlichen Projekte, die OHNE Batman auskommen, bergen Risiken. Das Zugpferd fehlt und ehrlicherweise ist der Joker selbst auch selten zu sehen. Dafür bekommt der in die Jahre gekommene Polizeichef genug Raum. Und eine gute Weiterentwicklung. Schlüssig, nachvollziehbar und authentisch. Kurzum: Das hier ist eine Figurenentwicklung im Stile einer echten Reise, ohne Superhelden und vielleicht nicht mal einen menschlichen Helden. Das ist mutig und verdammt gut konstruiert - im allerbesten Sinne. Ich hab’s in noch keiner Kritik gelesen, aber ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass das hier ein moderner Klassiker ist, auf dessen Handlung man in Jahrzehnten noch neue Geschichten aufbaut.

[Alek Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

vvvSpoilersvvv

So I'm not disappointed but I am. Mainly because the big reveal of this story was spoiled by reading "Task Force Z" first. Finding out that Bane wasn't really dead and that this was all his plan, didn't land as spectacularly as I think it could have.

I did like the call back to the Talon books that Tynion got his start from. It really pulled the main purpose of the plan together. And I do think that Gordon finding closure by letting go of the twilight years of him and Batman was interesting. It was weird, that Gordon's happy ending was that there wont be a happy ending. By accepting that things wont be how they used to and that evil exists everywhere he's able exorcise Joker's ghost from his life and find a way to move on. Because even though this was a Joker title it was really a Gordon story and I like where it leaves him.

What I dont like is where it leaves Joker. In Vol.1 and Vol.2 Joker is essential to the story because he's the boogeyman that Gordon is after. But after the reveal of what the Network is doing, the story shifts to its conclusion. We're no longer looking in the dark to find the boogeyman, we're having dinner with cannibals and waiting for the players to finish the game. Joker then just becomes a background character while Bane, the cannibals, and Gordon finish the story. I understand why everyone was like "Gordon, where's Joker?" Because he's literally a monster that no one wants free and Gordon just turned his back on him.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Gordon finally comes face to face with the Joker, but Vengeance, Daughter Of Bane, and the Court Of Owls are hot on his tail!

The final volume of Joker brings all the plot threads home to roost, along with some fun diversions too.

Issue 10 is a flashback story set just after the Killing Joke with some lovely Francesco Francavilla art, before we get back to the main story for the rest of the volume. Giuseppe Camuncoli steps in as series artist, which is surprising since I can't remember the last time he drew a DC book that wasn't Hellblazer.

The ultimate resolution of the story is kind of as you'd expect - we all knew when this started that Gordon wasn't going to kill the Joker, but the journey to get there is still well executed, and suitably chaotic for a book involving the Joker. It shows that Jim can go there if he needs to, but he won't give the Joker the satisfaction of knowing that he won.

A Joker ongoing was always going to be a strange experiment, but I think Tynion IV and his artistic companions have managed to craft something well worth checking out across the last fifteen issues, even moreso than I expected from them.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled to the brim with weird rich cannibals, arm ripping clones, and pipe smoking former police comissioners, this story never fails to throw you for a loop. It's amazing how you can survive a bowie knife to the chest and still be raring to get back into the field. Somebody is SUPER lucky.

How did this series last 15 issues? Lots of character exposition and self narration doesn't hurt. Plus, there's a solid 'B' story. In fact, if you wanted to read up on Punchline and learn more of her origins, I'd suggest reading Punchline: The Trial of Alexis Kaye.

Say hello to the new Jim Gordon (just forget about that time he dyed his hair and piloted a Gundam GCPD Bat-suit)

Bonus Question: What do you do get rid of an aged character and make room for new characters?
Answer: Give them $$$ and a mysterious society to chase down

Bonus: Vengeance will knock your block off!
Bonus Bonus: The Network isn't nearly as ominous as it should be. Workshop the name, guys.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now that the series is over, what's been learned or gained, as a pretentious reviewer would ask? Really, nothing. There's a rich family of cannibals out to kill Joker, but...like...so what? They aren't superhuman, or particularly smart, so when the Clown Prince of Crime and others related to the Batman's rogues, the cannibals stand no chance and are easily defeated, and a lot of the plot revolved around them!
And the premise of "Will the Joker die?" I would put a spoiler tag here, but....like...come on! There were interesting parts, especially the parts where Jim Gordon goes in-depth with his thoughts, feelings, and traumas related to the Joker -- so much so the series should have been titled after him, but "Commissioner Jim Gordon" doesn't have the profitable name as someone like the Joker!
Overall, it's fine. Far from anything special. Looking forward to the Matthew Rosenberg run, since he seems to have a better grasp of the character.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, which made me realize I never finished James Tynion IV's Joker series, despite liking the two previous volumes. This concluding volume is pretty outrageous, as you might expect since the series stars Bane's daughter and a family of cannibals, not to mention the Joker himself.

This third volume is pretty succinct, though. The twisty plots of the previous volumes come together on the cannibal family's ranch, resulting in a big battle between all parties (James Gordon too!). It's exciting and looks great nonetheless. The best portion is the gloomy Gordon throwback where we get more insight into his struggles with his son (and, well, life and everything too).

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the the title of this series fool you. Sure, the Joker is there, but the focus is on the much more interesting character of former Gotham City, police commissioner, James Gordon. It's sort of a sprawling global detective story with hints of sci-fi and strong horror beats.

In this volume everything comes to a pretty satisfying conclusion involving double crosses, another famous Batman villain, and a tribute to one of the greatest horror movies of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (What if the Sawyer family got rich by discovering oil on their land?) And it ends with Gordon finding a new, satisfying, role in the DC Universe. Plus, the art from Giuseppe Cammuncoli is terrific.

[Thomas Bruso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it time up for the snickering cruel Joker? It appears as a pack of his hungry nemesis chase the phantom clown: Commissioner Jim Gordon, Batman, Bane, Vengeance, authorities, and the greedy, cannibalistic Sampson family.

Tynion tells a solid story here, albeit the final entry in the Joker trilogy.

The Joker's previous volume did not offer much of the clown himself, but he is back in the third and final volume, and he's pulling out all the stops as he wreaks havoc on Gotham City, killing innocent lives in his wake and anybody who gets in his way. His presence in this volume saturates every striking illustration, brilliantly executed.

The story is sharp and fast-paced, and it will be missed. I had a ball reading Tynion's brainy Joker trilogy. Too bad it is the last.

[Daniel Freer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, very good but liked volume 1 better.

As usual liked the art and lettering and stuff like that. Was a big fan of the whole series BUT I did NOT care for the way this ended AT ALL. I was hoping for something fresh and new but as some of the details change, they figured a way to make it end like they always do. Enjoyed the whole angle of the Sampson family and always love when Bullock has more then a line or 2. But what started to me as something new and fresh just didn't finish the way it seemed it would. Still worth a read!!!

[Ian Raffaele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Joker, Volume Three rounds out the story as Gordon solves the mystery and brings everything to a conclusion. It seems weird looking back on everything how little a role Batman played; though I understand this story was mainly about Gordon and not him. My only gripe is that the story ends the way it did. I get how they would be reluctant to kill off the Joker, but they could have at least sent him back to Arkham Asylum. Having him escape at the end seems a bit anti-climatic.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

We somewhat find out what happened on A-Day as Jim Gordon's story concludes. Because that's what this is, Gordon's story, not the Joker's. It's all fine. It's not very exciting though, even with a bunch of cannibals involved even. Tynion tells the story in such a way that just sucks most of the excitement out of it.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this overall story was pretty good. It's too bad Tynion couldn't cut loose like this when he was the writer on Batman, but I guess throwing a family of cannibal serial killers into the mix probably wouldn't fly quite as well over there. Really strong artwork throughout. Well worth the read.

[Mik Cope · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion of the story has some twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. Things get wrapped up and it all makes a crazy kind of sense. Excellent storytelling and consistently good artwork throughout the different timelines in a saga that could easily have been subtitled The Last Temptation of Jim Gordon.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

James Tynion is one of my favorite comic writers and his self-insert musings as Gordon are great. Do superhero’s work in a world with actual billionaires and such obscene wealth, is it a bread and circus? Class separation and division — but it all comes together in a pretty lame joker gets picked up by a billionaire and they want to clone the joker because he’s so damn wacky and it just stinks.

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen, if you read this far you know the true punchline of this title is that it isn't really about the Joker.

This volume makes it even more clear that this entire title has been about trauma. The trauma the Joker inflicts on his victims, the trauma Vengeance lives with, and the trauma Gordon has to decide what do with.

[Ushnav Shroff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite the solid end to a trilogy. I get the complaints about this being more of a Gordon story than Joker but in a sense I didn't mind the misleading of it all. After all, it gave me great insight into Gotham's legacy.

[Halloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover will give me nightmares

[Jota Houses · Rating 2 out of 5]

De nuevo, ver tomo 1.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty solid Jim Gordon story, but not really much in terms of the Joker for a series named after him.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you confront evil go for the 'head'. Try to stand up to the darkness. Some brutal characters in this one.

[Belfry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars