In this week’s edition of The Goggler Pull List we take a look at a new Geoff Johns Batman miniseries called Three Jokers and David Booher’s fairy tale fantasy, Canto.
Three Jokers (Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok)
What if all this time, we’ve been asking the wrong question about the Joker? We (the real world consumers of media) have been asking who is the Joker when, in recent years, that question has grown and morphed into us asking who is the real Joker? Is it Heath Ledger? Or Jared Leto? What about Joaquin Phoenix? Who is the canon Clown Prince of Crime? Some have posited that maybe all three are the same Joker, evolving through the Batman cinematic universe, from one iteration of the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker was, after all, set in 1981), to the next (Heath Ledger’s Joker appeared after Bruce Wayne becomes the Batman), and the next (Jared Leto’s Joker faces off against an older, more grizzled Batman in Suicide Squad).*
* I know, I know, I’m ignoring the second best Batman Joker in Jack Nicholson (FIGHT ME!), but for the sake of this article I’m taking just the three most recent live action versions of the Joker for reasons that will become clear in a minute.
So what if we’ve been asking the wrong question about the Joker? What if there are, in fact, three Jokers in the Batman universe? That is the central story in Geoff Johns’ three issue comic miniseries from 2020 called Three Jokers, which follows Batman, Batgirl, and the Red Hood as they investigate the sudden appearance of these Jokers and their latest crime spree. Geoff Johns does a wonderful job in the selection of his heroes, each with their own traumatic history with the Joker(s?) (the murder of the Waynes, The Killing Joke, and Death in the Family) and how that has, in turn, affected each of them and made them the person they are today.
The story itself isn’t great, playing out rather predictably like most other Batman adventures, but Three Jokers is on our pull list because of that central question Johns has asked us to mull over. Despite all that has been said about Geoff Johns’ possible behaviour as a producer on the Justice League movie, his skill as a comic book storyteller is still very much up there with the best of them. His retcon explanation as to why the Green Lanterns have a weakness to the colour yellow is still one of the most ingenious explanations to a goofy, campy Silver Age weakness (the Golden Age version of the character’s weakness was wood).
In my mind there are four twists in the comic, the first one being the title of the series. The other three are very well set up, and paid off, leaving you with a slight melancholic aftertaste. Three Jokers isn’t a great comic, but it’s an absolutely essential read if you are a Batman fan.
Canto (David Booher and Drew Zucker)
By now, we’ve all heard the familiar refrain of the heroic quest in a fairy tale. A brave knight ventures out into the unknown, across a perilous land, in order to save a distressed maiden so they can both find their happily ever after. They are tropes that haven’t just stood the test of time, but have thrived over hundreds and thousands of stories, and across every possible genre. In Canto, David Booher and Drew Zucker take these foundational tropes and subvert them in the most clever and charming way.
Canto takes place in a strange fantasy world where tiny tin men and women are forced to work tirelessly for cruel slavers. They are forbidden to love. They are denied a sense of self. And their hearts have been replaced by ticking clocks. The story here begins when Canto, the only one of these tin men with a name, sets out on an epic journey to retrieve a heart in order to save someone he loves. Much like the errant knights of the fairy tale stories that he (and the rest of us) grew up with, Canto too must face a series of tests before the truth of the world is revealed to him. He too will learn about the power of love and hope, and just how important they are in a place that actively seeks to destroy both.
Jeff Smith’s Bone is most definitely a guiding light here. There are also elements from The Wizard of Oz, and Labyrinth, and The Dark Crystal. This is a series that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. But it’s also self-aware enough to not let it distract from being its own thing and crafting its own path.
The prose is lyrical. David Booher is the only writer I know who can draw from Dante’s Inferno and still make it accessible to readers of all ages. The art is mesmerizing. Here is a story that is made up of characters who are completely covered in armour and yet Drew Zucker still manages to convey each and every one of their emotions using just their eyes and bodies. It’s genius.
I didn’t think that fairy tales could still be surprising. I didn’t think they had anything new left to say. It was only when I read Canto that I realized how wrong I was. Fairy tales still have great power. In the right hands, they can be inspiring, and joyous, and utterly life affirming.
Canto is deep. It is impactful. It is brilliant. This is your next must read.
Note: There are currently three “seasons” of Canto. The first, six issue run, came out in 2019, Canto II: The Hollow Men just finished it’s five issue run, and Canto & The City of Giants just dropped its first issue.
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