Speaking at his spotlight panel at SDCC 2018, Geoff Johns revealed new details on his upcoming prestige-format miniseries, Batman: Three Jokers. This will see the Dark Knight’s world rocked by the revelation that there isn’t just one Joker at loose in the world - there are three.
Two years ago, Geoff Johns’s “Darkseid War” plot saw Batman gain access to Metron’s chair, thereby becoming a god. The answers to all the greatest mysteries of the universe were at the Dark Knight’s fingertips, and he asked the chair one simple question; who is the Joker? Batman was visibly shaken by the chair’s response, but it wasn’t until Johns’s DC Universe: Rebirth one-shot that the chair’s answer was revealed; there were actually three Jokers. Since 2016, that plot has been sat waiting for development. Although Johns had plenty of ideas for it, he wound up focused on his role as an exec in DC Films. Johns recently stepped down from that position, however, and he’s back writing DC comics and movies once again.
That means it’s time for DC to finally explore the Three Jokers. This will be one of DC’s “Black Label” publications, a prestige-format miniseries with artist Jason Fabok. Each issue is expected to have a mammoth 46 pages. Supporting Johns’s panel, DC released the first stunning cover. Take a look:
According to Johns, the story won’t be focused on anything like “other dimensions or alternate earths or whatever.” Rather, it will be a grounded story in which the Dark Knight wrestles with the shocking truth that there are actually three Jokers. Johns insists that he believes there are differences between the Jokers, but concedes that might just be in his head. Giving a sense of just how closely-related the Jokers are, he pointed to one scene:
Although the series will star Batman, it will also see Bruce assisted by Barbara Gordon and Jason Todd. Batman’s choice in allies here is quite interesting; over in Detective Comics, he’s amassed something of a Bat-team around him, but he seems to be choosing to cut them out of this one. When the dust settles from this adventure, the relationship between Batman and the Joker will be changed forever. “If I could tell one Joker story,” Johns insisted, “this is the one I would tell.”
“There’s this really fun scene where Joker drives this truck. He goes to the woods and there’s a cabin with a light on and he knocks on the door and there’s a Joker standing there wearing a Hawaiian shirt. And Joker says, ‘That’s my shirt.’”
The DC Rebirth relaunch has proved to be a tremendous success for the comic book publisher, and this is one of the most exciting loose ends that have been left dangling. The story hasn’t changed, though; “I pitched it a year ago,” Johns noted, “and it’s exactly the same down to the panel and the dialogue.” Johns hopes Three Jokers will release in the winter.
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Source: Geoff Johns
