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Year of the Villain
Joker: Year of the Villain #1
In the Year of the Villain, what's a Clown Prince of Crime to do when the world has started to accept doing bad as the only way to live? Out-bad everyone else, of course! The Joker is on a mission to get his mojo back and prove to the world that there is no greater villainy than the kind that leaves you laughing.
This special one-shot is co-written by legendary film auteur John Carpenter (The Thing, Halloween) and Anthony Burch (the Borderlands video games), making for a Joker comic that's twisted in ways you never imagined!
This special one-shot is co-written by legendary film auteur John Carpenter (The Thing, Halloween) and Anthony Burch (the Borderlands video games), making for a Joker comic that's twisted in ways you never imagined!
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 9, 2019
4 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
February 18, 2021
No está mal como curiosidad, y me gusta que explote la idea de la locura/cordura del Joker, pero que de 72 páginas la mitad sean portadas y cueste 12€ y pico, me parece una barbaridad.
October 11, 2019
3,5/5. Interesting Joker's comic... but I was expecting something more. Being focus directly on him in a «special» issue. Good but nothing ground breaking!
October 14, 2019
3.5 stars. Is he sane but evil? Or just insane? Pretty cool comic.
December 6, 2022
Hızlı bir fasikül arası. Dünyanın en dürüst çizgi roman dükkanı @gorilcizgiroman Goril’in kendisi de fasikül satarken söylediği gibi “fasikül pişmanlıktır” düşüncesine yakınım mevcut şartlarda. Fakat @jbcyayincilik ın son #batman lerini sipariş ederken hem bu #varyantkapak ı beğendim hem de tek atımlık diye siparişi verdim geçtim. Beklentimin üzerinde bir #tapas lezzeti bıraktı ağzımda. Kapakta yazmıyor bu versiyonda, işin adı “Joker: Kötülerin Yılı” #thejokeryearofthevillain Farklı düşünenler olabilir ama #joker ve akıl hastalıkları teması benim için güncelliğini hiç yitirmiyor. Aklın, normalin sırları ve sınırları üzerine kurulu, arada da havalı laflar eden hikayeler beni keyiflendirmeye kafi geliyor. Başka bir bonus da çizimler oldu. Önce epeydir #comics okumadığımdan mı acaba dedim ama yok yok… Şahane çizilmiş bir fasikül bu. @philiptanart ın başka bir işini okudum mu bilmiyorum ama çizimleri çok beğendim. Akıllılar, deliler, Batman ve Robin cosplaycileri 🙃 bu fasiküle göz atın derim
August 14, 2024
A 2.5.
It's a guy who follows the Joker about, there's no real story. Mostly panels of Joker going about doing crimes or fooling around as bored.
There is the unpredictability and some moments are cool but there isint a story to hold it together which would bring in the emotional heft.
It's a guy who follows the Joker about, there's no real story. Mostly panels of Joker going about doing crimes or fooling around as bored.
There is the unpredictability and some moments are cool but there isint a story to hold it together which would bring in the emotional heft.
January 6, 2020
3.5/5
The issue centers around a young man called Jeremy, who escaped from Arkham Asylum with the Joker in the latest breakout. Jeremy is mentally ill, and writing that is a dangerous line to walk; you need to capture a level of nuance and sympathy for this person without belittling or misrepresenting them, and that’s made all the more difficult when paired with one of the biggest psychopaths in literature history. As this issue points out, mentally ill people are far more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators, and the book makes Jeremy a rather sympathetic character, who seems to be guided by Joker through a funhouse of horrors for most of the issue, without having agency (at first).
The story of Jeremy is one we’ve seen before, but having him standing next to the Joker as he goes about his crimes creates an important contrast between the two. Along the way, we spot several cameos; some are funny and appropriate, such as Condiment King, and some feel a little confusing. I’m looking at you Enchantress. The story is best when it keeps to its street-level roots, so the bombastic superhero-level scenes don’t feel that effective.
Throughout the issue, though, Carpenter and Burch have a good grasp on Joker’s voice. This is the kind of Joker I’m the biggest fan of; the trickster who’s always a second away from exploding, with a gag in his mouth and a gun in his hand. Joker is unapologetically cruel in this issue, and it creates a few moments of rather dark comedy. There also happens to be a reference to an episode of The Batman throughout this issue, which I greatly appreciated – that was the show I loved to watch as a kid, and I have a “Top Ten Episodes” list on the way to this site.
The gag of Joker in a Batman outfit is not great, and I’m so glad the two writers built most of the issue around Joker’s “superhero” act. Ultimately though, the strongest elements of the writing from Carpenter and Burch are what amount to a rather dark exploration of a mentally ill boy’s mind (surrounded by the usual bombastic nature of these comics). At first, I had to admit I was a little worried about where the two were going with this story. While the book does point out how mentally ill people are often the victims more than the perpetrators, the line immediately following that is “maybe that’s what makes Gotham special” … so I was a little concerned about what the message of the story might be.
Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised at how effective and impressive the climax of the story was, without losing any of the Joker’s edge. When Jeremy finally finds agency in the story, the mood shifts to create an important distinction between him and the Joker, and what the nature of sanity is. I won’t spoil this issue, but I absolutely WILL share this out-of-context panel.
The man responsible for visualizing the demented Joker erotica now floating around your head is Philip Tan, and you can see how his artwork really makes this issue. His Joker is equal parts demented and bubbly, like the earlier image of “Batman and Robin”, where you can see Joker’s suit trying to escape his Batman outfit. His Joker seems to have a new, interesting and equally twisted look from every angle, and it’s a delight to read for just the art alone. His work also serves an important part in conveying Jeremy’s state of mind, such as how his thoughts blend together with the destruction the Joker is causing on the page.
I would absolutely love to see more from this team if the quality is about at the same level as this. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, as it doesn’t do anything to blow my mind – but for a first outing, it’s a strong standalone that gives you a refreshing one-off story about the Clown Prince of Crime. If they continue to make stories together about this villain, I don’t think I’d be feeling fatigued any time soon.
The issue centers around a young man called Jeremy, who escaped from Arkham Asylum with the Joker in the latest breakout. Jeremy is mentally ill, and writing that is a dangerous line to walk; you need to capture a level of nuance and sympathy for this person without belittling or misrepresenting them, and that’s made all the more difficult when paired with one of the biggest psychopaths in literature history. As this issue points out, mentally ill people are far more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators, and the book makes Jeremy a rather sympathetic character, who seems to be guided by Joker through a funhouse of horrors for most of the issue, without having agency (at first).
The story of Jeremy is one we’ve seen before, but having him standing next to the Joker as he goes about his crimes creates an important contrast between the two. Along the way, we spot several cameos; some are funny and appropriate, such as Condiment King, and some feel a little confusing. I’m looking at you Enchantress. The story is best when it keeps to its street-level roots, so the bombastic superhero-level scenes don’t feel that effective.
Throughout the issue, though, Carpenter and Burch have a good grasp on Joker’s voice. This is the kind of Joker I’m the biggest fan of; the trickster who’s always a second away from exploding, with a gag in his mouth and a gun in his hand. Joker is unapologetically cruel in this issue, and it creates a few moments of rather dark comedy. There also happens to be a reference to an episode of The Batman throughout this issue, which I greatly appreciated – that was the show I loved to watch as a kid, and I have a “Top Ten Episodes” list on the way to this site.
The gag of Joker in a Batman outfit is not great, and I’m so glad the two writers built most of the issue around Joker’s “superhero” act. Ultimately though, the strongest elements of the writing from Carpenter and Burch are what amount to a rather dark exploration of a mentally ill boy’s mind (surrounded by the usual bombastic nature of these comics). At first, I had to admit I was a little worried about where the two were going with this story. While the book does point out how mentally ill people are often the victims more than the perpetrators, the line immediately following that is “maybe that’s what makes Gotham special” … so I was a little concerned about what the message of the story might be.
Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised at how effective and impressive the climax of the story was, without losing any of the Joker’s edge. When Jeremy finally finds agency in the story, the mood shifts to create an important distinction between him and the Joker, and what the nature of sanity is. I won’t spoil this issue, but I absolutely WILL share this out-of-context panel.
The man responsible for visualizing the demented Joker erotica now floating around your head is Philip Tan, and you can see how his artwork really makes this issue. His Joker is equal parts demented and bubbly, like the earlier image of “Batman and Robin”, where you can see Joker’s suit trying to escape his Batman outfit. His Joker seems to have a new, interesting and equally twisted look from every angle, and it’s a delight to read for just the art alone. His work also serves an important part in conveying Jeremy’s state of mind, such as how his thoughts blend together with the destruction the Joker is causing on the page.
I would absolutely love to see more from this team if the quality is about at the same level as this. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, as it doesn’t do anything to blow my mind – but for a first outing, it’s a strong standalone that gives you a refreshing one-off story about the Clown Prince of Crime. If they continue to make stories together about this villain, I don’t think I’d be feeling fatigued any time soon.
November 1, 2025
Hahahaha, co written by the one and only John Carpenter how legit is that?! This was recommended to me to be my horror read of the year, I’m sure I’ll dive into some other scary stuff but that was a pretty fantastic read. Reminds me a lot of the “Joker” series which follows joker from the perspective of a henchman, but this feels a lot more like the Gotham with a villain on ever other street corner batman is usually used to compared to that story, plus the jokes land a lot more, and the revelations are even better. The narrator of this story goes by six of hearts, or “of” for short, lol. He broke out of Arkham alongside joker and was rewarded with it by keeping his life. Especially compared to the other henchmen. What I love about this narrator is how unique a perspective he offers, he has legitimate mental illnesses that makes it harder for him to understand the world, like a lot of the other henchmen he was attracted to joker and how he brought his insanity into the world and made people see him and pay attention to him. Joker may have got it out of him at gunpoint, but out narrator went completely in depth about how his father used to beat him and his mother would make excuses for it and everything that makes Gotham so special because here the mentally ill are more likely to be perpetrators than just victims. Gotham has hit a rough time of it lately and joker is having a hard time getting noticed, even pouring fear chemicals into the water supply doesn’t get batman to show up. So he decides to switch things up a bit, and after grabbing some snacks from a connivence store, only to have condiment king come in and rob it and stick his own henchman up, Joker decides that the two of them are going to fight crime. He grabs a batman and Robin costume off the shelves and they but the streets. Immediately they see an odd figure walking his dog. At first our narrator plays into the insanity, completely justifying it and making up things in his head to fit joker’s narrative. For instance the man walking his dog, who would possibly do that while everything is this terrible!? He must be up to something, he must have a dark nature about him. And when joker says he sees a gun on the man and on the dog he is walking and guns both of them down in self defense…well then it must have been true.
While walking around Gotham they happened to run into enchantress on a mission for the suicide squad, as one does, and the thoughts of teaming up with her started flooding our young henchman’s head. But then he saw the look of dismissal from her, a look he’s seen before when people look down and laugh on him. Joker saw this look in his eyes and realized they just found their own arch nemesis to take down. Joker begins to rally the troops, putting out internet videos to gather people together so they can fight enchantress and demand that they never be put to their knees at the hands of a witch roaming the city…except that is exactly what happened when they tried to fight her, they were all pretty quickly out to their knees with her magic. Luckily bat-joker had a backup plan, the flowers he told everyone to wear to “promote unity” were actually gas bombs. Joker grabs his Robin and they race off. It’s around this time that our narrator is starting to see the world as it is, they just left a bunch of bodies behind and be is starting to realize who he is really running around with. Their next encounter in a diner where joker almost shoots the waiter for the prices being “criminal” was quickly deescalated when our narrator offered to pay instead. Joker wasn’t quite happy about this but he needs his Robin. As they ran across the rooftops towards more adventure our Robin saw his way out and took a plunge off a rooftop. He accepted the pain as being deserved for everything he has down so far and be just took off running. He ran until he finally found a place to rest, a familiar place underneath an overpass where he went when his dad kicked him out. Nowadays Harvey’s gang is going through and kicking people out, but it gave him a chance to think clearly and remember that even if the people closest to you hurt you, you still love them and maybe there is a chance that goes both ways and he will still be accepted at home. Our narrator set out and found his way back home, it’s been a few years but there is a high chance his mother still lives there. He isn’t sure what to say he really isn’t sorry for a lot but that's just the way his brain works and all he is focused on now is taking. But as he heads up stairs he finds the lock broken and he steps inside to find joker in his batman costume waiting for him with his mom tied up. That’s when our narrator comes to the ultimate conclusion…joker isn’t like him. He knows exactly what he is doing, he listened to every word our narrator said about his family and used it against him…he’s totally sane. For the first time our narrator knows what is really happening and immediately attacks the joker, with the full knowledge that he isn’t crazy but completely evil. As the fight continued Joker’s batman mask ended up coming off and he slipped it right over our narrator so he could imaging batman beating him in, out narrator actually got weirded out by how into it joker became. And when he backed away joker could only express disappointment. He immediately grabbed a crowbar he had sitting to the side and recreated “the ultimate sidekick fantasy” as he beat our narrator to a pulp then bathed I. The blood. He then skipped off and hoped to leave our narrator with the will to come back later with a vengeance. But all our narrator did was stand up and untie his mother from her ropes. His real name is Jeremy and her mother immediately embraced him, just happy that he is home. Even though everything, the pain he brought to their home, she still loved him and cares for him and they can work to heal and make a better tomorrow. And that’s what really matters.
While walking around Gotham they happened to run into enchantress on a mission for the suicide squad, as one does, and the thoughts of teaming up with her started flooding our young henchman’s head. But then he saw the look of dismissal from her, a look he’s seen before when people look down and laugh on him. Joker saw this look in his eyes and realized they just found their own arch nemesis to take down. Joker begins to rally the troops, putting out internet videos to gather people together so they can fight enchantress and demand that they never be put to their knees at the hands of a witch roaming the city…except that is exactly what happened when they tried to fight her, they were all pretty quickly out to their knees with her magic. Luckily bat-joker had a backup plan, the flowers he told everyone to wear to “promote unity” were actually gas bombs. Joker grabs his Robin and they race off. It’s around this time that our narrator is starting to see the world as it is, they just left a bunch of bodies behind and be is starting to realize who he is really running around with. Their next encounter in a diner where joker almost shoots the waiter for the prices being “criminal” was quickly deescalated when our narrator offered to pay instead. Joker wasn’t quite happy about this but he needs his Robin. As they ran across the rooftops towards more adventure our Robin saw his way out and took a plunge off a rooftop. He accepted the pain as being deserved for everything he has down so far and be just took off running. He ran until he finally found a place to rest, a familiar place underneath an overpass where he went when his dad kicked him out. Nowadays Harvey’s gang is going through and kicking people out, but it gave him a chance to think clearly and remember that even if the people closest to you hurt you, you still love them and maybe there is a chance that goes both ways and he will still be accepted at home. Our narrator set out and found his way back home, it’s been a few years but there is a high chance his mother still lives there. He isn’t sure what to say he really isn’t sorry for a lot but that's just the way his brain works and all he is focused on now is taking. But as he heads up stairs he finds the lock broken and he steps inside to find joker in his batman costume waiting for him with his mom tied up. That’s when our narrator comes to the ultimate conclusion…joker isn’t like him. He knows exactly what he is doing, he listened to every word our narrator said about his family and used it against him…he’s totally sane. For the first time our narrator knows what is really happening and immediately attacks the joker, with the full knowledge that he isn’t crazy but completely evil. As the fight continued Joker’s batman mask ended up coming off and he slipped it right over our narrator so he could imaging batman beating him in, out narrator actually got weirded out by how into it joker became. And when he backed away joker could only express disappointment. He immediately grabbed a crowbar he had sitting to the side and recreated “the ultimate sidekick fantasy” as he beat our narrator to a pulp then bathed I. The blood. He then skipped off and hoped to leave our narrator with the will to come back later with a vengeance. But all our narrator did was stand up and untie his mother from her ropes. His real name is Jeremy and her mother immediately embraced him, just happy that he is home. Even though everything, the pain he brought to their home, she still loved him and cares for him and they can work to heal and make a better tomorrow. And that’s what really matters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2019
Not bad
I overall enjoyed this though the art wasn't that great. Story wise it was funny in parts but others were so so and there was nothing really new here that I haven't read before. Didn't like the linking this to Tom King's Batman world, would have preferred a stand alone outside Canon.
I overall enjoyed this though the art wasn't that great. Story wise it was funny in parts but others were so so and there was nothing really new here that I haven't read before. Didn't like the linking this to Tom King's Batman world, would have preferred a stand alone outside Canon.
November 7, 2019
This didn’t seem to tie into any of the other Year of the Villain releases at all but I liked the art alright. The story itself was pretty meh but I didn’t dislike it either. Jut an alright story that I’ll probably forget about soon
October 28, 2020
One of the best Joker stories I’ve ever read, and yet it’s so short, brutal, disturbing, dark, creepy, and short. The way the mental illness is portrayed is quite uncomfortable and works so devilishly well...
March 8, 2021
Just not my thing. A monologue of sorts as Joker takes on a psychologically damaged sidekick. I may also have missed the whole point, and the sidekick is actually a reflection of Joker.
February 15, 2021
El Joker se inventa su propia historia. Lo hace constantemente para seguir loco o… continuar cuerdo. Esta fue una de las grandes ideas que Alan Moore supo retratar en La broma asesina, emblemático cómic en el que lo acompañaba Brian Bolland a los lápices y, aunque el propio Moore lo deteste, se ha convertido en una de las historias más significativas del personaje. El escritor de Watchmen o V de Vendetta (entre otras grandes obras) recogió el patetismo del Joker en esa escena donde el enemigo de Batman confiesa que no recuerda su origen, que a veces es de un modo, en otras de otro. Narrar el origen exacto del Joker podría haber significado cargarse el misterio alrededor del personaje, lo que se prefirió fue el aire caótico de tener docenas y docenas de historias que el Joker crea sobre la marcha y eso permite que los guionistas puedan darle su propio origen, otorgándole todavía más grandeza al villano. Esa continua reinvención es lo que hace que el Joker camp de César Romero, el bowienesco de Frank Miller, al Príncipe Payaso al que dio voz Mark Hamill, el monstruo de Alan Moore, el agente del caos de Heath Ledger, el sádico de Grant Morrison o el cómico patético de Todd Phillips puedan ser caras del mismo personaje. A este prisma se suma ahora el Joker de John Carpenter.
Por el escaso número de páginas, más que ante una “película” de Carpenter estamos ante el capítulo de una serie tipo Creepshow o Historias de la cripta que cuenta con un distinguido autor invitado. Carpenter y Burch nos proponen una noche alrededor del Joker tras su enésima huida de Arkham. Lejos de contar otra vez la misma aventura, la narran a través de los ojos de un paciente del psiquiátrico que se transforma en inesperado secuaz del Joker.
El joven, que sufre un trastorno psicológico, es perseguido por sus propios fantasmas, después de haber asesinado a su padre durante un brote. Por supuesto, el Joker, como si fuera un vampiro, se alimenta de personalidades al límite, como vimos en El Caballero Oscuro de Christopher Nolan, donde contaba con varias personas con enfermedades psicológicas para llevar a cabo sus planes (recordemos el personaje encarnado por David Dastmalchian).
Durante esa madrugada, tras cruzarse con un villano de segunda, el Joker decide convertirse en un héroe y se viste con un traje de Halloween de Batman y, a su pupilo, le pone uno de Robin. Su meta será hacer su particular idea de la justicia, a la vez que el joven va descubriendo que quizá el villano no es lo que aparenta ser…
La crítica continúa en el blog
February 8, 2022
Muy buen cómic condensando en pocas páginas. No me esperaba una historia tan buena. Aquí la perspectiva no es la del Joker, sino la de uno de sus secuaces con trastornos mentales. Creo que en cierto modo es una historia de esperanza y de triunfo del bien. El dibujo es muy bueno. Algo exagerado en algunas ocasiones, pero muy bueno. Quizás el punto negativo que le encuentro es que el cómic es exclusivamente corto. La mitad del tomo es historia y la otra mitad dibujos del personaje (muy buenos, por cierto). Creo que ecc sabe que el Joker vende, que es el villano por antonomasia del mundo del cómic, y se hace eco de ello. Una historia un poco más larga habría sido todavía mejor. Sin embargo, entiendo que al no ser Carpenter dibujante sino director de cine y músico, la historia es corta. Hay que entender que, hasta donde yo se, es su primera toma de contacto con este personaje, y a mi me parece muy buena. Otro más imprescindible del príncipe payaso del crimen que añadir a la lista.
May 23, 2020
The Joker may feel a bit overwhelming and overly depicted at times, but a story of him written by my favourite director? Of course I was going to buy this.
Interestingly, the story focuses not on the Clown Prince of Crime, but a young man who falls in line with the character, and finds a place working alongside him. This leads to villainous acts committed in Batman and Robin costumes, causing incels to rise up against Enchantress, and even attacking the Condiment King. It's an interesting story with a mixed bag of artwork, and even though the story feels a bit ho-hum in parts, it has a hopeful message at the end which feels relevant and important, something I didn't expect from what's marketed as a Joker story.
Interestingly, the story focuses not on the Clown Prince of Crime, but a young man who falls in line with the character, and finds a place working alongside him. This leads to villainous acts committed in Batman and Robin costumes, causing incels to rise up against Enchantress, and even attacking the Condiment King. It's an interesting story with a mixed bag of artwork, and even though the story feels a bit ho-hum in parts, it has a hopeful message at the end which feels relevant and important, something I didn't expect from what's marketed as a Joker story.
May 4, 2020
The art takes some getting used to. Felt like Burch was coming off too strong, too fast. It settles down mid-issue, though. Carpenter, all-in-all, writes a solid JOKER issue. A bit predictable — I knew Joker was going to turn on our character. It reminded me a tiny bit of Azzarello’s JOKER — where it’s told from a lackey’s POV. Still, by the end of it, not sure this really added any value to the mythos.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2025
Not bad, v weird. Silly story of Joker and Frost playing as twisted Batman and Robin. Art is grotesque but colorful and interesting. Detailed comic booky but… zigzaggy lines? Invader Zimmy humor told in an extra serious tone. Mostly about Frost thinking how his parents made him crazy and how that feeds into now his need for Joker’s acceptance.
March 5, 2023
Has nothing to do with the Year of the Villain stuff. It's a look at the Joker from the perspective of a mentally unbalanced henchman. Basically it's just the Joker being crazy for 30 pages. Not really my thing.
June 12, 2025
Me gustó mucho la historia, sin embargo el cómic en si corresponde solo a aproximadamente la mitad de esta edición.
El resto de las páginas son material extra de ilustraciones...
Casi 13 € para 72 páginas, de las cuales quizás solo la mitad corresponde a la historia...
Algo caro no?
El resto de las páginas son material extra de ilustraciones...
Casi 13 € para 72 páginas, de las cuales quizás solo la mitad corresponde a la historia...
Algo caro no?
April 18, 2020
Mildly diverting Joker one-shot with THE John Carpenter (that’s right) attached to it.
June 21, 2020
The idea was cool, the execution kinda meh.
September 10, 2020
This is a one-shot of the joker being all kinds of crazy, it’s a quick, silly and entertaining read.
October 17, 2020
A Good outing. Nothing groundbreaking, but a sick kind of adventure.
January 24, 2021
Carpenter lleva a extremos totalmente terroríficos y enfermizos al Príncipe Payaso del Crimen en una historia que busca pervertir por completo la figura de Batman y Robin. Sencillamente demencial.
December 29, 2020
Feels a lot like the Azzarello Joker, but with a more explicit conclusion.
May 31, 2022
I'm sorry, my dear boy. But it was them or you. And making tough decisions. . . that's what being a hero is all about.
I knew I had to read this when I saw the unexpected name John Carpenter because he's famously known for 🎬 movies specifically horror. So yes, I was quite intrigued to see his take for a comic and on the Joker as well of all characters. That said, I assumed good things can only come of this, and I would be right as this was a really solid story especially for someone who isn't known to write in this universe meaning comics or DC
I really did enjoyed this story and I especially enjoyed the old classic joker style of comedy, though the art was a little weird but it was also really fitting for this story. Year of the Villain: "The Joker" is portrayed not as a outright raving lunatic but as someone putting up a facade as being a lunatic while at the same time actually doing horrible things like a lunatic. lol Love that joker.
Sometimes I'm wrong. Sometimes the world is wrong. And there was no way to tell which, until I met him
There's a new sidekick for the Joker but not the type you would normally expect. Meet Jeremy, a young man who's has a unknown mental illness, we are shown the whole story thru the eyes of this unstable sad individual who get confused easily due to his mental health issues. While the joker is dragging this poor guy along and basically messing with his head, Jeremy eventually starts to think perhaps he himself, might be crazy but obviously not Joker kind of crazy. And he certainly doesn't want to die or hurt anyone.
Just because someone suffers from mental illness, doesn't necessarily mean they're evil. And just because someone who's evil, isn't simply evil, due to mental illness.
We do get some of Jeremy's history which was sad a bit of his backstory and not so well upbringing. Someone in Jeremy's condition as we all know, is far more likely to be a victim of violence than a perpetrator and can easily be mislead. Like when the Joker makes Jeremy believe that a random person who was walking their dog, was suspciously dangerous. Keep in mind, Jeremy isn't quite sure the difference sometimes with what's real or not. So of course, the Joker ends up being as real as it gets.
Mischief, mayhem the old games aren't as thrilling anymore. We need to get weirder
Playing on Jeremy's psychosis joker convincing him that they're actual crime fighters lol but the joker also feels that for people to really take notice of their acts of anti‐vigilante crime spree, they need to step it up notch so he chooses to respectfully lol and hilariously buys them some Batman & Robin costumes. I know, funny shit right? I won't say what happens next cause major spoilers but that whole scene is so great and probably offensive to some people, but it was my favorite.
Year of the Villain: The Joker was definitely a very different kind of joker tale yet fascinating than we seen before which I appreciate. The mental illness portrayed here was handle well, but at first I kept wondering where was the story going because of it. And then, I was pleasantly surprised with it's hopeful message at the end quite impressive indeed I must say.
John Carpenter seems to be a natural even though he's a movie director and I would gladly read more work by him. This was just good ol`unapologetically wicked fun adventure.
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March 1, 2024Expande (muy muy poquito por desgracia) el interés de Carpenter por las enfermedades mentales y la maldad pura. Ya existe Michael Myers por lo que tiene sentido que use también la figura del Joker para ello. Pero hasta ahí, curioso, aunque también limitado y poco inspirado. Igualmente es de Carpenter y ya que no quiere hacer más pelis habrá que conformarse con pizcas de él en algunos sitios de vez en cuando.
October 16, 2020
3.5 stars. I was so excited to see what Jon Carpenter would do with the clown prince. It wasn't bad, but nothing was AMAZING either. I was left wanting more. Still fun though.
October 24, 2019
A comic book (co-)written by John Carpenter (with Anthony Burch), the acclaimed director of “Halloween,” “Big Trouble In Little China,” and “The Thing?” Automatic five-star review! I mean, I’m being a little bit facetious, but how can you give anything but top marks to a horror master taking on arguably the most twisted villain in DC’s deepest gallery of rogues? Carpenter does a great job in “Year Of The Villain: The Joker” subverting the whole dynamic of superheroes and supervillains, presenting a scenario that’s as thought-provoking as it is grisly. His Clown Prince Of Crime is even more terrifying when he’s trying to do what he believes is the right thing. Philip Tan’s art compliments the story perfectly; it’s frenetic and action-packed on one page, grim and intimate on another. This a one-shot that could easily support an ongoing series.
December 26, 2019
My tendency is to sympathize somehow with the Joker, to identify with his queer behavior and see his work as a sort of love song to Batman. Here, we are reminded sharply he is, in fact, a fully conscious villain.
December 22, 2019
I thought John Carpenter was only a good movie director, I never thought he could write an instantly memorable comic, let alone around an iconic madman, even if told from an external perspective. So much incredible artwork helps complement the insane story and the multiple homages to past one-shots and iconic stories. If any downside, I think this is the only issue of Year of the Villain where Joker's the central character.
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