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Spoilers for Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Batman: Three Jokers #1 (opens in new tab) ahead.
In the span of the villain’s 80-year history, the Joker has led a psychological warfare campaign against the Bat-Family – but no members have seen more trauma from the hands of the Clown Prince of Crime than Jason Todd (Robin/Red Hood) and Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle), who star alongside Batman in Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Batman: Three Jokers.
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It’s been 32 years since Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo’s ‘Death in the Family,’ (opens in new tab) where the Joker (at least one of the Jokers) brutally killed Jason Todd with a crowbar, and now in this week’s Three Jokers #1 the one-time Robin gets his revenge.
The book opens with the Joker being seen at multiple crime scenes at the same time, but how’s that possible? Batman, Red Hood, and Batgirl team up with the Gotham City Police Department to uncover the mystery. Now, of course, the heroes don’t assume that there could be multiple Jokers, but instead that the Joker is using the homeless, drugged and covered in clown makeup, as a diversion. Even if the Bat-Family doesn’t know it (yet), it is revealed to the reader that there’s certainly Three Jokers – ‘The Criminal,’ ‘The Clown,’ and ‘The Comedian’ – who are collaborating with one another.
Batman, Batgirl, and Red Hood are in the mix of fighting the Joker’s minions – including Gaggy, The Joker’s original sidekick from back the ’60s. Following an easy takedown, ‘The Clown’ Joker appears from the shadows. The Bat-Family members are able to capture him for an interrogation to find out if he’s the ‘real’ Joker or another decoy.
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Barbara and Jason tie the Joker up. In the mix of their interrogation, they start to see the minute differences between the Joker that sits before them and the Joker they have fought in the past. Even with his hands tied, the Joker fights back. He manipulates Red Hood – egging him on until Jason takes a gun out.
Jason so desperately wants to break the cycle. Barbara tries to talk him down, but the Joker rubs salt into the wounds, reminding Jason of his death, and that he’ll never be Batman’s Robin, but the Joker’s.
Jason puts his finger on the trigger – Batgirl throws a Batarang to knock it out of his hand but misses. Red Hood makes his kill shot – a bullet goes through the Joker’s skull. Batgirl can’t believe what she’s just witnessed, but Jason believes she also subconsciously wanted the Joker dead and that that’s why she missed.
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The story continues with Batman: The Three Jokers #2, which goes on sale September 29.
