ECC Ediciones presents an exhaustive volume that collects the complete saga in which James Gordon goes in search of Gotham’s greatest villain: Joker – Catch the Clown

One of the best things about the mythology surrounding him Batman It is the richness of all the characters that populate it, this encapsulated universe being an inexhaustible source of a multitude of stories with a great variety of protagonists. There is no doubt that, especially in recent times, on the part of the bad guys it is the Clown Prince of Crime the one that monopolizes the lights of all the spotlights, and this is something evident in one of the latest publications of Editions ETC: Joker – Capture the Clown – The complete saga.

The Arkham Asylum Massacre

One of the most important episodes in the continuity of DC Universe of recent times there has been the massacre of Arkham Asylum. After that story during the phase of James Tynion IV (the same screenwriter of this saga) responsible for the regular series of Dark Knight in which the Joker he managed to create havoc Gotham City with more means than ever after getting lucky from a Bruce Wayne In the low hours that culminated in the villain’s defeat, an attack of biblical proportions occurred in the city’s asylum for the mentally ill.

The Joker seemed to be the culprit once again, but before the certainty of this fact became palpable, he had already fled. And his greatest pursuer would be none other than the unlikely James Gordona retired commissioner with one foot (as per colleague Mel Gibson In Lethal weapon in question) who began his last crusade. And the history of these two goes back a long time…

Retaliatory prank killing

We need to go back to the second half of the ’80s to re-propose not only one of the best comics that Batman has had in his publishing history, but also a fundamental chapter within Batman’s confused continuity. DC Comics. The English Alan Moore he gave it his all The murderous joke a dark story starring the Joker in which Barbara Gordonthe daughter/granddaughter (how confusing) of Commissioner Gordon and until then also known to some as Batgirlhe was experiencing the worst episode of his life…

The psychopath not only shot her in the spine, leaving her in a wheelchair for years and bringing about what at the time seemed like Batgirl’s eventual demise, but held her captive for a period in which she was tortured in horrific ways that Moore implies . to. more than a show. And all with the aim of sending Gordon photos of what happened, which traumatized the commissioner to the point of driving him to the brink of madness.

Despite the time that has passed since then (a period impossible to decipher, if that story and this one really occur in the same universe, which today with the constant reformulations of the DC Universe is something impossible to say) there is bad blood between the two characters , Gordon and the Joker, is evident. And not just for what happened with Barbara: we must remember that the Joker also killed Gordon’s second wife, Sarah Essenand that his influence on his son wasn’t exactly beneficial…

And, despite the title of the volume, Gordon is perhaps the main protagonist of this comic, making it at times more of a police story than one of superheroes and supervillains. With his words we will remember his professional journey, from Bruce Wayne’s first steps in the role of Batman, breathing in a certain way an air of Frank Millerup to the most recent chapters.

But beyond these two rivals, other illustrious acquaintances will also pass through this adventure, from Ruin even the older members of the Court of Owls passing through the inevitable Batman. In any case, however, these are participations that advance the story and bring it where it should be, but which do not contribute more than that, since the weight is where it should be.

From Francavilla to Marzo and Camuncoli

One aspect that could be really negative for many readers is the cartoonist’s dance that we will have in this volume. On the one hand this is understandable when putting together a complete saga like this, which includes more than one series, but on the other hand the stylistic variety is so abysmal that the narrative ends up losing any semblance of visual coherence.

Francesco Francavilla He’s wonderful and having him as an artist in any comic is always a gift, but the clash that his pages have with those of Guillem March and with those of Giuseppe Camuncoli It’s brutal. In any case, all the artists involved in this volume do good work and few complaints can be had about their individual work.

Joker: Hunt the Clown – The Complete Saga

ISBN: 978-84-10330-28-3

The most wanted in the world! Is the Joker responsible for the Arkham Asylum massacre? There is reasonable doubt to the contrary, but the Clown Prince of Crime has escaped and left the country. The person responsible for his research is none other than James Gordon, who undertakes what could be his last mission before retiring. But the commissioner is not the only one to persecute him. What did Batman’s archenemy do to piss off a Texas family?

James Tynion IV collaborate with artists Guillem March Yes Giuseppe Camuncoli In Joker: Capture the clownthe long-awaited collection of the recent solo adventures of a villain besieged by so many enemies that he doesn’t know what awaits him.

Authors: James Tynion IV, Matthew Rosenberg, Guillem March, Francesco Francavilla and Giuseppe Camuncoli