Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 // Revie
It was bound to happen sooner or later. All of that time running around in the rain in Gotham City at night. Batman was bound to slip and fall. (It probably actually happens quite a lot between the panels.) However, slipping and falling and accidentally dying? What are the odds? Well, if it's a nightmare, the odds are probably pretty good, as is witnessed in Knight Terrors: The Joker #1. Writer Matthew Rosenberg puts together an interesting little comedic drama with artist Stefano Raffaele. Color slips into the story courtesy of Romulo Fajardo Jr. It’s a fun story that almost lives up to the premise.
The villain known as Insomnia bathes everyone in their own nightmares. Some would call it hell. Others might call it a crossover event. The Joker’s not having a good time with it. When a freak accident brings about the death of Batman, the Joker loses his grip on insanity and goes...sane. He’s working at a Wayne Industries office. What is he really looking for? Can he lead a totally normal life? Does it even matter? These questions and more may be successfully avoided in the course of another mind-numbing shift on the call floor for the Joker.
Rosenberg has a little bit of fun with the idea. Though it’s apparent that a normal life wouldn’t be the Joker’s worst nightmare, it’s difficult to imagine quite exactly what that might be. True madness is very difficult to pin down with respect to that sort of thing. That being said, Rosenberg does a pretty good job of placing true madness into a nameless office for the purposes of a joke that more or less covers an entire issue. The delicate intricacies of the Joker’s psyche are dutifully ignored in the interest of extending a joke that is actually pretty funny in places.
Raffaele frames the joke pretty well. It's far from any kind of genius. However, the overall look on the Joker’s face throughout the issue really delivers a lot of the humor. The atmosphere is locked in pretty well by Fajardo’s colors, but the art that the colors drape lacks the kind of sharp clarity that would make for a compelling visual journey into the strangeness of an insane clown working in a perfectly normal office. The putty-like gooeyness of the art lacks the kind of soulless fluorescent crispness that dominate so many soulless office spaces throughout the U.S.
The idea is solid. Had it been executed just a little bit better, it could've really turned into something that was kind of genius. Honestly, the idea is clever enough that it could turn into its own sitcom. There's no questioning that. However, the overall execution in this particular comic book lacks the kind of wit and satire that would elevate it beyond a simple execution of a silly idea. There IS a darkness to it that gradually fades in around the edges of everything, but it lacks the depth necessary for something more interesting.
