Knight Terrors: The Joker #2 // Review
Batman is leaping into the alley to halt the robbery of a Gotham City credit union. Batman makes a joke or two in the process of attacking the thieves. It's like he's Spider-Man until he gets close enough that the thieves can see—the white paint on his face. Gotham's second favorite clown continues his adventure into Nightmare with Knight Terrors: The Joker #2. Writer Matthew Rosenberg continues a dark journey with artist Stefano Raffaele and colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr. The Joker's journey through nightmare comes to a close as the big finale of the Knight Terrors Crossover approaches its crescendo.
The Joker may be out at night as Batman. It's not like he's got a problem with it or anything. He's perfectly capable of holding down the day job. By night, he's Batman; by day, he works in H.R. for Wayne Enterprises. He's interviewing Mr. Freeze for a potential position. Why? With Batman dead, there will be a lot of volatility in the supervillain business. Everyone will want to lay low and get respectable day jobs until the dust clears on whatever is happening in the absence of the Dark Knight.
The Joker's story hasn't been explored nearly as extensively and exhaustively as Batman's. What Rosenberg is doing is exploring the fractured facets of the man's personality from a lens that involves questions of what he's trying to do. There is some insight into that, but it doesn't truly feel as though there is enough character progression to make any of it feel like it's been worth the journey. The Joker, thanks for an exciting mix of elements that could all work together in a much bigger context. The question of heroism versus villainy and vigilantism and what precisely the city needs are exciting things to explore from the standpoint of someone who is fundamentally psychotic.
The darkness of Gotham City lives quite happily in Raffaele's art. The artist needs to manage better the fusion between the Monday in life in an office and the fantastically nightmarish world of Joker's nightmare, Gotham. Still, everything is carried to the page very competently and straightforwardly. The dark humor is delivered with a competent sense of action and aggression. Heavy inking made some of the artist's subtlety dull, but it's atmospheric. The perpetual night of Gotham City comes to life in the Joker's nightmares with some delightfully garish colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
The concept of the Joker with a day job is fun. What Rosenberg is working with feels appealing, like Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho in Gotham City, which is much more fun than it SHOULD be. And it would be much more interesting to dive into as a more complete serial. Two issues aren't enough to explore the concept of the kind of death it needs. Rosenberg needs more room to give the premise enough depth. It's a fun survey of elements that could extend into a more extended series. As a two-issue series, however, it falls flat.
