Rating:  -
First off the art is terrible in this book. The Joker by stealing Mxyzptlk's powers somehow becomes a million times more powerful than the imp, and is able to run roughshod over Darkseid, the Quintessence, and the Spectre. No way. Of course DC being DC, there's only one possible solution: Superman. This storyline was a good premise but like far too many Loeb stories I've read ultimately it's just not that great.
Rating: -
The premise of the story has promise and does deliver, but inconsistently. There seem to be points where the story line bogs down and starts to drag. The beginning, where much of the dialogue is centered on Bizarro and his backwards speech, starts to wear thin as do Joker's monologues throughout the story. The periodic dull points in the story line made this book all too easy to put down without the desire to read it start to finish in one sitting. I wouldn't pay full retail price for it again, but it was a reasonably enjoyable read and would be worth picking up used.
Rating:  -
While I understand the positions of some of the previous readers(this is one of the more unusual Superman stories I've read), I really enjoyed this one. The Joker, in all his years, has never seemed more disturbing or evil. It's also interesting to see the Joker's sanity peak through just for a minute in the final chapter. The only problem I see, is that we barely get an explanation as to where Joker got his Godlike powers in the first place. Other than that, this story is great fun. Also, bonus points for the times when Emperor Joker appeared to "step outside" the understood DC Universe and aknowledge the reader to a certain degree. Very Clever.
Rating:  -
I have been waiting a while for this collection to come out. Emperor Joker took place around early 2000's when Superman books were kind of in a rut. They had President Lex; parasite pretending to be Lois Lane etc and of course, the abysmal cross-over. Our Worlds at War. I felt that Emperor Joker, while a cross-over itself wasn't as bad as those books that I had previously mentioned.
The basic premise of the story is that Joker has been granted God-like power by Mxy. and has remade the universe in his image...literally because the Earth is shaped like Joker's face. He made Superman a villain locked up at Arkham and Bizarro, a hero. And every night, Superman escapes and is returned to his cell by the morning. Joker also eliminated all logic and rationality and the universe is a place for his whimsy, there's constantly cows jumping over the moon. He also rewrote the origin of the entire JLA roster with Flash being the Flab, Aquaman being a man with the head of a fish, Wonder Woman a housewife, Plastic Man as someone who can morph into credit cards and commit fraud and Martian Manhunter bears an uncanny resemblance to Marvin the Martian from the Looney Tunes cartoons. Seems like a comedic tale but it's far from it. Although the Joker was seem funny crazy here, there are hints of his dark lunacy at work, as evident by what he does to Batman. So, it's an interesting read as far as my opinion goes.
Now for the art in this book. The art is done by several people and includes, Ed McGuiness, Doug Mahne, Kano, Mike Miller. The cartoonish style of Ed McG and Kano fits the story. However, I would've preferred a more realistic type art for the more serious scenes especialy towards the end.
All in all, I liked the book and it's not a bad Superman story. I thought the concept was interesting and although several different writers were involved (Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, Mark Schultz, J.M. DeMatties), the story flowed pretty seemlessly.
Rating:  -
Although it starts from an interesting idea, an another-world created from the broken mind of a godly Joker, it lacks of pace, good pieces humour or even emotion. Yeah, it shows good ideas -like what has became of Batman-, but the overall work it isn't really that good -not as good as it could be- and, in my opinion, it doesn't worth the money nor the read time.
If you want to enjoy a very good comic with a similar start point, I instead recommend you the Marvel TPB Infinity Gauntlet.
|
