Books : Superman: Emperor Joker

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- I had a blast reading this!
I'm a huge fan of the Joker, so when I saw this book on Amazon I was instantly intrigued. I'm happy that I decided to buy it, because it is one of the most interesting story concepts that I've seen used in comics, and I had a blast reading this!

Seeing the Joker with the power of a god is awesome, and his world is just what you would expect it to be. It's also interesting to see Superman so powerless in the Joker's twisted universe. The art was consistantly good and the writing was decent throughout. If you are a Superman fan, or a Joker fan, do yourself a favor and give this book a shot!

Rating:

- Good for a while but falls apart at the end
I'm a big fan of Jeff Loeb and I love Ed McGuinness's art so I was prepared for something special. Sure the average Amazon reviews for `Emperor Joker' were kinda crummy but I loved Vol: 4 Vengeance and this one followed along with Joker still having the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk. Things started off great but after a time the jokes started wearing thin and by the end I was ready for the whole thing to end. Since this is a compilation of monthly stories the omnipotent Joker story line must have gone on for the good part of a year.

At the risk of sounding like a comic book geek let me just say that Mr. Mxyzptlk NEVER had this level of power. It's been established that the beings of the fifth dimension are ultra powerful but this is ridiculous. By usurping the magical abilities of Mr. Mxyzptlk the Joker becomes the strongest being in the universe. The Specter, the Wizard Shazam and the Guardians are mere fleas compared to Emperor Joker. I guess you could say just go with it but Loeb is REALLY stretching it. Also, this isn't the first time the Joker has had limitless powers, he did the same thing in a Superman/Spiderman team-up many years ago.

Ed McGuinness's drawings were as awesome as ever. They're kind of cartoony but he has a clean, bold style that I really enjoy. Unfortunately he only drew the first part of the story. Not that the other artists were disappointing at all. Emperor Joker is far from bad but like a 3 1/2 hour movie it just overstays its welcome. I gave `Vengeance' five stars but I'm going to have to remove two on this one. As a final kick the ending was just not good and after working through the entire book it was a major letdown.

Rating:

- DC's version of "Infinity Gauntlet" falls short
For the most part, I've drifted away from the modern Superman titles, preferring to read the Silver Age reprints featured in DC Showcase. Recently, several people had recommended SUPERMAN: EMPEROR JOKER to me, calling it one of the best Superman stories ever. I had never heard of it, but as it was by some of the same creators responsible for the ghastly Our Worlds At War, I wouldn't touch it. But they persisted, I bought it... and I read it... and then I quickly got rid of it. No need for me to mull it over or perhaps read again. EMPEROR JOKER is not for me.

I'm not going to go into excessive detail about the plot, as it's well-summarized on this page. I will say that I couldn't believe how drawn out it was for such a simple premise. It's far too long, the result of being split up between multiple issues of FIVE different titles. It really could have been told in 4 or so issues. Also, the writers didn't seem to have a good handle on the mood of the story. I found so much of the humor to be easy and uninspired, and some of it severely dates the story with awkward pop-culture references. So from this perspective, it was more of the "wacky" Joker, instead of the criminally insane Joker that DC seems to be pushing.

The cartoonish art from Ed McGuinness, Doug Mahnke, and other emulators of his style, really detracts from the story - while it could be argued that it suits the mood perfectly, I feel that it lessens the effect of just how bizarre and frightening a universe controlled by the Joker is supposed to be. When all the characters look like bloated, lantern-jawed gorillas, how are we supposed to have a sense of what's right and what isn't? Too much of a bad thing for me. Now let's open up that DC Showcase of the Superman Family!

Rating:

- LUNACY UNBOUND!
Superman is the world's greatest criminal, Lois Lane is a bald, billionaire industrialist, and Bizarro is the Metropolis' number one hero...these are just a few of the exceedingly strange plot elements of Emperor Joker, a trade paperback that collects the nine part story arc which ran through all of the various Superman titles. Superman escapes from a maximum-security prison every night but his powers are only a fraction of what they should be. Each night Bizarro hunts down and returns Superman to his cell where he must wait to play out the same drama once again tomorrow.

This lunatic version of Metropolis is courtesy of the clown prince of Crime the Joker. The Joker has stolen the reality warping powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk and uses them to reshape Metropolis into a sort of Disney world on a bad acid trip with him as the emperor. The JLA have been turned into caricatures of their true selves as only the Joker could envision them. The Flab is the fastest fat man alive, the Yellow Paper Lantern wreaks havoc on the world with shadow puppets, and Wonder Woman is a housemaid who hates men. And just WHERE is Batman in all of this lunacy?

Emperor Joker plays like an Elseworlds or What If type story. It's somewhat hard to envision it in true DC continuity. The storyline allows the Joker to truly go off his rocker with his new powers. Even Mxyzptlk decides to help out Superman because he knows how dangerous a homicidal maniac will be once he gains full control of his newfound abilities. Even the Spectre is stymied.

Despite the fact that the book features four different writers and twice that many artists, there is a reasonable amount of cohesion to the story that you might not expect with so many hands in the cookie jar. The Joker's insanity factor is played to the hilt as he literally toys with all of the heroes as opposed to just killing them outright...even if he can kill them and then kill them again the next night! The violence does border on the sadistic, particularly in regards to Joker's treatment of Lex Luthor and Batman. The story doesn't take the easy way out either as both Batman and Superman are left with some very troubling issues to deal with at the end while the rest of the world has mercifully forgotten the whole ordeal. Bizarro is a scream in his role as the good guy, so to speak, and his dialog throughout is hilarious.

Emperor Joker was a bit too long and bogged down in a few spots, but the eclectic blend of characters always managed to make things fun after the short lulls.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Rating:

- THE PUDDIN' FORK
It's a great idea... give the JOKER the power of a God and watch the top spin. And visually, the pages comes to life with solid, funny and well detailed art - but the story? There lies the problem. It just doesn't ZIG, ZANG or POP!, instead it just lays there while the Joker sits back in his easy throne and waits it out until Superman, Batman and the rest of the DCU get their act together and deliver the final smackdown on the Joker and his insane party.

It's a story that lacks any real threat, despite the Joker being in command of not only COSMIC POWER, but the ANTI-LIFE EQUATION itself. Yes, many die (the entire population of China goes down here as the Joker orders Chinease take out and eats them all), and there are some brtual, and yet lyrical, moments of violence that help to sell the book (both the abuse Batman and Lex Luthor take here is very graphic), but it never really reaches, or pushes, the story as far as it could. I mean, this is the Joker we're talking about here. Slanted, but brillant - so his world really should be more complex and confused than it is. As it is, it comes across less insane and more THE SLAP DASH SILLY PUTTY CRISIS OF ONE TRICK JOKES. DC is better, and has been better than this (early AMBUSH BUG, people, can I get a high five?) so it's a disappointment how tame this whole affair is.

The Joker spends a majority of the book simply talking - although, some of the writing here is very well done, and funny (and surprisingly touching in places - the "final" resting place of Harley exposes the Joker's sick heart) it really doesn't distract you from the fact that the Joker simply sits and waits for the most part for everyone to come to HIM. I'll chalk it up to ego, but again... it's the Joker we're talking about here... you really expect more. The supporting cast is clunky. Superboy is all boy here, and this was the time we were saddled with the ANGEL / Supergirl hybrid that simply never, ever worked for me. The line-up of the JLA gets a THE TICK make over (of which exactly two are funny - the Flash becoming the Flab, the fastest fattest man alive, and Green Lantern turning into Paper Lantern Man, whose powers constist of his throwing shadow puppets) and Bizzaro takes center stage here early on in the book which made for great fun (and I'm sure, a pain in the neck for the writers when it came to his reverse speech patterns).

Overall, SUPERMAN: EMPEROR JOKER tends to jog more than run to the finish, but there are some moments where it manages to leap and soar, and in those few moments you can see where the story might have gone in other hands... say, Grant Morrison's hands (whose ALL STR SUPERMAN is hands down one of THE best Superman comics being pusblished right now). But as it is, it's a great looking book with some wonderful moments, that sadly don't equal a great read. If you're a fan, it's worth having to share with pals.

page 3 of 3