The Joker's secrets are no laughing matter. This week's Batman #142, by Chip Zdarsky and Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Nesi, Andrea Sorrentino, Alejandro Sánchez, and Dave Stewart, begins The Joker Year One: a new three-part story that will reveal what DC Comics calls "the untold story of pop culture's greatest supervillain." For the first time since 1988's The Killing Joke exposed the Joker's origin — or, at least, one of them — Batman will discover the terrible secret of his worst enemy. The Joker Year One will ship weekly and span February's Batman #142-#144.
Per the official synopsis: "The tragic 'death' of the leader of the Red Hood Gang in a vat of chemicals has become the subject of myth…but what is the heartbreaking and gruesome tale of the monster who walked away from that violent birth? And how does it affect Batman's distant future?"
January's Batman #141 pit the Dark Knight against the rogue robot Failsafe and the machinations of Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, ending with Bruce Wayne in Zur's prison alongside his cellmate: the Joker. "It's time you told me exactly how you're involved in all of this," the unmasked Batman told Joker, who replied with a grin: "You know what, Brucie? I think I'll do just exactly that."
DC has revealed a peek into Batman's "distant future" and the Joker's past in preview pages from Batman #142 (below). The first look at The Joker Year One pulls on threads from Zdarsky's "The Man-Bat of Gotham" storyline, which revealed a multiversal version of the Joker: Darwin Halliday, a.k.a. Red Mask, in a twist on The Killing Joke.
The Joker Year One "takes place in two time periods: the period directly after The Joker's creation in the chemical vat, and some time in the future as Batman tries to unravel a mystery," Zdarsky wrote in a post published on Substack. "It's been fun attempting to dance between the raindrops of continuity on this one!"
Batman #142 is on sale February 6 from DC Comics, followed by part two in Batman #143 on Feb. 13 and the conclusion in Batman #144 on Feb. 20.