“Joker Incorporated” – Finale
Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist John Timms
Color Artist: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Review by James Attias
Batman Incorporated #12 is the final issue of the run. We’ve seen heroes die and villains unite, Jokers together and Bats divided. How will it all end? Let’s slice in…
The Joke’s on You
When I started reading this issue, knowing it was the final one of the current series, the thought occurred to me that we have a lot of loose ends to tie up in 30 pages. I was quite worried that a lot of the story threads that have been set up, would be rushed, or that we’d be given a non-ending with “find out what happens in the spin-off book coming soon”. Unfortunately, it was a mad dash to tie up 12 issues worth of stories and character development or for Ghost-Maker character regression… maybe?
This run has had its ups and downs from the get-go; the initial story didn’t grab me, and then the Professor Pyg tale was amazing. That brings us to now and to Joker Incorporated. This was an idea that could merit a place in a main Batman book, but the execution wasn’t as great as I’d hoped it would be.
The setup was perfect; Joker setting traps, driving Batman Inc. nuts, and revealing a team of international murderous clowns that were all part of his cunning murderous plot. Sadly, it got very murky. Everyone was divided, fighting one clown per group, hostages that would die if the clowns didn’t… it felt like the whole thing came from one good idea that the creative team didn’t really know what to do with. Disappointing.
What Now?
I don’t want to give anything away, so talking about what comes next is tricky. Will [Spoiler] start [Spoilering] people again? Can Batman Inc. continue without [Spoiler]? Will [Spoiler] finally be at peace? After his [Spoilers] were killed? It’s safe to say that there are plenty more stories to be told, but with Ed Brisson now jumping ship to Marvel to write Alpha Flight, maybe a new creative team will pick up this title in a few months and we’ll see what really comes next for [Spoiler] now that he’s moved to [Spoiler] home of [Spoiler]. I can’t be much clearer than that.
Also, the art in this book was good but, due to the shadows, I couldn’t tell if [Spoiler] killed those three guys with his [Spoilers].
Conclusion
Batman Incorporated #12 was a fun little distraction for the Gotham characters that no longer have a place in the mainstream Bat-books. That aside, this issue was just “ok”.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
