Joker has a new one-shot by horror legend John Carpenter (yes, that one). The Clown Prince of Crime has escaped Arkham Asylum this time however he has a new sidekick with a member of the Royal Flush Gang; the Six of Hearts at his side. Acting as the narrator of the story Six gives a detailed look at his life suffering from mental illness as the Joker twists & manipulates his mind throughout the story.

Joker: Year of the Villain is a 2019 supervillain comic book,  it is written by John Carpenter & Anthony Burch and illustrated by Marc Deering & Philip Tan. It is developed and published by DC Comics and is available in physical and digital formats now.

Editor’s Note: A review copy of Joker: Year of the Villain was provided by DC Comics in support of this review. Medium to near complete spoilers for Joker, Year of the Villain may be present within the review.

This may surprise some, but John Carpenter is no stranger to the world of comics. In fact he’s worked on several throughout his career, so when DC announced that Carpenter would be working on a storyline with The Joker as the lead character it sounded like a match made in heaven. That being said, Joker: Year of the Villain while a fine comic book, unfortunately isn’t the horror adaptation many were probably looking for. 

THE GOOD: The Joker has escaped Arkham with a member of the Royal Flush Gang; Six of Hearts who was also an inmate. Joker takes it upon himself to pair up with Six to wreak havoc and mischief across all of Gotham. After killing his entire gang for failing to break him out and his attempts at poisoning Gotham’s water supply with Scarecrow’s fear toxin goes unnoticed The Joker feels shunned. Six informs him of the police force’s fear of interference after Bane’s takeover of the city. The duo head to a convenient store to gas up when Joker takes note of Batman and Robin costumes, he and his new partner in crime suit up as “The Caped Crusader” and “Boy Wonder” to “save Gotham” from itself.

After a run-in with Enchantress causes the unnecessary “sacrifice” of several people Six begins to see through The Joker’s twisted ideals and gains some sense of self-awareness. He feels guilt about not only what he’s done with The Joker but also for what he’s done in the past due to his mental illness. It’s at this point that Six decides to try and run from Joker, he heads to the only place he has left; his mother’s home. Unfortunately, Joker recalls the story Six told about his parents and paid his mother a visit first having her tied and threatening to burn her. Six attempts to save his mom but is savagely beaten by Joker who has an “epiphany” about heroes and villains and has a “return to form”, Joker leaves after a speech as Six’s mother attempts to get him to the hospital. I really dug this comic, not particularly because of the titular character but because of Six of Hearts. Carpenter and Burch did a damn good job of delving into Six’s psyche and thought process on his illness as he struggled with his morality while being manipulated by The Joker all at the same time. It’s character development like this that often makes you want to see one off characters such as these stick around even if it means making them canon. There’s not too much insane violence or gore, so good news for anyone who’s not really into that. The art has a nice aesthetic that at least gives a faint complimentary horror-esque aura even if this isn’t a horror story in of itself.  

THE BAD: If you expected this to be a horror take on the iconic DC villain (like I myself did, admittedly), then you’re going to be in for a disappointment. The story itself is fine otherwise, just don’t expect much scares or sci-fi or something of the sort here. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: If you thought John Carpenter was working on a horror themed Joker story then this may be your only disappointment with Joker: Year of the Villain, otherwise this is a great story focusing on themes of morality, villainy, and mental illness. The character development of Six alone within a 20 something page book is more than enough to warrant the purchase price. Otaku Dome gives Joker: Year of the Villain an 83 out of 100.