It has always been thought that Batman’s most infamous villain, The Joker, should not have an true origin story. Last year in Todd Phillips’ Joker, we got a story based on the character, but was that an origin story? Was it even real or something made up in his head? Time and time again we have seen different version of the clown prince of crime but never a concrete answer as to who he is. That all may change this summer in Geoff Johns’ and artist Jason Fabok’s Three Jokers.

Let’s back track a little to explain how we got to this important moment in DC comics. Leading into DC’s Rebirth reboot, we had an event called The Darkseid War, where Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor went head to head. During this time in Justice League #42 by Johns and Fabok Batman sat in the Mobius chair. At which time he took the opportunity to ask it, “what’s the Joker’s true name?”. At the time we didn’t get to hear what the chair told him only that he says, “NO. That’s not possible”. Fast forward to Justice League #50, where Batman is talking with Hal Jordan. Here is where he reveals to Hal that the chair didn’t give him a specific name. But it did reveal that there were three Jokers. He has a similar conversation with Alfred in DC Universe: Rebirth.

Now during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Johns and Fabok revealed the three covers for the the three issue mini series Three Jokers. You can check them out below via Fabok’s Twitter posts.

"HA HA HA!"@geoffjohns @bdanderson13 @DCComics #batman #joker #book3 pic.twitter.com/yw9rZtm3PK

— Jason Fabok (@JasonFabok) March 9, 2020

"Ha Ha!"@geoffjohns @bdanderson13 @DCComics #Batman #threejokers pic.twitter.com/Oyivta20N9

— Jason Fabok (@JasonFabok) March 8, 2020

“HA!” pic.twitter.com/uaNxpad22z

— Jason Fabok (@JasonFabok) March 7, 2020

DC’s Three Jokers is going to be a mystery story, so a lot of the details are being kept hush hush. We have learned that besides the usual dose of Batman, the story will also heavily feature Batgirl aka Barbara Gordon and Red Hood aka Jason Todd. These characters besides Batman have been the most affected by the Joker. Back in 1988 Barbara Gordon was shot by the Joker in the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bollard. Strangely enough that same year in the main comic story line in an arc titled, A Death in the Family, Jason who was Robin at the time was brutally killed by the Joker.

“It goes back to the beginning when Batman first encountered the Joker, but it’s also The Killing Joke and A Death in the Family that speak to the book and that we’re building off emotionally,” Johns says in his interview. “Barbara and Jason have gone through so much, as has Bruce, and it’s really focused on healing, on scars and wounds and what that does to somebody. If you suffer some trauma, you don’t just get over with it and move on with your life, it changes who you are. Sometimes it changes you for the better, sometimes it changes you for the worse. You can heal right, and you can heal wrong. That’s really what the book’s about: Healing right, healing wrong, and surviving.”

ALSO SEE: THE COMIC SOURCE PODCAST EPISODE 554 – A CHAT WITH JASON FABOK NYCC 2018

During the interview they also addressed the fact that comic fans had been frustrated with DC titles being delayed for one reason or another. One great example was Doomsday Clock, which Johns also wrote. This book suffered massive delays that really knocked out any momentum that the book ever had. I personally had to ready it about three times as the stretches were so long apart that I had to refresh my memory. This will not not happen with Three Jokers as they purposely waited to schedule the series until they were done with it.

“I see fans on Twitter and I know they’re getting impatient, they want this book to come out,” Fabok says. “Geoff and I have come to realize that everything will happen within its time. Because it’s taken so long, we’ve actually made this story better. Everything’s come together so naturally, we’re so pumped up and so confident in this story.”

Johns has done a fantastic job with a lot of the work that he has done with DC over the years. I have no doubt that this three part mini-series will have a huge impact on the DC Universe going forward. I am also excited about the fact that the artwork is done by my favorite comic book artist. Along with Johns and Fabok, this book will be colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Rob Lee. Now that we have a release date, it’s just a matter of time before we finally have the question, who are the three Jokers? finally answered.

Are you excited for this Joker mini-series? Or is this a little too late for you? Let us know in the comment section below!

DC’s Three Jokers #1 hits comic book stands June 17th, 2020.

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Source: Entertainment Weekly