What, if you ask DC executives, can comic books not have enough of, these days? Invariably, it’s members of the Bat-family. And, aside from the Bat himself, there’s none so in demand as his Joker-adjacent children and hangers-on. Harley Quinn (recently reformed, and one of the Good Guys) and Jason Todd, who probably never should have been resurrected.
Now Todd joins that other DC mainstay, The Suicide Squad, brought on by Amanda Waller for the gang’s latest mission. Get Joker sends the Squad after, yes, the Joker, who is being funded by the Russians to destabilize life in the West. An interesting twist, and not Get Joker’s only comment on recent politics (one of the team being a January 6th Insurrectionist… as if Batman wouldn’t have been there kicking the shit out of them if it’d been attempted under his watch).
This Black Label miniseries follows the standard Suicide Squad formula; the first book setting up Todd as a fledgling member of the team. Thankfully writer Brian Azzarello resists the urge to fill his team with the usual suspects – only Harley Quinn remains from the movie line-up(s) – making Get Joker feel more like its own thing, rather than just another movie cash-in. Which it still is, a bit.
Like most Suicide Squad / Brian Azzarello / Black Label stories, this all feels rather try-hard – particularly in the swearing and its Clockwork Orange Joker sequence – but it sets the stage well for a thrilling adventure. The looser continuity of Black Label allows for a greater degree of unpredictability, and stronger standalone storytelling – both beneficial to Azzarello’s hard-boiled style.
With Alex Maleev on art, this is a strong combination of writer and artist. While Maleev is less slick and flashy than some, there’s a grit and maturity to his scruffy linework that suits the story and characters. With the first book ending on a game-changing twist, it will be fun to see how Maleev and Azzarello’s characters react once the shit really hits the fan.
DC probably has more than enough Harley Quinn and Suicide Squad and Joker comics on the stands as it is, but Get Joker will leave readers begging for more regardless.
