The City Of Frights
Release Date: August 10, 2021
he hunt continues as former Commissioner Jim Gordon has decided that he's still after The Joker even though he was informed previously that The Joker had nothing to do with the A-Day attack on Arkham Asylum and that there was something bigger going on in Gotham City than a random attack from the Clown Prince of Crime. Let's hope everyone got the memo as The Joker also had the cannibalistic Texan crime family, The Sampsons on his tail as well as the daughter of Bane, Vengeance. Let's jump into this issue and see if Jim Gordon can not only figure out who actually attacked Arkham Asylum but who is also his mysterious benefactor who tasked him with hunting down The Joker. Let's check it out.
This is a bit of a strange issue because Jim Gordon finds himself in France where he hopes to track down a lead on The Joker, but ultimately comes up short and it seems that we're only here as a way to have an issue that doesn't do much beyond shoutout the Club of Villains and repeat what we've had before with Jim Gordon going on for pages of narration about how his obsession with not only the Joker as we've seen but crime, in general, led to him letting his family down in the long run and because of that and the idea that the Club of Villains isn't that interesting to me, especially when they're only really named dropped and that's it, not to mention Jim Gordon just feeling out of place in Paris just leads to a bit of a slog of an issue. Thankfully, there's an interesting development with what Barbara Gordon knows or is worried about and a cliffhanger to our main story that looks like it will spice things back up a bit. Also, the Sampson Family has some interesting aspects to it, I just wish it was more clear overall.
As for our Punchline backup... Well, we have Harper Row under a false identity in Blackgate Prison in order to get closer to Punchline to see what she's up to, and unlike the previous couple of backups, this one actually feels like it's doing something and I can't wait to see where this goes, especially since it looks like it really ups the game in Punchline being a tactical genius in predicting what her enemies will do before they do it, not to mention the idea that she's going to do whatever she can to keep the people on her side as the trail looms on.
All in all, this is an okay issue of The Joker, where the main story dragged a bit until the end, and where the backup started making up for the previous chapters it gave us previously. I just wish that they were both strong at the same time because I've been enjoying this series but one of the stories always seems to drag my overall feeling for the issue down and where it's usually the backup, now the main Joker story is seeming to slow down a bit and it barely feels like it's even gotten started. Thankfully though, the art is great throughout both stories and the cliffhanger our main Joker story really has me interested in what comes next.
Bits and Pieces:
Even though I found the main story a bit of a slog to get through since it doesn't do much to advance our story until the end, I thankfully found myself enjoying the Punchline backup more than I have, while also thinking that both stories art came out fantastic this issue. More than anything though, I need Jim Gordon to lay off the "I'm a piece of crap" narration each issue because it's just becoming monotonous overall, and would like to do something beyond wallow in the past sins of our former Commissioner.
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