After months of anticipation, the Absolute Universe’s Joker has finally stepped out of the shadows, ending his long stretch of lurking in the background of Absolute Batman and showcasing that horrific new design. Fans first glimpsed the terrifying villain in the final moments of Absolute Batman #1, but now—with this week’s Absolute Batman #15—readers are finally given real insight into the Joker, his origins, and a shocking design that’s actually steeped in decades of the character’s mythology.
The story of The Joker, aka Joseph Grimm, is told to Batman through an Alfred monologue, as we get glimpses into the Grimm history and what The Joker is up to these days. He comes from a wealthy family that got their money in the entertainment industry, doing philanthropic work with the money to help make the world and its children smile. He started as a street performer before taking the show on the road and eventually getting involved with Hollywood. It’s an obvious flip from what the Waynes usually do, albeit they help people through the medical profession. The Grimm family made the first movie and went on to create video game consoles, cable companies, and the tech chips that made it all happen; they had their hands in many businesses, all focused on entertainment.
Present day, Grimm the 5th is the head of a billionaire crime family, on one of his remote islands, with a slew of weapons, hunting “the perfect game.” However, Alfred reveals that the Grimms had their hands in destruction, too. The family funded both sides of several wars (yes, even World War 1), and invested in weapons, including the atom bomb. Throughout history, they never smile unless they’re causing destruction. This Joker’s rich lifestyle, his philanthropy work, and his sordid history reminds me of his origins in Batman: The White Knight, written by Sean Murphy. In the series, the Joker appears cured of his madness and reemerges as Jack Napier, determined to reinvent himself as a politician. Framing Batman as Gotham’s true menace, he sets out to overhaul his public image as a “villain” and save the city on his own terms in that story.
Image: DC Comics
It turns out, Joker uses these islands to trap his enemies for years and hunt them when he’s bored. He corners his victim and then transforms into his demonic form, reminiscent of Pennywise, another clown with the ability to shapeshift. They each feature rows of sharp teeth, of which The Jokers extends all the way to the top of their eyes. His eyes are red, similar to Jock’s depiction of them in Detective Comics #880, albeit without the Batman signal pupils. His design looks like something straight from hell, even worse than his depiction on the cover. However, it also resembles the Joker seen on a playing card from The Dark Knight. It’s the next step into darkness that Grant Morrison introduced with his version of the character, who went full Marilyn Manson in his appearance after he was shot in the head.
It’s revealed that Alfred thinks there is only one Joseph Grimm, that he’s lived throughout society through nefarious means, and that he now lives through extensive stem-cell research, utilizing children for his own ends. It ties into Scott Snyder’s New 52 run of Batman, where he depicted the Joker as an unknown force of nature that spans history, a theme Snyder extrapolates to the fullest in his Absolute Batman run. But it also ties into Geoff John’s Three Jokers story, where throughout history, there’s always been three different versions of the Joker running around. There are also hints that the Waynes may possibly be tied to the Grimms as well. In his Hollywood days, we see the name Malone on one of his posters, Bruce Wayne’s secret alias when he’s undercover. It’s possible that, through wanting to help people, the Waynes may have had a hand, or made a deal, with the demonic family, similar to the relationship the Waynes had with the Elliot family in Batman: Hush. But it also lends itself to Batman and Joker’s symbiotic relationship, where one can’t exist without the other. There may be a Dr. Hurt angle to all this, as the villain is usually made to appear like Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father. Dr Hurt is often portrayed as a devil or demon, attached to the Batman mythos as someone in history who makes Bruce’s ties to the Bat seem more supernatural than they are.
Absolute Batman #15 is easily one of the best single issues to come out in recent memory, with a fresh take on a villain who’s been chewed up and spit out by pop culture this last decade or so. Hopefully, Snyder can make the first clash between Batman and Joker as insanely gratifying as this origin was, because it was a phenomenal first step at a new take on old adversaries.
