Art by committee has a bad reputation, and for good reason: Most of it is so watered-down in the creation, there’s not much of the taste of the individual artists left in the stew. But mediocrity isn’t necessarily the final product. CASABLANCA proves that. That said, SUPERMAN: EMPEROR JOKER is no CASABLANCA.
The story opens with Superman, everyone thinking of him as a mass murderer, locked up in Arkham Asylum. Every night, he finds a means of escape and every night, he is recaptured by Bizarro. Supes can’t understand the Sisyphean predicament he finds himself in because, doggone it, people should like him. He doesn’t remember why, but he is certain he’s a good guy at heart.
Although I’ve always found Bizarro to be one of the weakest – because most obvious – of Superman’s foes, he does make the perfect symbol for the crazy world the world has become. You have to reverse everything Bizarro says in order to discern his meaning – “You hate me” is translated as “I love you” – and the DC Universe characters who appear in this story all play riffs that are the opposite of their usual selves. Wonder Woman, for instance, is a housewife. Aquaman is a fish.
About halfway through the story, Superman and the reader discover that The Joker is behind this madness, having tricked another of The Man of Steel’s traditional foes – Mr. Mxyzptlk – out of his topsy-turvy powers. With this part of the mystery solved, Superman has to convince the Justice League of America to trust him enough to return to reality.
At 254 pages, one would expect more plot than the army of writers supplies, but the attraction of the book – if there is one – is in the games the writers and artists play. Art signatures are burlesqued; there’s even a nice tip of the hat to the grotesqueries of Basil Wolverton on page 87. The whole enterprise has a Harvey Kurtzman/early Mad feel to it – so much so, in fact, I became tempted to agree with a character who scolds The Joker when he says, “Tsk. He’s really trying too hard for his laughs, don’t you agree?”
But there is fun to be had here. I suspect I’d have enjoyed it all more if I’d read it serially instead as one long story. It wouldn’t become so wearying that way.
This book reprints the chapters originally published from various issues of SUPERMAN, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, ACTION COMICS, SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL and EMPEROR JOKER. The writers’ table seats Jeph Loeb, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Schultz and Joe Kelly, while the penciling was provided by Ed McGuiness, Mike Miller, Doug Mahnke, Kano and several others. –Doug Bentin
Related posts:
- Superman Returns
- Showcase Presents Superman Family: Volume 1
- It’s Superman!
- 52: Volume Four
- Infinite Crisis
