Batman: The Dark Knight #23.4: The Joker’s Daugher

By Ann Nocenti, Georges Jeanty, and Michelle Madsen

Without a doubt, the villains month book that has had the most anticipation and excitement around it has to be Batman: The Dark Knight #23.4: The Joker’s Daughter. This issue caught some huge buzz a little while ago and it hasn’t died down. It’s been made worse recently since it was revealed that DC was allocating more copies of the issue than initially expected.

We meet a hooded young girl who talks about how bad her life was. She was anorexic and had a bony body. Disgusted with herself, she decides to live under Gotham City. While down there, she finds the mask of one of the greatest serial killers of all time, so naturally she puts it on. She is a changed woman, but is she changed for the best?

Ann Nocenti introduced the Joker’s Daughter in the pages of Catwoman. This caused an immediate stir amongst the comic community. This issue, she gets to flesh her creation out. This book is hard to read because a lot of it is crazy talk, which is how Nocenti wanted it to be. The Joker’s Daughter is an interesting character, and Nocenti does keep the audience intrigued with certain plot points that will potentially be answered in later stories. Ann also taps into the feminist of the character in this issue, which is alright for a change of pace from a male dominated medium.

There really isn’t too much to complain about when Georges Jeanty is on art duties. His art is a great compliment to this issue, as it keeps the tone of the book dark and moody. His attention to detail is also something that many fans will appreciate. From the first page, we see a C3-PO head in the bag of objects that the Joker’s Daughter is emptying. He also shines on several close up images of the Joker’s Daughter, the detail on her mask is just glorious. An overall great performance.

There was so much attention surrounding this issue that it’s hard not to be let down. The story is alright, and the art is extremely strong, but it wasn’t as good as some of the other titles that were released this month. This book is worth a read, but not the hype.