Customer Reviews

Superman: Emperor Joker

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's a great idea... give the JOKER the power of a God and watch the top spin. And visually, the pages comes to life with solid, funny and well detailed art - but the story? There lies the problem. It just doesn't ZIG, ZANG or POP!, instead it just lays there while the Joker sits back in his easy throne and waits it out until Superman, Batman and the rest of the DCU get their act together and deliver the final smackdown on the Joker and his insane party.

It's a story that lacks any real threat, despite the Joker being in command of not only COSMIC POWER, but the ANTI-LIFE EQUATION itself. Yes, many die (the entire population of China goes down here as the Joker orders Chinease take out and eats them all), and there are some brtual, and yet lyrical, moments of violence that help to sell the book (both the abuse Batman and Lex Luthor take here is very graphic), but it never really reaches, or pushes, the story as far as it could. I mean, this is the Joker we're talking about here. Slanted, but brillant - so his world really should be more complex and confused than it is. As it is, it comes across less insane and more THE SLAP DASH SILLY PUTTY CRISIS OF ONE TRICK JOKES. DC is better, and has been better than this (early AMBUSH BUG, people, can I get a high five?) so it's a disappointment how tame this whole affair is.

The Joker spends a majority of the book simply talking - although, some of the writing here is very well done, and funny (and surprisingly touching in places - the "final" resting place of Harley exposes the Joker's sick heart) it really doesn't distract you from the fact that the Joker simply sits and waits for the most part for everyone to come to HIM. I'll chalk it up to ego, but again... it's the Joker we're talking about here... you really expect more. The supporting cast is clunky. Superboy is all boy here, and this was the time we were saddled with the ANGEL / Supergirl hybrid that simply never, ever worked for me. The line-up of the JLA gets a THE TICK make over (of which exactly two are funny - the Flash becoming the Flab, the fastest fattest man alive, and Green Lantern turning into Paper Lantern Man, whose powers constist of his throwing shadow puppets) and Bizzaro takes center stage here early on in the book which made for great fun (and I'm sure, a pain in the neck for the writers when it came to his reverse speech patterns).

Overall, SUPERMAN: EMPEROR JOKER tends to jog more than run to the finish, but there are some moments where it manages to leap and soar, and in those few moments you can see where the story might have gone in other hands... say, Grant Morrison's hands (whose ALL STR SUPERMAN is hands down one of THE best Superman comics being pusblished right now). But as it is, it's a great looking book with some wonderful moments, that sadly don't equal a great read. If you're a fan, it's worth having to share with pals.

I'm a big fan of Jeff Loeb and I love Ed McGuinness's art so I was prepared for something special. Sure the average Amazon reviews for `Emperor Joker' were kinda crummy but I loved Vol: 4 Vengeance and this one followed along with Joker still having the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk. Things started off great but after a time the jokes started wearing thin and by the end I was ready for the whole thing to end. Since this is a compilation of monthly stories the omnipotent Joker story line must have gone on for the good part of a year.

At the risk of sounding like a comic book geek let me just say that Mr. Mxyzptlk NEVER had this level of power. It's been established that the beings of the fifth dimension are ultra powerful but this is ridiculous. By usurping the magical abilities of Mr. Mxyzptlk the Joker becomes the strongest being in the universe. The Specter, the Wizard Shazam and the Guardians are mere fleas compared to Emperor Joker. I guess you could say just go with it but Loeb is REALLY stretching it. Also, this isn't the first time the Joker has had limitless powers, he did the same thing in a Superman/Spiderman team-up many years ago.

Ed McGuinness's drawings were as awesome as ever. They're kind of cartoony but he has a clean, bold style that I really enjoy. Unfortunately he only drew the first part of the story. Not that the other artists were disappointing at all. Emperor Joker is far from bad but like a 3 1/2 hour movie it just overstays its welcome. I gave `Vengeance' five stars but I'm going to have to remove two on this one. As a final kick the ending was just not good and after working through the entire book it was a major letdown.

My first impression of the book was "this makes no sense whatsoever!!!". Generally, when I have that reaction, I find it difficult to continue...but given that I knew this was "Emperor Joker" I plowed on bravely.

And I'm glad I did as the intricate insanity was unfolded. Indeed, this is to a tee what The Joker might do given powers such as Myx's. Some of the torturous deeds he unleashed were almost painful to witness.

I dinged the book a star because the actual explanation of how Joker was able to trick Myxy was not explained, however given that Superman accomplished that task, it is not a stretch of the imagination that Joker could outfox the pompous god. As Myxy himself said "Joker might be insane, but that does not mean he isn't smart".

While I understand the positions of some of the previous readers(this is one of the more unusual Superman stories I've read), I really enjoyed this one. The Joker, in all his years, has never seemed more disturbing or evil. It's also interesting to see the Joker's sanity peak through just for a minute in the final chapter. The only problem I see, is that we barely get an explanation as to where Joker got his Godlike powers in the first place. Other than that, this story is great fun. Also, bonus points for the times when Emperor Joker appeared to "step outside" the understood DC Universe and aknowledge the reader to a certain degree. Very Clever.

I have been waiting a while for this collection to come out. Emperor Joker took place around early 2000's when Superman books were kind of in a rut. They had President Lex; parasite pretending to be Lois Lane etc and of course, the abysmal cross-over. Our Worlds at War. I felt that Emperor Joker, while a cross-over itself wasn't as bad as those books that I had previously mentioned.

The basic premise of the story is that Joker has been granted God-like power by Mxy. and has remade the universe in his image...literally because the Earth is shaped like Joker's face. He made Superman a villain locked up at Arkham and Bizarro, a hero. And every night, Superman escapes and is returned to his cell by the morning. Joker also eliminated all logic and rationality and the universe is a place for his whimsy, there's constantly cows jumping over the moon. He also rewrote the origin of the entire JLA roster with Flash being the Flab, Aquaman being a man with the head of a fish, Wonder Woman a housewife, Plastic Man as someone who can morph into credit cards and commit fraud and Martian Manhunter bears an uncanny resemblance to Marvin the Martian from the Looney Tunes cartoons. Seems like a comedic tale but it's far from it. Although the Joker was seem funny crazy here, there are hints of his dark lunacy at work, as evident by what he does to Batman. So, it's an interesting read as far as my opinion goes.

Now for the art in this book. The art is done by several people and includes, Ed McGuiness, Doug Mahne, Kano, Mike Miller. The cartoonish style of Ed McG and Kano fits the story. However, I would've preferred a more realistic type art for the more serious scenes especialy towards the end.

All in all, I liked the book and it's not a bad Superman story. I thought the concept was interesting and although several different writers were involved (Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, Mark Schultz, J.M. DeMatties), the story flowed pretty seemlessly.

I'm a huge fan of the Joker, so when I saw this book on Amazon I was instantly intrigued. I'm happy that I decided to buy it, because it is one of the most interesting story concepts that I've seen used in comics, and I had a blast reading this!

Seeing the Joker with the power of a god is awesome, and his world is just what you would expect it to be. It's also interesting to see Superman so powerless in the Joker's twisted universe. The art was consistantly good and the writing was decent throughout. If you are a Superman fan, or a Joker fan, do yourself a favor and give this book a shot!

Superman is the world's greatest criminal, Lois Lane is a bald, billionaire industrialist, and Bizarro is the Metropolis' number one hero...these are just a few of the exceedingly strange plot elements of Emperor Joker, a trade paperback that collects the nine part story arc which ran through all of the various Superman titles. Superman escapes from a maximum-security prison every night but his powers are only a fraction of what they should be. Each night Bizarro hunts down and returns Superman to his cell where he must wait to play out the same drama once again tomorrow.

This lunatic version of Metropolis is courtesy of the clown prince of Crime the Joker. The Joker has stolen the reality warping powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk and uses them to reshape Metropolis into a sort of Disney world on a bad acid trip with him as the emperor. The JLA have been turned into caricatures of their true selves as only the Joker could envision them. The Flab is the fastest fat man alive, the Yellow Paper Lantern wreaks havoc on the world with shadow puppets, and Wonder Woman is a housemaid who hates men. And just WHERE is Batman in all of this lunacy?

Emperor Joker plays like an Elseworlds or What If type story. It's somewhat hard to envision it in true DC continuity. The storyline allows the Joker to truly go off his rocker with his new powers. Even Mxyzptlk decides to help out Superman because he knows how dangerous a homicidal maniac will be once he gains full control of his newfound abilities. Even the Spectre is stymied.

Despite the fact that the book features four different writers and twice that many artists, there is a reasonable amount of cohesion to the story that you might not expect with so many hands in the cookie jar. The Joker's insanity factor is played to the hilt as he literally toys with all of the heroes as opposed to just killing them outright...even if he can kill them and then kill them again the next night! The violence does border on the sadistic, particularly in regards to Joker's treatment of Lex Luthor and Batman. The story doesn't take the easy way out either as both Batman and Superman are left with some very troubling issues to deal with at the end while the rest of the world has mercifully forgotten the whole ordeal. Bizarro is a scream in his role as the good guy, so to speak, and his dialog throughout is hilarious.

Emperor Joker was a bit too long and bogged down in a few spots, but the eclectic blend of characters always managed to make things fun after the short lulls.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This graphic novel is one of the most bizarre Superman/Batman stories of all time. The Joker has managed to acquire the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk and the combination of his insane mind and the magic of Mxyzptlk are synergistic. Joker now possesses far more magical powers than Mxyzptlk ever had and he has declared himself the emperor of the universe, one remade in the image of his twisted mind. For the first pages, I believed that this was a gag novel, where writers and illustrators were just trying to be as logically inconsistent and as twisted as possible. It reminded me of the gag issues that have been occasionally published by DC.
Super heroes are now considered criminals, with Superman and Batman the highest on the list. There are occasional small triumphs as the heroes try to counter the power of Joker, but he always finds it easy to recover and reverse their victories. The positions of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor are largely reversed, Lois is an extremely wealthy businesswoman and Lex is one of the lowest of Joker's flunkeys.
Batman is the target of the greatest amount of Joker's ire; he is brutally killed each day and then reconstituted the next. However, by combining their powers and enlisting the aid of Mr. Mxyzptlk, the heroes are able to defeat Joker at the very moment when he was going to return the universe to a state identical to immediately before the Big Bang.
This is a story that took me some time to really get into it; it was a bit of a slog until the circumstances were explained. After that I was enthralled by the story as it followed several lines, with the Joker becoming crazier the more power he acquired and the closer he got to the point of ultimate destruction. Given the scenario, the solution was a plausible one.

This story can be easily described in one sentence. The Joker rules the world and Superman must stop him. Not only does that sentence tell you all you need to know, but it makes it sound like an awesome read. Unfortunately the story itself doesn't come close to living up to its premise, mainly because the Joker doesn't do all that much.

The first few sections of this book focus on Superman fighting Bizarro and I've never really liked Bizarro. I can tolerate him in small doses, but in this story his reverse speech pattern gets old very fast. Once the Joker shows up, almost half way into the story, he is kind of a let down. He is the all powerful ruler of the universe and he still only cares about torturing Batman. I do like this comic's use of Steel and the Joker's comical hatred of Lex Luthor, but there are far too few of these bright spots to lift up a disappointing plot.

I was able to enjoy this collection a little, just because everything is so backwards it feels like an elseworld, but unless you are the world's biggest Bizarro fan it's far from being an essential Superman story.

This book never really did it for me. It's a great premise and beautifully drawn. But it never hits home. It's too simple really. The Joker is a much more complex character than this and the world seems like a bad idea of what the Joker would do. Like his treatment of Batman.