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Ok, settle down back there, yes this is the UMPTEENTH re-telling of the first encounter between Batman and the Joker, 'Batman' did it quite well with Jack Nicholson, Denny O'Neill re-did the story for a 'Legends of the Dark Knight' anniversary issue, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland gave it THE most twisted take in 'The Killing Joke'. And now THIS one by Brubaker and Mahnke. When I first heard this was out, I shrugged. 'Great, here we go AGAIN!!!!' Oh well, at least it's not like they had Frank Miller and Jim Lee to do it so they could sucker a ton o' people to buy the thing. Why would you bother to pick up this thing when the story is a part of history? Why spend $7 on a tale that's 60 years old and hasn't changed? Same reason people STILL read Shakespeare and Arthur Miller; if the story is THAT good, and you tweak with things... you have something that STILL kicks serious booty.
So how do you tweak it? Well, you steal a trick from 'Batman Year One'. One of the best things about the Miller/Mazzucchelli mini-series is the new take on Gordon. The poor soul has been relegated to the most bumbling cop since Insp. Lestrade in the Sherlock Holmes stories. But in 'Year One', we see Gordon the way he should be; a VERY good cop, who has been stuck in Hell. Gordon's saga continues in this story as he's gotten more accustomed to working with The Bat, and we see that he is still a pretty dang good cop.
Miller and Mazzucchelli did a great job in 'Year One' using Gordon's and Batman's voices to narrate that first tale. Brubaker and Mahnke continue that line of story-telling in this one-shot. The fun part of using this style of narration is the reader sees how each person thinks in great detail. Bruce's powerful mind comes to the fore-front, as well as Gordon's sense of duty to the city, his doubts at trusting someone who could be a sociopath... and the fact he has to be the best cop he can be for his city and family.
Unfortunately one problem is although this is a Joker story, he has no voice in it. Yes, he's his usual psychotic self, but there is no sense of 'getting into his skin' like Gordon and Batman. Then again, after 'The Killing Joke', do we really want to get into The Joker's head?
What else do you do to re-invent the story? Well, you change the details. In the original version from 1940, The Joker threatens the richest and most powerful of Gotham via radio threats over the course of about 72 hours. The basics are the same now; 72 hours of pure terror as the Joker goes around threatening the High and Mighty. Ah, but this time rather then just killing the rich and famous, which in post-Enron America might get another reaction, Brubaker throws in ANOTHER threat; the Joker has a scheme to get back at the entire city. The Batman's detective work and profiling ability come to the forefront as he puts the clues together and stops the Clown Prince of Crime.
Finally there is the story it self. This is one of THE clashes in comic-dom. From this story, the dichotomy of these two characters is front and center. The polar opposites clashing, Batman symbolizing cold order while the Joker is a reflection of pure chaos. With the story taking place during the time of 'CSI', Batman's investigation is much more thorough and uses a LOT more high technology, and just sounds much more realistic, relatively speaking.
So is this worth ANOTHER look? Yep. Sure, this is a story told AGAIN. However, it's done with a great, new spin to it, so it's like reading an entirely new story. And just think... 'Batman Begins' in less then 4 months!