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“Absolute Batman” #15 filled some details on the origin of the Joker “Absolute”; Billionaire mass murderer Joseph “Jack” Grimm has been alive since the 1800s, feeding on the blood of his children and pretending to be his own descendants to hide his immortality. This was only a small slice of the Joker’s story, however. The new “Absolute Batman: Ark M Special” (co-written by Snyder and Frank Tieri, drawn by Joshua Hixson and colorist Roman Stevens) explores a new angle.
This issue strongly implies that this Joker was once a real villain of the story: Jack the Ripper. “Jack” was the unidentified murderer who, in 1888, killed and mutilated several sex workers in the Whitechapel area of London. Jack the Ripper is one of the most famous serial killers in historyif not the root of the cultural archetype of the serial killer. The fact that he was never arrested means the case remains intriguing, and suspects (including barber Aaron Kosminski)to this day.
“Absolute Batman” isn’t even the first tale pitting the Dark Knight against the Ripper; ‘Batman: Gotham by Gaslight’ follows a Victorian-era Batman behind Jack the Ripper. The definitive fictional depiction of the Jack the Ripper affair, however, is Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s comic strip, “From Hell.” Titled after a letter supposedly sent by the killer (along with a human kidney), “From Hell” is a tour de force; the details of Moore’s research mixed with Campbell’s realistic penciling mean that there is no better, more realistic recreation of 19th century London.
The “Absolute” Joker having once been the Ripper builds on his established immortality and the enduring themes of the Joker character. Bad guys are more frightening the less you know about them; that’s why we’re drawn to the Joker, whose past is often a mystery, and to Jack the Ripper, because we’ll never know for sure who he was.
Absolute Batman explores the history of the Joker with Arkham Asylum
Arkham Asylum is usually the institution that imprisons Batman’s costumed enemies. In “Absolute Batman”, the Joker sent “Ark” black sites across the world; the one in Gotham is Ark Mbuilt on land that once housed Arkham Asylum (which burned down in the early 1900s). The “Ark M Special” dates back to 1945, showing how the Joker acquired Arkham and the fiery destruction of the asylum.
The comic is told as a diary of the asylum’s founder, Amadeus Arkham, who looks back on a recent encounter with Jack Grimm and his life leading up to it. Orphaned by a mentally ill mother who died by suicide, Arkham built his asylum to help people like his mother. In 1885, Arkham took in a young boy from the streets, raising him as his son and successor.
Then, a particularly violent patient – ”Jack Doe” – led an escape and apparently murdered the boy, destroying Arkham’s reputation (the man and the asylum). In 1945, Grimm revealed the truth: he is this boy that Arkham adopted, and he organized the escape, not Doe (whom he murdered). Arkham, terrified, burns the asylum, himself and his patients: “This truth may be my inheritance, but this place will not be. » However, the Joker still takes the field and intercepts Arkham’s Last Testament before it reaches the Gotham Police Department.
Scott Snyder’s work on Batman is indebted to that of Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer. “Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City,” which adds a touch of supernatural horror to the history of Gotham City. Much of this comic is told through the journal entries of Jacob Stockman, an 18th-century Gothamite recounting how he participated in a human sacrifice to the bat demon, Barbathos. Like Stockman, Arkham writes a confession and a warning without response.
The Joker prepares to unleash the monsters of Ark M on Batman
The red herring Jack Doe ostensibly resembles the classic Joker in appearance and personality; he has no real name, he is known for laughing at his violence (while the Joker “Absolute” Never (laughs), and Arkham calls Doe a “smiling demon, a hellish prankster.” The young Grimm murdering Doe, and his sleight of hand pulled on Arkham, reflects the “Absolute” Joker supplanting the classic.
This story follows “Absolute Batman” #15, which showed in 1889, Joker was a young street performer in Gotham who administered nitrous oxide (dental laughing gas) to his audiences. But the question still remains mysterious. When Grimm arrives at Arkham Gate, he is covered in blood, claiming he no longer remembers where he came from. Arkham interpreted this to mean that the boy had endured a difficult life, but in reality, Grimm probably killed some people to draw their blood from him. Why did Joker infiltrate Arkham’s life before destroying it? Arkham believes it’s because the boy wanted to share hope in Arkham’s mission and then leave it in smoking ruins. In the present, the Joker is shown reading the Arkham Journal and smiling at his memories.
Ark M’s torture den is miles from Arkham’s charitable mission. Batman himself was held prisoner in Ark M during the previous “Abomination” arc, and the Joker’s staff does indeed create many abominations. The issue ends with Joker freeing two of Ark M’s “patients” – Poison Ivy and Man-Bat – while he also has Scarecrow and DeathStroke waiting. In the upcoming “Absolute Batman” #16, Bruce literally goes to hell with his new friend Wonder Woman. Whatever the Joker has in store for Batman could make Tartarus look like a sunny vacation.
