Detective Comics #826
Quick Rating: Great
Title: Slay Ride
On Christmas, the Joker takes Robin for a hell of a ride.
Writer: Paul Dini
Pencils: Don Kramer
Inks: Wayne Faucher
Colors: John Kalisz
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Simone Bianchi
Publisher: DC Comics
Here’s a newer Christmas review for you guys - it just hit the shelves a week or two ago. The cover may not be festooned with holiday accoutrements, but once you crack it open you’ll find a Christmas story like no other. Patrolling alone at Christmas, Robin is captured by the Joker, who ties him up and takes him along as an unwilling passenger in a killing spree across Gotham City. Robin’s only hope to save himself - and countless others - is to slip out of the maniac’s grasp.
Dini has written the Joker before, of course, during his excellent run on Batman: The Animated Series. The character in this comic, though, is that Joker taken to the extreme. This character is truly sick, twisted and evil. He’s still got that streak of being a clown, but he’s clearly diseased. And I mean that as a compliment. As for Robin - he may be tied up, but this isn’t the stereotypical “Robin the boy hostage.” He’s not sitting around waiting for Batman to show up to save him. This is a boy with a brain, and a plan, and he’s using them both. This is a character that’s clearly worthy to one day become the heir to the Mantle of the Bat.
Don Kramer’s artwork is a perfect compliment to the story. The look on the Joker’s face is utterly deranged, trapped in that horrible, smiling rictus, with absolute madness clear in his eyes. In fact, I can’t think of a single comic book artist who can so clearly convey insanity - the images of the Joker in this book are truly disturbing.
This is, simply put, a great issue. What’s more, it’s a done-in-one story, so you can’t use the excuse of not wanting to jump into the middle of a storyline to avoid getting it. If you’re a Batman fan - and more specifically, if you’re a Joker fan - you owe it to yourself to get this issue while it’s still out.
Rating: 9/10
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