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Batman (2016) #142

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"The Joker: Year One, Part One": Batman foils a robbery by the Red Hood Gang on Ace Chemical and their leader, Red Hood One, falls into a vat of chemicals. He is sucked through the outflow and emerges on a river bank, his skin bleached white, his hair turned green and his mind shattered. He hall

Quote1 I'm so scared about what we're going to do. Quote2
— The Joker

Batman (Volume 3) #142 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 3) with a cover date of April, 2024. It was published on February 6, 2024.

Synopsis for "The Joker: Year One, Part One"

Batman foils a robbery by the Red Hood Gang on Ace Chemical and their leader, Red Hood One, falls into a vat of chemicals. He is sucked through the outflow and emerges on a river bank, his skin bleached white, his hair turned green and his mind shattered. He hallucinates that there are three of him and they violently "fight" while laughing hysterically. Later, he goes to a suburban house. When a woman, who he calls "Sally", comes out, he tells her that he got caught up in something terrible, but only because he loves her and was trying to give her the life she deserves. He runs away, saying that he can fix everything and asking her to wait for him. "Sally's" husband comes out, revealing that her name is actually Jody, and asks who the man was. Jody replies that she doesn't know.

The man breaks into a random apartment, murders the occupants and spends six months living there in isolation. He then cuts his hair, shaves and paints fleshtone makeup on his face and arms. He talks to his reflection, which is wearing his Red Hood costume, and they agree that someone in the gang had betrayed them.

At GCPD headquarters, Commissioner McLeod criticises Detective Gordon's report on the Ace Chemical robbery as it credits Batman with saving the city. He orders Gordon to rewrite it, reminding him that Batman is a vigilante. When Gordon leaves McLeod's office he gets into an argument with another detective and accuses him of being on the take. They almost come to blows but other officers break it up. McLeod calls the other detective, Manny Gabris, into his office and tells him that Gordon is a problem for both of them and instructs Gabris to "solve" it.

Red Hood One goes to a bar in disguise and hears two thugs boasting. He can't help himself from making jokes about them and four men attack him. A bystander gets involved and pulls two attackers off him, and Red Hood One stabs another through the throat with a bottle. He recognises the bystander as Red Hood Twenty-Two, a former member of his gang, and Twenty-Two tells him they need to leave before the cops arrive. After they leave the bartender calls Red Hood Two, the new leader of the gang, who is revealed to be Detective Gabris. The bartender tells him that Red Hood One is alive, and Dr Captio overhears him at the bar. At the Red Hood Gang's hideout, Gabris tells the others that their old boss is back and they need to kill him.

Batman foils a bank robbery by the Black Hood Gang, one of many copycats that have sprung up since Red Hood One's disappearance. He secretly meets with Gordon afterwards and tells him that he never found Red Hood One's body, meaning he is likely still alive.

On the street, Red Hood One sees the Batman swinging overhead and flees in terror. He returns to the riverbank and looks into the water, where he sees a reflection of his former self. The reflection begs him to stop the chaos and says that he is afraid of what they're going to do, but he drowns his reflection and declares that he is chaos. Captio steps up on the ridge over the river and tells him that chaos that fears isn't chaos at all. He reveals that he has been following Red Hood One for months and says he is impressed with him. Red Hood One chokes him, but Captio is unafraid and tells him that he can teach him to never feel fear again and become the greatest force the world has ever known. Red Hood One releases him and asks why he can do that, and the Captio replies that he is the smartest man in the world and trained Batman.

In the future, the Joker was imprisoned in a virtual reality of constantly battling Batman so he wouldn't try to break out of Arkham Asylum. However, a doctor let him out in the hopes of studying him and the Joker murdered him and escaped. The Joker left behind an empty pill capsule made from the same material as the Red Hood helmet broken in two, resembling two helmets. After escaping, he created an audible virus which infected the whole city, transforming everyone but Batman into the Joker.

Appearing in "The Joker: Year One, Part One"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Batman/Bruce Wayne (Unknown Future) (First appearance)
  • Black Hood Gang (Single appearance)
    • Lenny (Single appearance)
  • Gotham City Police Department (Unknown Future) (First appearance)
    • Commissioner Barbara Gordon (First appearance) (Cameo)
  • Jody (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
  • Jody's husband (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • The Joker (Unknown Future) (First appearance)
  • The Joker/"The Clown" (Unnamed) (As an illusion only) (Flashback only)
  • The Joker/"The Criminal" (Unnamed) (As an illusion only) (Flashback only)
  • Unnamed Arkham doctor (Unknown Future) (Single appearance; dies) (Cameo)
  • Carl (Flunky's client) (First appearance) (Flashback only) (See Notes)
    • Carl's friends (First appearance) (Flashback only)
  • The Devil (Mentioned only)
  • Duke Thomas (Unknown Future) (Mentioned only)
  • Gotham Goliaths (Mentioned only)
  • Ghosts (Mentioned only)
  • Gray Ghost Gang (Mentioned only)
  • Commissioner Loeb (Mentioned only)
  • Mayor of Gotham (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
  • Red Mask/Darwin Halliday (Unknown Earth) (Mentioned only)
  • Red Mask Gang (Mentioned only)
  • The Riddler (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

  • Black Hood Gang's van (Single appearance) (Flashback only)

Concepts:

Notes

  • The events of The Joker: Year One take place before The Winning Card storyline, which features the first meeting between Batman and the Joker in the reborn timeline of Prime Earth.
    • During this storyline, McLeod is the Commissioner of Gotham and he's searching for his replacement, who will be Grogan, as it is shown in The Winning Card.[1]
  • The issue introduces an alternate future in which Duke Thomas has absorbed all light in Gotham, causing an eternal night, and every Gothamite has been Jokerized by an audible virus.
  • The bandit that beats up the Joker is named Yal in this story. However, he's renamed as Carl in Batman #144.
  • This issue is reprinted in Batman: The Joker: Year One.



See Also


Links and References

  1. ↑ Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Volume 2) #5
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