There is a lot to digest in this week's THE JOKER #11 that Tynion has been setting up well for quite some time. And quietly, this series has remained consistent, interesting, and clever while creating an element of fear that's simply unsettling. THE JOKER may not take center stage but this series by Tynion is so much more and needs to be on everyone's pull list. Read Full Review

A strong, if transitional, chapter of the lead Joker story moves the plot along while taking the time to explore some of the most intriguing additions to the cast that is, intriguing if youre interested in schlock horror fun, which I absolutely am. And in Punchline, subplots I hadnt previously been very invested in are beginning to pop and grab attention, making this my favorite chapter to date. Read Full Review

The Sampsons"literally and figuratively, they eat their own! This is arguably the best issue to buy as of late as the story really delves into Gordon's motivations and finally we get to see The Joker in a position where he is not in charge! I love it! Read Full Review

With the Court of Owls and Vengeance lurking in the background, the final three issues should be tense and bloody. But none of this would work half as well if it didn't have Jim Gordon as its lead, bringing decades of weary awareness of just how deadly Joker is. He's one of the Bat-family's best supporting characters and it's great to see him finally get his spotlight. Read Full Review

The illustrations in each story compliment their respective tones. There is a dark and gritty quality to the A story that enhances the detective quality of the piece. While the B story uses modern drawings and colorful artwork to present the youthful world encompassing the characters. Read Full Review

After a two-month break from the main storyline, The Joker #11 dismisses the cliffhanger featured in The Joker #9 with a bit of off-panel deus ex machina. While disappointing, Jim Gordon's wonderful characterization makes up for this misstep. Read Full Review

Jim Gordon's back on the hunt for the Joker and while that's what I want to see, this start and stop situation that we keep getting with this book makes things feel completely padded out so that the story can be extended as much as possible and that's really disappointing and just leaves what feels like every other issue coming up short in its progression. The art is still enjoyable though and there are some new elements but even these feel kind of weird.  Read Full Review

The series itself is still one of the strongest titles in DC's roster but this definitely feels like one of the weaker issues of the series so far. Read Full Review

While I'm glad to see the series returning to the plot, I'm disappointed by how much the momentum has suffered and the fact that this issue really only moves things forward marginally. It feels less like a confident step forward and more like the pieces are being set back up after falling. Elements that could have been played up for tension are misused or totally shoved to the side as well. Still, there's something about this series that keeps my interest despite the shortcomings, and I am curious to see how everything plays out going forward. Read Full Review

I’m still really enjoying this. It loses points for being so late that I’ve admittedly forgotten a lot of the early stuff that happened in this series.

Decent issue but man this book is really getting repetitive and feels like it's getting nowhere.

I have some real thoughts on this one. I've noticed Tynion using tropes and archetypes from popular horror a lot in his work lately. And that's fine, I love horror too. What I don't like is when these tropes and archetypes aren't fleshed out into something of their own. Take the Sampson family in this issue. Clearly, this is all based on the Sawyer family from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, only instead of chili, it's oil. I love that movie. The franchise, not so much. But the movie is fantastic. A masterwork of horror, and cinematography and editing. But here's something that often goes unrecognized about the film: It has a lot to say about America in the early and mid 70s. There is so much legitimate scholarly analysis of that film. It's filled to the brim with meaning, and is so in and of its time. So... here's my issue with this comic. It doesn't do anything with these archetypes it is clearly ripping from a movie much, much smarter than it seems. It's offensive to me, in a way. I feel like, what's the point in doing this in a Joker book, if you're not going to at least try to have some greater meaning or theme or analysis? It is, in a circuitous way, missing the point, I feel. It's there for the sake of being there. And beyond that, this issue feels like wheel spinning. I don't know how Tynion plans this stuff out but he needs to learn how to make his stories tighter. As for the backup... I mean, it's really dumb and I don't know where it's going or when it's going to stop, all I know is that it should. more

this series is slowly losing steam, and it clearly shows. How did James Gordon escape Batgirl? There are a lot of things that are honestly pretty confusing.

This book has lost steam for a while now, I'm starting to be more interested in that abysmal Punchline backup than the main story and that's a problem. I think we really need some answers and fast because otherwise this seems like the classic edgy Tynion story where he sets up some stuff and doesn't know what to do with it.

A book where both stories go nowhere. Joker has been spinning its wheels and the quality has dipped into boring.

This is so boring at this point