DC has released a chilling and cinematic trailer for its latest comic book anthology, The Joker – A Graphic Novel Collection.
The title is on bookstore shelves right now and available for purchase online, and is billed as being the first volume of an ongoing saga, from writer James Tynion IV and illustrator Guillem March.
The trailer stands on its own as an intriguing piece of motion comic art, complete with voice acting for both the Clown Prince of Crime and Detective James Gordon.
The collection of comics, which was released in stores and online at the beginning of the month, takes place after the events of Infinite Frontier #0 and The Joker War, in which the titular villain gets targeted as the most wanted man in the world. But the maniac clown remains several steps ahead of law enforcement as he dodges their pursuit overseas. However Gordon, facing retirement, realizes capturing Joker is the manhunt of his life and final piece to top off his storied career. Other mysterious and deadly forces pursue The Joker amid the mayhem.
In a statement from the publisher, writer Tynion explained that now is the right time to release the first graphic novel collection of an ongoing series starring The Joker in decades due to the character looming larger now in our culture than ever.
“He is one of the greatest villains in all of fiction, and one of the most devilishly fun characters to write in all of DC. I think a Joker book in a lot of ways was inevitable…but that’s the challenge. If you separate Joker away from Batman, who is he? When DC first approached me about the idea, I laid out all the reasons a Joker book shouldn’t work. But as I was laying them out, I started to see the potential for what this could be. How we could approach it from an angle that would surprise everyone and say some real things about the nature of human evil—and do it not as a superhero book, but as a real horror noir title.”
You can find The Joker – A Graphic Novel Collection on bookstore shelves now.