And, boom, there goes the series. Smith opens the issue reasonably well with a big fight scene between the Joker, the new supervillain and Batman, but then he decides to do a Killing Joke rip-off instead.

I think he even opens the conversation between Batman and the Joker like Moore does in The Killing Joke. Except, here, it isn’t interesting or special. In fact, I’ll bet most people who read this comic book know it’s a lift from the Killing Joke.

Additionally, the art’s pretty weak. Flanagan’s figures change size and proportion often. I originally assumed Flanagan would be doing something stylistic for the series. Instead, he does something standard, nothing special.

Smith has some funny dialogue and maybe a couple honest moments, but the entire issue is a misfire. He knocks the story off track to write the scene he really wanted to write–a Killing Joke ripoff.