The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox by Matthew Rosenberg, Jesús Merino, and more

 The Joker Presents:  A Puzzlebox by Matthew Rosenberg, Jesús Merino, and more - 252 pages, ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

The Riddler has been murdered, and all of the other Batman villains we all know and love to hate are suspects.  In an interview room, the Joker tells Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock all he knows, but can they trust his story?  Of course not, it's the Joker -- but we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

This graphic novel is reminiscent of the Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon in that the story is told from several characters' perspectives, which often contradict each other.  Each characters' version is drawn by a different artist.  The concept is interesting, although most of the artists don't take it far enough; for the most part, I didn't feel like the different art styles gave me any more insight into how the characters think.  Harley Quinn's perspective is the only one where the art helps establish her mindset and her opinions of the other characters, particularly the Joker.  It would've been nice to see the art complement the shifting perspectives more.

Although the story did hold my attention, it did seem too long at times, as though the Joker was intentionally dragging it out.  Oddly enough, Batman himself barely appears at all, instead leaving much of the detective work to Gordon and Bullock.  I often wondered why Batman didn't just jump in and solve the case, especially because it seemed like he was just hanging out on the roof of the police precinct whenever it was convenient for him to show up.  While it doesn't make sense from a character standpoint for him to keep his distance from the case, I finally realized at the end why the lack of Batman and the novel's excessive length were necessary for the narrative to work.  Sure, it would be a much shorter story if Batman was involved, but that would defeat the purpose.  Without spoiling too much, I will say that this is a shaggy dog story at heart, a joke where the whole point is to go on forever until finally reaching an underwhelming punchline -- very appropriate for the Joker.  As long as you approach it from that perspective, The Joker Presents:  A Puzzlebox is a well-drawn, funny graphic novel with an interesting narrative structure and a story that will keep you guessing.