Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok's widely acclaimed DC Black Label miniseries Batman: Three Jokers reaches its bloody conclusion with its third issue, as the Clown Princes of Crime's horrifying bid to create the ultimate supervillain hits its climax. And while the final battle itself is a bit anticlimactic in comparison to previous issues, there are plenty of strong character moments and shocking plot twists that make the finale all worth it as the creative team wraps up their story and provides plenty of room and intriguing ideas for future stories to potentially explore.

With the Wayne family killer Joe Chill in their possession, the surviving Jokers plan to keep Batman off-balance with revelations about the night his parents were murdered as they continue their scheme to create the next generation of Joker. As the final battle is joined, the Dark Knight, Batgirl and Red Hood are each forced to confront their respective inner demons and unresolved trauma -- including the pain inflicted upon each of them by the Jokers. By the miniseries' end, the definitive Joker has been revealed, while shocking truths about the character's history come to light.

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Johns knows each of this story's cast, from the Bat-Family to the surviving Jokers, with the Golden Age Criminal Joker finally getting considerable most time in the spotlight. The showdown itself is competently done but, compared to the bar set by the first two issues, feels relatively anemic and anticlimactic in direct comparison. Where Johns' scripting really excels is in the aftermath of the confrontation, with the surviving characters each exploring the emotional fallout and their own pain in various ways. And with Fabok teasing that story could have a "huge impact" if allowed by DC while Johns has claimed the story is in continuity with the main DC Universe, there are indeed plot twists that could set up intriguing directions for the characters to go next as well alter established truths about them.

Fabok, with colorist Brad Anderson, have consistently delivered career-defining work throughout this miniseries and that does not change in its final issue. There had always been moments directly evocative of Brian Bolland and John Higgins' landmark work on Batman: The Killing Joke, and there are panels in the final issue of Three Jokers that especially feel lifted right from the classic 1988 original graphic novel, casting the previous story in a new light. And just as Johns' scripting really shines through in the denouement, so does Fabok and Anderson's work as they elevate the emotional anguish of the characters as they regroup and move forward, changed by their encounter with the multiple Jokers, emerging from an emotional baptism by fire.

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With its origins dating as far back as the final days of the New 52 era in 2016's "Darkseid War" by Johns and Fabok, Three Jokers' conclusion works better when it goes deeper and more personal rather than bigger and more bombastic as it delivers on the promise of that four-year-old tease. The third and final issue of Three Jokers stumbles at moments in its execution, perhaps attempting to accomplish too much from the sheer amount of set-up and expectation from the first two installments. A meditation on pain and the physical and emotional scars it leaves behind, the DC Black Label miniseries stands as both a continuation of classic Batman/Joker stories and a standalone story, like The Killing Joke, that may or may not factor into the greater continuity of the DCU. More of a character study than a blockbuster event, Batman: Three Jokers ends on a haunting and surprisingly uplifting note while charting a path for a possible future.

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