Artist Jason Fabok analyzed the first issue of Batman: Three Jokers. All three issues will have multiple variants for each one, and much like the interior pages, the covers have references from historic Batman tales.The cover itself is of Joker holding a Joker Fish by the tale as it smiles just as creepily as the villain. Fabok posted both the colored and inked version and explained the inspiration behind it on his Twitter.
Explained Fabok, "The Joker laughing fish is a classic staple of the Joker and something that has shown up in comics as well as the Batman Animated Series throughout the years. I decided to riff on Brian Bolland again, seeing that so much of this book is influenced from the universe he created in Batman: The Killing Joke." He remained true to the way the fish was drawn, but he decided to make the teeth more human-like, which made the fish "freaky."
Fabok discussed how he decided what changes to make from Bolland’s work on The Killing Joke and what to keep, writing, "I meshed the fish that he drew with the classic Joker Fish from Detective Comics 475. I gave Brad {Anderson} a few notes on the colors, but I wanted him to go with a color scheme that would pop on the page."
Anderson, the colorist for Three Jokers, went with Bolland's use of golds but added green eyes for extra creepiness, and Fabok included a special touch to make the Joker stand out as well. "I also have the Joker licking his chops," he wrote, "which is disturbing, and if you notice, he is wearing clothes from Detective Comics 475 cover (green shirt, orange vest) which he does not wear in our actual book."
Written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Jason Fabok, Batman: Three Jokers #1 goes on sale August 25 from DC.