Prepare for everything you know about Batman’s arch-nemesis to be turned upside down. As part of Chip Zdarsky’s ongoing run as Batman writer, the true origins of the Clown Prince of Crime are about to be uncovered with the three-part storyline The Joker: Year One, launching this February.

Running through Batman #142-144 — with all three issues released in the same month — the storyline will flash back to the accident that transformed the leader of the Red Hood Gang into the Joker that audiences know and love today, with all-new details that DC teases will have readers “questioning everything they know about the Joker.”

The story doesn’t just take place in the past, however, with both the return of a mysterious figure from Batman’s past (place your bets now) as well as the reformation of the Red Hood Gang complicating matters for both the Dark Knight and the Joker alike. When the Joker is the only person who can stop the Red Hood Gang causing trouble, and the Batman’s past is bringing new threats into Gotham City, maybe it’s time to ask yourself: who is really the good guy in this story, and who’s the villain?

(Actually, maybe Amanda Waller is already asking that question; she’s showing up in the subsequent storyline, Dark Prisons, which will run in Batman #145-148.)

Two different art teams are joining Zdarsky for this storyline, with Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Nesi, and Andrea Sorrentino contributing to the insanity. Alejandro Sánchez colors the Camnucoli and Nesi pages, with Dave Stewart coloring Sorrentino’s work. Covers for all three issues come from Camuncoli, Nesi, and colorist Tomeu Morey.

Batman #142 will hit shelves February 6, 2024, with #143 following a week later, and #144 a week after that. Click through the gallery below to see the covers to all three issues, as well as a preview of interior art from #142.

The Joker might be scary, but is he bad enough to join DC’s new Trinity of Evil?