See, when you start to hear things like Joker’s return will be influencing all this titles (Catwoman, Batgirl, Nightwing, Batman and Robin, Suicide Squad) makes the little girl in me squeal with joy. Are they really going to show that Joker is indeed a “FORCE OF NATURE” and is able to turn the schemes of heroes and villains alike upside down and become a true “AGENT OF CHAOS”?
Yes, I know I’m quoting DARK KNIGHT Joker here, but though I have to admit I loved late Ledger’s portrayal of my favorite villain, what I like most is what Nolan did with the character. He brought the villain from the flat pages of a comic book to the dimensions of a world that closely resemble ours, making Joker into a more realistic menace than we have been used to. And that just terrified us.
For too long, Joker has just annoyed the hell out of Batman, then back to the asylum he has gone, only to repeat this vicious cycle over and over again through the ages with no real trascendence in HIS REAL WORLD. Just count how many Jokercentric stories DC has made in the last 20-30 years.
But the Clown refuses to stay in the bleachers and watch, he is not the type that likes routines. Joker says: No more Mr. Nice Psycho Clown, Gotham…This is the new me and Joker is ready for his closeup now and he’s doing it by causing a megaquake within the Batman (and some of DC’s) universe.
This rebirth has been promised as the worst nightmare for the Batman family and Gotham, and though promises are just promises until we see the facts, the real issue here is that Joker is going to demonstrate his real prowess, what he does best. Turn world’s order upside down and twist good and evil together in one tight knot.
The question that rises is…would DC fulfill his promise and bring us a Joker that is worthy of the name?
In the past we have seen many editorial decisions been taken on the view of how profitable it is or not, and if it is…how can it be make it even more profitable forgtting about the content of the story. Don’t take me wrong. I don’t mind DC making profit on his creations..after all it is the base of a healthy economy, but changing characters’ core in a way that they become almost irrecognizable from the ones we have loved for decades, well…that is just unforgivable and unfortunately, that is what I am seeing hapenning to villains and markedly, to Joker himself.
We are promised a Joker that will rock our world, but look at the advertising of the event all around and what do we see? We do not want to see Freddy Krueger, nor another Leatherface, even less a mindless murderer who just adds victims to his body count for a space in the Guinness books of records. (We have enough of those in the comic books, like Victor Zsazs–well pointed out by a friend in this very forum). We don’t need a murderer for the sake of murder or gore, we want a new and improved Joker worthy of the new 52 generation.
My friends Laughing Fish and Antonia have expressed their worries too as to where DC is taking the Joker reboot, and I share those worries too, but why worry now and not just wait till the story is done? Well, because by then it might be to late to mend errors. After all this is the Joker we will have to deal with for the next 100 years and we’re scared of what is going to be like….
My passion for villains comes not from the fact that I like to do evil (PLEASE! nothing could not be farther from the truth), and that is not what this site is for either. This site stands to honor the very embodiment of what heroes and common folks need to defeat. Fear, anger, rage, hate, chaos…and before you all go around and call the guys with the white coats and straitjackets to pick me up let me explain why.
You cannot enjoy the ability to see if you don’t know what it feels like to be blind. You cannot praise light, if you didn’t have darkness to compare it to. How could you tell if something is sweet if you did not know what sour taste in your mouth? You cannot appreciate goodness and kindness if you do not know evil and selfishness. We cannot understand Batman’s triumphs and perils without a Joker to compare him to. But Joker is much more than just the Dark Knight’s antithesis… right?
Joker (like most successful villains) is the very embodiment of our own faults, mishaps, defects and our darkest selves and desires. Joker is the cake that you know looks scrumptious but you know will give you a heart attack.
That is why his character has endured the trials of time for close to a century now.
And yes, I am saying there are “Jokers” living inside us and I mean…all of us. We fight with those little Jokers every day, hoping to win and be better people than we were the day before. That is why characters like Joker, Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, Severus Snape or Loki endure so much on the literature and arealso enjoyed in the big screen. They are us…up there, clashing with with the other part of us….(the hero) for a common goal, make a change, and if they can be defeated, so can our inner “jokers”. Life might look simpler without the evils of the world, but let’s face it…life would be EXTREMELY boring if we did not have a challenge or two to confront. As contradictory as it sounds…it is the villain who brings the best in the hero At least that’s how I see it. Fighting the bad (both inside and outside) should make us better, give meaning to our lives and makes us value what we believe, have and do. We need villains as much as we need heroes to defeat them and the closer these villains resemble us, the more terrifying they are.
That said, in a kind of tangent discourse, just means that in entertainment (comics, movies, books) we enjoy villains that are a lot like us. We are not midless cattle pasturing in a grassy plain. The same way we are capable of good deeds, we also manipulate, we lie, we confuse, we take adventage of others, we break the norm, we jump over the obstacles to get to our goals, we want to see those we blame for our circumstances to pay accordingly. That is why we can empathasize with a villain that in some many ways like us. Take away those similarities, turn him into an automaton with a machine gun and endless rounds of ammo and he becomes flatten, insipid, distant and unfortunately untrascendent in his media. (continues next page)
Only two words for you, Jokerlady: Well said. This is absolutely what I’ve been desperately hoping DC would do for years, and it’s why I continue to so stubbornly defend a character that most comic fans are sick to death of. Because he can be better than what he has been, and while the comics haven’t proven it, the films, games, and animated shows all have.
Ohh…BRAVO!!
oh shit i’m crying :`)
Thats exactly how i feel, and what i’m aiming to see for the Joker.
And yes, he’s like a onion..a tasty, juicy and smexy onion…he sorry i let myself go again, but really, c’mon! We are talking about da joker! the character has such a potential and that’s the best you give us in all this years DC?
That is why I wanted my two cents into the discussion, because I believe that Joker’s characterization has been influenced more by what makes more money, instead of being true to his nature. That is why there are so many ‘sucky’ versions of the clown out there…
Hope someone else did read this…(*coughs)…DC EDITORS…(*coughs)
GOSH, how i wish they read this.
Seconded. Not enough looking at what the fans really want will eventually ruin DC. It’s already happening, and it has been for years.
Okay Anto, smexy I’ll agree with you on. But tasty and juicy?
Show me where on the doll the Batman porn touched you.
hahaha
oh c’mon, you know is tasty and juicy 😀
Well the Joker, like most people, does have blood inside of him, and blood is juicy…
Tasty? Okay. Sure. But only because I find crazy villains willing to tie me up and do awful things to me way sexier than I should.
Don’t we all?
And btw, i think tainted blood must be tasty too
This write-up is spot on with my own worries. This is not a character that can, or should be reduced to a simple minded murder-machine. There has always been a deeper menace with the Joker, he’s not an idiot, hes not simple-minded, and he’s not crazy. He chooses to exist as the agent of chaos he is. GOING SANE showed us that if he wanted to, he could live a normal life, but actively chooses to be the clown prince of crime. It is this conscious choice that I think is most interesting.
He’s complex, and we never really know if he’s going to hand you a million dollars of if he’s going to shoot you with a spear gun.
At the same time, I am interested in seeing how this ‘faceless’ joker will be drawn. I think we’re going to get some incredibly grotesque and creative ways we see the Joker, some of which i am sure will stick out in our memories for years to come. My concern is when this ‘joker mask’ approach to the character will get old. Tearing his face off seems pretty permanent… what will happen when we’ve had enough of the face mask and want to see all his maniacal faces properly attached to his face… just a concern, but probably not an issue for another year or so.
Exactly, the Joker decided to BE the Joker.
If DC keep doing the character like they’ve been doing all this time, it’s going to turn out into another lame villain , one of those who can easily be forgotten.
And as you, i’m super concerned about the faceless thing…something i love about the Joker is his expressiveness, how is gonna be with a mask attaching to his face with some straps ALL the time? don’t know really, but definitely is not going to be funny.
… Did anyone consider the idea of this Joker dying off and there becoming a second Joker, possibly one made by him a la “Return of the Joker”?
Did anyone consider the possibility of some sort of time-altering event changing this back?
Did anyone consider the possibility of the Joker having some sort of regrown skin, and this mask just hiding whatever new face he has, perhaps one he stole from someone else and stitched on?
Did anyone consider the possibility that said person that got his face ripped off was not the Joker in reality, but some crazy, masochistic goon that mimics him so well nobody could tell the difference, and the Joker is actually wearing HIS face?
There’s a lot of ways to explain this… That’s all I’m saying. Besides, I don’t think this change will last, simply because it makes no sense. I don’t think even the Joker, even with comic book logic in play, could last a full year without a face. The infection alone… even with his uniquely poisonous flesh and blood, there are bacteria that can grow in just about any condition. Maybe there’s one that grows in poisonous blood. And if not a bacteria, then surely a fungus or virus.
Mmm yeah, you’re right, there’s a world of possibilities…maybe now under his mask there’s a harley’s face…or a bats face o_O…just kidding
You know? i think they’re gonna re-implant it, cuz all the thing of the guarding of the face have to be for some reason…i mean, it’s safe in a crystal security box( or something like that) and it looks in perfect condition…i think the joker is just playing around and then is going to go for his precious face and ask the dollmaker to put it again (hopes*)
LOL I love how you call him *cutting his face off and wearing it as a mask* “just playing around”. XD
I dunno about sewing it back on. I don’t believe the face was kept on ice, as you’d normally do with a missing body part. The cells in it are probably long dead by now.
… Oh shit I just realized how he could get it to heal back up again. Go take a dip in Ra’s Lazarus Pit thing.
Think about it. That face is dead skin. But if he puts it in the Pit and THEN goes to get it reattached…
Fishie you are a genius.
But maybe there’s something in J’s body that keep the cells alive ( don’t know, tainted blood, or sumthin due to his exposure to chemicals…xd)
Anyway…Joker putting his “mask” in the lazarus pit, and then taking a bath on it…that means a inmortal mistah J…oh yeah, you’re a genius