The Joker takes on health care

[cyberghostface]

 

This is from Batman: Gotham Nights #6.

Comments

[metadronos]

Usually when the Joker tries to pull a "you're no better than I am" on Batman, he does it by committing that one vile act that (he thinks) will finaly push Bats into violating his no-killing rule. Pulling that on Batman by saving lives while the rich do nothing (until Bruce persuades them)? That's new.

I'd have expected Joker to do something more along the lines of Brian Thompson's murder... and then keep murdering health insurance CEOs until the surviving ones agreed to fund Joker's Balyushka thing. But not doing murders, nor indeed anything illegal, is actually a better way to shame Batman.

[cainofdreaming]

But Bruce didn't even persuade them, it was that cigar smoking guy. He tried to get them to pay for getting the healthcare back to what it was but they didn't go for that either.

So, Bruce/Batman was superfluous to the whole thing, really. It was all Joker.

[agent8]

Cigar Smoking Guy didn't persuade them to pay for it either. He persuaded them to divert money from the college fund, not dig into their own pockets.

[metadronos]

Exactly. It was Bruce who persuaded them to even consider doing anything about it in the first place.

[cainofdreaming]

But they didn't consider it, just blurted the usual excuses. They only reversed the healthcare cuts because Jokeraid got too irritating (and most likely started to affect their property values and other varied income sources). Bruce's propositions they just ignored.

[beyondthefringe]

I knew this was a Mark Russell story just from the scene with the selfish, short-sighted, self-serving, out of touch billionaires. He certainly has a style of writing.

[huntleyhaverstock]

... an accurate one?

I'm no raving socialist, but for every real-world billionaire who's even remotely like Bruce Wayne, there are ten who, publicly or privately, cheerfully go Full Supervillain.

Even Bill Gates, who I think generally puts his money to good use, got that money by ruthlessly and illegally creating a monopoly on the PC OS market (and doing so with inferior products that ripped off superior competitors.)

Even Warren Buffett, who I like pretty well and seems like a decent enough guy, has been accused of tax dodging. His business partner strong-armed a college strapped for housing to build an absolute nightmare of a cramped, largely windowless dorm (which said partner, not an architect, designed himself) whose construction he didn't even fully fund. And Buffett's fully grown son Howard has used Daddy's money to buy himself an entire town, Decatur, IL, to reshape as he pleases in pursuit of his dream of being a law enforcement officer. It's wild stuff.

Billionaires are best when they're imaginary. In real life, they seem to be a net negative to say the least.

[cainofdreaming]

Pretty sure you can't become a billionaire while staying in the realms of legality or morality. It's set in the framework of capitalism.

[beyondthefringe]

I was gonna say "his style is about as unsubtle as a brick through a window."
I agree that in theory and execution, billionaires tend to be bad and fictional billionaires far worse, but this scene would have worked in any Russell story, like the series literally called Billionaire Island.

I find Russell's writing to be rather distinctive in a manner which either works very well as satire, or very flatly when sincere.

[tianyulong]

I get what you mean, I cannot stand his Flintstones comic (it strikes me as pretentious not deep, I don't understand the appeal at all). Yet somehow this story lands for me, I'm not quite sure why.

[panthyr]

Wait, wait. So... because this *particular* caper wasn't a crime, Batsy just... left... the JOKER... AT LARGE?

[dan_ingram]

Well yeah, that's the rule.

It's clearly immoral to arrest a wanted criminal if they are not committing a criminal act at that exact moment, or before they launch another criminal act.

To do otherwise would make the hero 'pro-active', and that just brings back the 90s *shudder*

[blues32]

I love this story just because it's Joker not being all about the body count. He wanted chaos and insanity and he got it. No stabbing the people in the back or anything. They made the videos, he paid for the bills. The rest was up to the imagination of those making said videos.

[cainofdreaming]

He did suggest making them the way he'd like. And anyone who actually knows Joker knows he likes his social commentary with a side of blood.

Good thing most of the aspiring film makers didn't know him.

[blues32]

That was the best part. They had to guess what he'd like, forcing the people to think like the Joker. That alone must have been hilarious for him.