Joker is immortal because he makes to much money. I don't understand the value of throwing that in our faces over, and over, and over again. What's the point of having a philosophical discussion one side is Editorially Mandated to lose because of reasons that exist only outside the universe having the discussion?
Loeb famously does his own thing and cares little for outside continuity (you might recall him suddwnly making Ultimate Wasp white rather than Asian for no goddamn reason, as one example). It matters very little to him how many times other writers have had the discussion, now HE'S having it!
I think White Wasp was more a case of no proper editorial oversight of Ultimate character models, as many characters got their 616 appearance randomly at times.
"I have to tell you--BATMAN SAVED THE JOKER'S LIFE."
"He shaved the Joker's wife? Who the hell married him, Punchline?"
"No, no, I said SAVED HIS LIFE--"
"That's what it sounded like the first time, but I figured you had to be saying something else because you're TOO SMART TO BE SHOCKED BY THIS, BARBARA. We go through this EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS, and it's still ten months too early to be 'Kill Joker O'Clock' again. He refuses to let anyone die on his watch, Babs, it's what he does. It makes him better than all of us, except all those times he almost killed him and I stopped him."
"I can't agree with you, Dad. Not this time. You could die because he saved the Joker!"
"Um, I could die because I was watching a video device that blew up, which was planted at my place WHILE THE JOKER WAS COMATOSE. I know he's capable of some pretty impressive things, but I don't think dreaming an iPad bomb into existence is within the range of his abilities. This seems more like the fault of Hush, or possibly Tim Cook."
"Oh, hush about Hush! Everyone is saying it's incredibly obvious Hush is manipulating us to turn on each other, but I don't care! YOU'RE MY DAD! Logical reasoning can't be more important than THAT fact! I'm a genius crimefighter with a photographic memory!"
"Haven't you worked with about two-thirds of the female superhero population, including the ones who switch to being villains on alternate weeks? I don't want to see my daughter walk down a dark path, but if you're really dead set on this, why not trade in a few favors and get the MURDERY ones to handle the Joker problem? I'm pretty sure a team of Big Barda, Lady Shiva, Katana, Rose, and Poison Ivy could reduce him to a liquid state within 24 hours, maybe 48 if he had a head start. Unless you don't ACTUALLY want to kill the Joker and this is all just lashing out because--"
"Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my EMOTIONS CLOUDING MY JUDGMENT! I'm going now to beat the crap out of Batman for you instead of pretending to be on his side long enough to kill the Joker myself."
It seems Hush is accomplishing his goal of dividing the Bat-family. Maybe out of character for them. But it seems that Hush is bringing out unresolved bitter feeling in the bat-family towards Bruce.
But you would think all that would had been resolve in the past.
The only thing " killing the Joker? " stories can do at this point is give him a decent line in response to it.
Jim wounding the Joker after Sarah's death got " You shot me in the leg - you could've crippled me - like your daughter! Good one, Commissioner! ", and Batman nearly killing the Joker in original Hush got " Stop.. stop.. me if you've heard.. this one before.. "
The whole “Why doesn’t Batman just kill the Joker” bit is tiring because it assumes that most of his rogues gallery aren’t all mass murderers or serial killers. Harley Quinn killed how many kids and she’s teamed up with Batman. Poison Ivy and Ra’s have both tried to commit genocide. Even Riddler has killed kids. Etc.
I can get why Jason Todd has a stick up his ass about it because it’s all about him but everyone else might as well be asking why Batman isn’t slaughtering his rogues wholesale.
I think because most if not all of his other Rogues show signs that there could be a road to healing. Few if any of his other Rogues wave Batman's unwillingness to kill in our faces as much. With the exception of maybe Riddler and even with Riddler I feel like Batman has almost lost his shit and murdered that dude on more than one occasion.
Ra's is a weird one because Batman seems perfectly fine with Ra's dying. I guess Ra's is supernatural enough Bruce doesn't care?
For me personally though I just hate this story. I hate how Joker has become the face of this story. I actually like the Joker and I think the insistence on making so many Joker stories hinge on Batman's, or rather DC Comic's unwillingness to have their heroes kill is bad for Joker's character.
It feels like Babsa and Bruce are always fighting when they're in the same scene, I can't remember the last time they were happy in a conversation. This story lost me in the beginning when Bruce could easily use a gun, and on Jason no less.
(Mmmmaybe the way everyone's gathered against Bruce at the end is a sign that they've actually all figured it out and are just letting Hush think himself victorious? That'd redeem at least some of this...)
I read somewhere that Sarah Essen was created because Frank Miller thought Jim Gordon’s wife was named Sarah for “The Dark Knight Returns.” When Miller was informed of his error, he wrote Sarah Essen into BATMAN: YEAR ONE.
Not the worst way to handle things, really! It gave Jim some complexity without seriously compromising his character--not to me, at least. It helped the noir vibe, too.
Yes, but it should have been clearer Sarah wasn’t the femme fatale of the story.
“Don’t start thinking it was all a lie, Lieutenant. If things had gone differently, Sgt. Essen would be standing there with a stupid look on her face.”
Fair point. I can honestly say that "Sarah as femme fatale" never occurred to me because I'd read DKR first, and that series seemed to make clear that Sarah and Jim had had a long, happy married life. But if you read only Year One, yeah, that wouldn't be clear at all.
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scans_daily2025-07-24 12:50 pm
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Joker is immortal because he makes to much money. I don't understand the value of throwing that in our faces over, and over, and over again. What's the point of having a philosophical discussion one side is Editorially Mandated to lose because of reasons that exist only outside the universe having the discussion?
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"He shaved the Joker's wife? Who the hell married him, Punchline?"
"No, no, I said SAVED HIS LIFE--"
"That's what it sounded like the first time, but I figured you had to be saying something else because you're TOO SMART TO BE SHOCKED BY THIS, BARBARA. We go through this EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS, and it's still ten months too early to be 'Kill Joker O'Clock' again. He refuses to let anyone die on his watch, Babs, it's what he does. It makes him better than all of us, except all those times he almost killed him and I stopped him."
"I can't agree with you, Dad. Not this time. You could die because he saved the Joker!"
"Um, I could die because I was watching a video device that blew up, which was planted at my place WHILE THE JOKER WAS COMATOSE. I know he's capable of some pretty impressive things, but I don't think dreaming an iPad bomb into existence is within the range of his abilities. This seems more like the fault of Hush, or possibly Tim Cook."
"Oh, hush about Hush! Everyone is saying it's incredibly obvious Hush is manipulating us to turn on each other, but I don't care! YOU'RE MY DAD! Logical reasoning can't be more important than THAT fact! I'm a genius crimefighter with a photographic memory!"
"Haven't you worked with about two-thirds of the female superhero population, including the ones who switch to being villains on alternate weeks? I don't want to see my daughter walk down a dark path, but if you're really dead set on this, why not trade in a few favors and get the MURDERY ones to handle the Joker problem? I'm pretty sure a team of Big Barda, Lady Shiva, Katana, Rose, and Poison Ivy could reduce him to a liquid state within 24 hours, maybe 48 if he had a head start. Unless you don't ACTUALLY want to kill the Joker and this is all just lashing out because--"
"Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my EMOTIONS CLOUDING MY JUDGMENT! I'm going now to beat the crap out of Batman for you instead of pretending to be on his side long enough to kill the Joker myself."
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But you would think all that would had been resolve in the past.
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Most people really would, I think.
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Jim wounding the Joker after Sarah's death got " You shot me in the leg - you could've crippled me - like your daughter! Good one, Commissioner! ", and Batman nearly killing the Joker in original Hush got " Stop.. stop.. me if you've heard.. this one before.. "
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I can get why Jason Todd has a stick up his ass about it because it’s all about him but everyone else might as well be asking why Batman isn’t slaughtering his rogues wholesale.
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Ra's is a weird one because Batman seems perfectly fine with Ra's dying. I guess Ra's is supernatural enough Bruce doesn't care?
For me personally though I just hate this story. I hate how Joker has become the face of this story. I actually like the Joker and I think the insistence on making so many Joker stories hinge on Batman's, or rather DC Comic's unwillingness to have their heroes kill is bad for Joker's character.
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1) Gordon having difficulty telling who Batman is without glasses is a nice nod to Batman: Year One.
2)
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Can't fault the fight choreography.
It's fun to make fun of! HUSH TWO: HUSH HARDER.
I got nothin' else.
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“Don’t start thinking it was all a lie, Lieutenant. If things had gone differently, Sgt. Essen would be standing there with a stupid look on her face.”
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