Going Sane

[cyberghostface]

I first posted this here three years ago but with I figured with Batman's anniversary it's worth another look. On a related note, Comixology is having a huge Batman sale right now (750 issues for 99 cents a piece) and this story is one of them.

This was a four-parter from Legends of the Dark Knight that ran from #65 to #68 by J.M. DeMatteis and Joe Staton. It's in my opinion a very interesting take on the Joker's character.

So Joker's up to his old tricks again, only this time he manages to get the upper hand on the Batman.



Boom.













#67...

So naturally Gotham City is concerned that both the Joker and Batman are missing with reports that Joker might have finally killed Bats.





Outside his new apartment, 'Joker' bumps into a young woman.







Rebecca knows from 'Joseph' that he's taking pills for a skin condition and that he's struggled with a mental illness in the past. This doesn't concern her, as she's never been happier with anyone else.

Joseph's dreams, meanwhile, are haunted by horrific manifestations of the Joker and Batman, attempting to claw their way back to the surface. The Joker persona almost surfaces after hearing about him on the news, and he breaks down laughing in the elevator.





As Rebecca hopes that whatever demons were haunting Joseph have gone away for good, Alfred visits the Batcave and discovers that Batman is back.

#67...









"We - keep - coming - back."

A lot of the issue, which I'm not posting, focuses on what happened to Batman when he was washed up ashore and found by the doctor. It's a mirror to the Joker's storyline; she doesn't know who Batman is, and there's sort of a romance there as we see a different life that Bruce could lead away from his role as Batman. But it's revealed that she knew all along and encourages him to go back to Gotham.








Finally, #68...

So Batman hears that the Joker has returned, and this time he has kidnapped a Gotham councilwoman.

We flashback to see 'Joseph' and Rebecca in happier times...










So Joker takes the councilwoman hostage on a 'honeymoon' but is pursued by Batman. Joker tells Batman he's not going to let him take Rebecca away from him.





Batman thinks to himself that for a moment he saw something tender in Joker's eyes, but whatever it was, it's gone.

Joker attempts to blow up the boat and escape via a jetpack, but Batman grabs him and the two fall into the ocean. Batman saves his nemesis from drowning and takes him to the helicopter.

Comments

[mishalak]

I find this interesting, though not entirely satisfying to me because of the return to status quo ending. Though that is going to be true of almost any mainstream comic.

In some ways it points to a more satisfying reason to not kill The Joker than just Batman does not kill. What if there were a super-villain disease/mental illness rather like A Miracle of Science's SRMD (Science Related Memetic Disorder)? That would hold out a real possibility of a cure for The Joker and other super-villains and would also explain why The Joker's version of insanity is nothing like real world crazy. And could also make it where super-villains are less deadly because the disease tends to make them do things for the drama.

[drtechnobabel]

That is true. "Batman doesn't kill Joker because it'd make him just like the Joker" is a pretty piss-poor excuse, but "Batman doesn't kill the Joker because he sees the Joker as a mentally ill man who needs help" makes him more heroic.

Thing is though, Batman's internal narration here seems to imply that he genuinely can't comprehend the idea of Joker being anything more than a twisted psychopath, so at least in this particular story., that explanation seems to not hold up.

[mishalak]

Decidedly not cannon, but what if super-villainy really were a disease and killing off a super-villain was a good way to catch it? That would make the Batman excuse "make me just like him" literal and sensible. He is already dancing on the ragged edge of villainy at times...

[icon_uk]

The "Last Laugh" event made a plot point out of the Joker's brain actually being malformed in a unique fashion following his chemical bath, and it being impossible for him to ever be cured, which I found to be a very unsatisfying cop out means of retaining the status quo.

[mishalak]

I agree. That is terrible weaksauce. I would not serve that weaksauce as a side to my lame villain hamburger.

[misanthr0pe]

Seven dollars for a movie? What alternate universe are we in?

[mishalak]

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

[pwiggins]

Never thought I'd say these words but... I actually feel a bit sorry for the Joker here.

[crinos]

This was also referenced later in JLA. When Specter shows up and starts acting all judgemental towards the Justice League, J'onn takes him into the mind of the Joker, into the one tiny shred of goodness in his heart.

And that shred... is Joseph and Rebecca living in a suburb together. I think with a kid.

[lego_joker]

I've always found this story fascinating for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, though, I liked it for the underlying question: what is insanity, exactly?

We say that the "Joseph Kerr" in this story is sane, but what makes him so? Is it not true that he's nothing but a construct created by the Joker as a way of dealing with the shock from Batman's death? Can mere lucidity be called "sanity" even when it's born of insanity?

[icon_uk]

Is it "mere" lucidity though? He develops empathy, a desire for love and companionship. The construct has it's own personality which the Joker has to fight to return to.

[thatnickguy]

Well, if you go by Morrison's take on the character - one I personally like - Joker constructs a new personality to suit the time or situation.

It was basically a way for Morrison to explain how Joker has acted so different in so many of his incarnations. The same way he was trying to say that all of Batman's mythos - even the silly stuff - was canon.

Still, I think stories like this - even if they long pre-date Morrison's theory -actually holds some ground behind it.

[lego_joker]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I respect Morrison for coming up with that concept, but every one of his attempts at executing it ranged from mediocre to terrible.

And neither Morrison nor other Joker writers seem to do anything more than pay lip service to the Joker's "more harmless" days while ramping up his body counts and grotesque violence more than ever before. In that way, the super-sanity concept's actually become something of a glass ceiling for those of us who want the Joker to dial all the homicidal-ness back a bit.

Sorry, I'm ranting again.

[alicemacher]

A heartbreaking story. I was glad when they finally collected this in trade.

One of my favourite moments from it is also one of the subtlest. Notice how, in the fifth scan, the font for the Joker's internal monologue gradually changes from scratchy to "normal," matching his changing mentality. We could imagine, if this were a B:TAS episode, Mark Hamill gradually switching from his Joker-voice to his...plain ol' Mark-voice.

[big_daddy_d]

I actually would love to see this story adapted some day. Is this collected?

[alicemacher]

Yes, it's been collected in trade paperback as Batman: Going Sane.