Joker's Asylum - The Joker

[cyberghostface]

Joker takes over a game show and threatens to kill the contestants who get the wrong answer.

Comments

[lordultimus]

The Joker at his most compelling and he doesn't kill one person.

DC, please make this Joker be canon.

[nyadnar17]

I really do think there is room for both. I really miss the days when Joker was more than just a magical murder machine.

[shadowpsykie]

yeah this I agree. the best Joker is the one where you DON'T know what he will do.

[an_idol_mind]

One of my favorite Joker moments was from his first appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, where he takes hostages so he can force Batman to open an obviously trapped Christmas present.

And the Christmas present...is an ordinary pie in the face.

It sort of sets things up for a later episode where he seems to put together an elaborate scheme just to deliver a cake to the Gotham City PD, but that time around he's using his pranks to set up a bomb.

[shadowpsykie]

I don't think the Joker shouldn't kill anyone.... I think the joker is best when you don't know whether or not he WILL kill anyone.

[lordultimus]

Yeah, that's more what I meant.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I think what makes this work, though, is that he seems to have a reputation for killing people, which makes it more 50/50 guesswork than "will THIS be the time he finally does it?"

[janegray]

Hear hear!

[cyberghostface]

J/w what do you think of the Telltale version?

[lordultimus]

I quite like it. I'd probably be more hesitant if it was canon, but as its own alternate universe I find it an interesting twist, and with the most recent episode, I like both directions the Joker can take.

[lucean]

I always disliked this story as it just felt more about the concept than the character. I mean I don't need Joker to kill everyone, but Joker deciding to pose moral questions to the audiences just feels so weak. Like would he care?

[lordultimus]

Isn't the Joker's whole point that he thinks that morals, and people who think they are moral, are a joke? Wouldn't he love to show that the people at home aren't as innocent as they think they are?

[lucean]

Why the hell would Joker care about the people at home? They're meaningless to him. That is true in almost all versions of the character, he isn't in it to educate the public because the public is a punchline to him. Even the Dark Knight Joker, which I guess was the closest to this, was about showing that horror beneath, but it was by forcing the choice upon the people instead of just going 'Jokes on you, peeps. See you later.'

This is my main issue with this story as this feels like the writer came up with a message story and decided to use the Joker to tell it instead of writing a Joker story. If this guy would have written the Dark Knight, the movie would have ended with Joker showing the video where the tortures the guy to death, only to reveal he really didn't do it and laughs to the camera how he made people look.

[lego_joker]

It does feel kind of odd for "educating" the public to be Joker's sole aim here, especially since he can't even see their reactions. IMO, it might've been grounded a little better if he revealed his little morality lesson was also a distraction while a couple of goons robbed the studio's strongbox or a nearby bank or something.

[lucean]

Yeah or if the Joker did the reveal to Bats who had just crashed the party to make a point about the people he is protecting.

Again, what is the Joker's point here? To expose a TV station? Make the audience think about themselves? Why would the Joker give a damn about either of those things?

[cyberghostface]

He probably just thinks its funny.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I figure Joker just knows he's going to inflict some sort of self-doubt and guilt among the people. Even if it's only some of them, just that knowledge might make it all worth it.

[icon_uk]

Because he wants the people at home to be unsettled, and a Joker who might, or might not, kill you is in some ways more worrying than one who kills everyone. You might be resigned to your fate if you meet him, but after this? You might die, or you might not, and playing with that hope is something the Joker would enjoy.

[lucean]

Again, why the hell would he care what the people at home thought? I keep people explaining how the Joker would like to mess wtih their heads, but nobody really has bothered to give that explaantion.

Besides, that's not the finish of the story, it's about Joker going for a morality lesson on the audiences. Why? What's the point with that? Why would he care?

[the_blue_padre]

Because he thinks its funny. I mean, he says it right there at the end. He cares about little people if and only if they're a good punchline. And here, according to him, they are.

[icon_uk]

Why does anyone perform on TV? Because the Joker, is at heart, a performer. He craves attention, and does things in a grand, over the top way precisely to get it. What other justidication does he need?

[thatnickguy]

Interesting choice to have Clayface disguise himself as Joker in this story.

What's that? This is supposed to be Joker? His face is just drawn to be so misshapen and inconsistent that it looks like it's made of clay.

Huh.

Could've fooled me.

[crimsonmoonmist]

I thought this was the joker with his skin stitched onto his face for a second when I saw this.

[alicemacher]

Yeah, after hearing this story referenced so much, I'm surprised to see the art is so poor.

[lordultimus]

Mmm, yeah, the art is worse than I remember.

[crinos]

See, this is that Joker story I always reference when talking about great Joker stories. Freaking love this one.