Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2

[cyberghostface]

"Batman’s in a world that he completely doesn’t understand, and the Joker is the only tether he has. He’s like the lantern he holds in front of him to guide the way. That’s who he’s supposed to be—it’s why he’s on a lamp post. He’s Batman’s traveling companion. He’s kind of the Greek chorus of the story—he’s the narrator. I wanted to put him in a role that you’ve never seen him in before. Deep down, Joker, as much as he’s Batman’s greatest villain, always sees himself as Batman’s best friend. At least, our version of the Joker does. He believes that everything he’s done, he’s done to make Batman stronger, and if he kills Batman in the process, he was doing Batman a service because ultimately, Batman wasn’t strong enough. So, he’s always thinking of himself as kind of the hand to the king—it’s one reason why that section is called 'The Right Hand.'

But the idea is that the Joker is sort of Batman’s traveling buddy. I wanted to put them in a relationship that you’ve never seen before. He’s sort of the comic relief to Batman’s straight man. He’s the sidekick—he’s the Robin. He’s the voice of reason in ways at times. He’s a really different version of the Joker than I’ve ever written, and it was a blast to get to do." -- Scott Snyder 

Comments

[wizardru]

Wow, that version of Scarecrow is pretty fricking horrifying.

So, whoever Omega is (Dick? I'm guessing it's Dick), he's kind towards Alfred (or at least it's a kindness of a sort. This is actually really interesting; I expected this to be much less entertaining than it is.

[lordultimus]

Oh, look, a Scott Snyder Joker that actually tells jokes.

[beeyo]

Dick shows up at the end of the issue, so it's not him

[dcbanacek]

And has yet to kill anyone... it IS the end times.

[dcbanacek]

Going to go outside the Batfamily box in guessing who Omega is with... Superman.

[thezmage]

Damn, that “another perfectly good dead Robin” line was good

[silverhammerman]

What with this being supposedly Snyder's final Batman story I would expect Omega to tie back into his Batman run, so one of the supporting characters from that would seem to make sense. Duke, Harper, maybe even Jim Gordon.

The mask also looks a touch Talon-y to me, so there could be some kind of link.