Batman Adventures #3

[cyberghostface]

Harley hires an assassin to kill Joker as a way to snap him out of his funk. Batman arrives and rescues the Joker.







Batman fires the arrow at the tank, enveloping Harley and her puddin' in actual pudding.

Comments

[alicemacher]

With Burchett's style giving the villain a triangular head, Joker looks like a slice of pizza in that last scan.

Also, what sort of warped AU is this, in which Arkham psychiatrists actually managed to successfully treat anyone, let alone Mistah J? Everyone knows Arkham isn't meant to help the criminally insane get well. Hell, it's not even meant to keep them very long, just to let them rest up in between capers. I think that's in its mission statement or something.

[cyberghostface]

Two-Face has been 'cured' a few times although it varies between "Something bad happens that causes him to snap" or "It's only a matter of time before he goes crazy again".

The same could be said for the Ventriloquist in that he's been cured only for people to reintroduce Scarface and cause him to snap.

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/7453438.html

[lego_joker]

This was set up in the first issue of the Slott/Templeton run, and I think the idea here isn't that Joker is so much treated as just had all the violent tendencies (temporarily) burned out of his brain. If he were truly treated, he wouldn't have gone along with Harley's jailbreak.

[mrwalker]

I'm pretty sure I have the first issue of that run - maybe from a Free Comic Book Day. Penguin gets elected mayor somehow, and orders Batman arrested (hence Gordon's act here). I

Now that I think of it, I thought Joker came back to his old self when the League attacked Arkham. Maybe just temporarily, till this issue?

[lordultimus]

Well, so much for the "Joker never showed Harley any true affection" plot point.

(Yes, I know this is only TV show canon.)

[cyberghostface]

There's also this:

[lordultimus]

Yeah, but Harley can actually claim ignorance of that.

[deh_tommy]

From what I've seen and read, there's usually two kinds of Harley/Joker relationships. Either:

(a)That's a one-sided toxic relationship, where one abuses the other while said other is or was caught in the one's thrall (The Animated Series, White Knight, mainline comics, The Enemy Within*, etc.)

or

(b)That's a Bonny & Clyde-esque relationship where they're both awful people, but they're awful people together and do genuinely love each other (Arkham, The Batman, The Dark Prince Charming, Suicide Squad, etc.).

[deh_tommy]

I mean, abusers DO sometimes show their victims true affection, so that's not too weird.

[lordultimus]

I'm just saying Harley sometimes says the reason she left was because of him never showing affection.