Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #2

[cyberghostface]

“I originally wanted to do a Joker book for the YA line. They explained to me that they weren’t doing villains, but they still said they’d like to hear the pitch. I had worked on an X-Files book, and my friend, Dr. Ed Kurz, was one of my consultants. He’s a real forensic psychiatrist profiler. I’ve always been interested in possibly writing an adult serial killer suspense novel, and Ed and I were talking about how there are psychopaths that never kill anyone. How does a boy or a girl who’s a regular kid end up becoming Ted Bundy? I was really interested in telling that kind of a story about the Joker. But the more I dug into the story, and the more that Ed consulted on it with me, it became clear that it was not going to be appropriate for YA. I really had to go dark with it. I wanted it to be true.” — Kami Garcia 

Warning for child abuse 

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

instead of a story trying to sympathize with the joker, how about someone write a story about how the Joker came from a good loving family and was just a sociopath?

[steverequin]

I agree. Make Jack Napier a rich spoiled entitled brat who, when he turned adult, realized the world wasn't his oyster after all, so he snapped.

And make the Waynes into a struggling low-income family. When they get gunned down, lil' Bruce becomes Batman because there is just no justice for the poor. And he lives in a cave, of course, because dirt poor.

[alicemacher]

I don't know... a Batman without the means to build the Batmobile, Batcomputer and all the gadgets in his utility belt and elsewhere... to me, that wouldn't be much of a Batman. He'd just be a more well-adjusted Rorschach.

[steverequin]

Hm! You're right! Of course, he could steal the drug money to finance his mission, but he'd probably have moral issues about that idea.

[cricharddavies]

How about this.

The Waynes are dirt poor, but Alfred Pennyworth is a fairly wealthy and philanthropic man. He happens to be paying a visit to Leslie Thompkins' clinic when the Waynes, shot nearby, are brought in to try and save them. He takes Bruce as a ward, and eventually provides financial support for the Batman ... but as time passes, he becomes increasingly uncertain about the wisdom of doing this, and so Bruce has to learn to talk his patron into supporting his ideas, rather than just giving orders.

[deh_tommy]

...Persona 4? The main antagonist is someone like that. Don’t look them up unless you want to be spoiled, though.

[lordultimus]

Isn't the first half of that the Joker of that Harley YA graphic novel? And also he's an incel?

[lonewolf23k]

Alternatively, you could have Bruce be an actual self-made Millionaire, having struck it rich during his years travelling abroad, training to become the Batman. It's just he remains humble and treats his employees well, because he knows what it was like being dirt poor.

[strejdaking]

Why?

[icon_uk]

Mike Mayhew's art is impressive, even if I don't think it's doing anything new with the Joker's look.

And has anyone worked out what %age of the output of the Black Label are separate "definitive" Joker/Harley stories because it seems like most of them are

[cyberghostface]

It's about a third.

As for how the Joker looks I think it's kind of funny how both this and Harleen have made Joker buff and attractive. Wipe off the facepaint on the last page here and he could be a member of a boy band. In Harleen he's practically a bishi. Although they're both preferable to Jared Leto's Joker.

%age

[capt_satellite]

Yes. Its 47.3%. Just do the math.

[reveen]

What the hell is that move on the third page? Does he Karate chop his son in the back of the neck when he's beating him like Jackie Chan? Is that what's happening?

[beoweasel]

I'm sorry, I just can't.

Ignoring the cartoonishly evil Father (apparently the psychopathic murderer needs an extensive, sympathetic backstory to explain why he sadistically murders people, but the evil father is just evil because), the thing that really gets me is the artwork.

The photorealistic artwork simultaneously undersells dramatic moments (like the kid's abuse or the confrontation in the bar) while also making other scenes absolutely goofy. I realize that whole bit with the Joker striding into the bar is suppose to be tense or bad-ass or...something, but all I can think of is just how ridiculously 90s it feels. With the tattered long-coat and all black outfit, it feels like the only thing he's missing is a few spikes and some goddamned pouches.

And I can't shake the feeling that the artist liked the Joker's face from page 4 so much, he copy and pasted it for pages 6 and 7.

[obsidianwolf]

You know this would work so much better if it wasn't a Joker and Harley story.

IT would still be predictable but it wouldn't have the baggage that comes with staring two vastly over exposed characters.

ETA I mean take this Joker he might be imposing or interesting if this was just a dark story staring an unknown serial killer but the connection to the famous clown does him no favors.

For all the faults with the over top nature of the Joker for the last few decades he at least stands out. This generic serial killer just falls flat in comparison.