The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular

[cyberghostface]

“If Harley is a guffaw, Punchline is a quiet, creepy grin. If you imagine the angel and the devil on the Joker's shoulders, Harley is the angel that saw the best in the Joker and saw something human there and Punchline sees all the dark potential for the Joker and she is in love with that aspect of him." -- James Tynion IV

Comments

[lordultimus]

I feel that quote whitewashes Harley quite a bit. Most incarnations show her as a willing accomplice to Joker's crimes. And I'm not even including "blew up a school bus Harley".

[deh_tommy]

If I recall correctly, the full quote (or at least something similar to the one above) is less about whitewashing Harley and more something twofold: what is said above about Harley and Punchline’s views on the Joker, and the suggestion that if Harley is considered the angel in this scenario, then how bad does that make Punchline?

[magicrubbish]

It's typical DC inching away from characters who were originally meant to be villains once they become popular , nudging them towards hero-dom after slowly and eventually making the readers forget their starting points. Same with Slade Wilson. Same with Selina Kyle . Same with Harley Quin.

[phantomfo]

Not just DC. Marvel's been doing it, too. Venom, Loki, Magneto, Emma,

[magicrubbish]

Right ! Curse of popularity.

[cyberghostface]

It’s the opposite with Magneto. He was redeemed relatively early on by the writer who defined his character but Marvel pushed him back into being a villain.

[cricharddavies]

Wow, yeah, so terrifying. Portraying a typical nihilistic teenager as a depraved monster. How reminiscent of old men from the 70s trembling in terror about hippies, without anything like the Manson murders to substantiate the author's moral panic.

How very boring, in other words.

[cyberghostface]

I don't think there's any intended moral panic given that she's being marketed as the new "cool" villain by DC. Plus Tynion is pretty young himself, maybe ten years older than Punchline would be, so it's not like he's some old guy yelling at the clouds.

[cricharddavies]

Yes, well.

[lordultimus]

My problem is more that her origin is boring. I don't think you could make a compelling miniseries or movie on this like you could with Harley's origin.

[magicrubbish]

Am I the only one ) Huge Joker fan here btw ) who is absolutely bored and tired of all the jokers , clowns , jokes , riddles , punchlines , ROFLs and etc. ??? DC , can you please for the sake of Jesus and all things sacred move the eff on from all things Joker-y ??

[beeyo]

I always felt Endgame was the perfect chance to reinvent the Joker once more, but writers just keep coming back to this same horror movie monster version of him.

[kurenai_tenka]

Extremely bored of it; although I would never call myself a fan, and his over-saturation is the main cause of that.

[magicrubbish]

Over saturation being the keyword ! Thank God I'm not the only one .

[janegray]

Not gonna comment on the story, but I will say the art makes her design look A LOT better here. Without the constant hyperfocus on her boobs, her poses and expressions actually look creepy.

[redmagpie]

yeah, hard agree

[mastermahan]

Yes, when I buy a retrospective on the 80-year history of the Joker, I want a story about a character who first appeared three months ago.

[lego_joker]

It seems to be a rule with all of these 80-year anniversary issues - at least one story has to tie into an Event(tm) DC is currently running.

[scorntx]

Thanks to 2020, three months ago does feel like a long time...

(And it's not a proper anniversary celebration unless a new character's being plugged.
Remember how Crisis on Infinite Earths occasionally stopped to tell everyone how cool Yolanda Montez was?)

[jaxjyls]

Did she literally give a "We live in a Society" meme speech?

[cyberghostface]

No.

[donnblake]

So she's a disillusioned angry young person who's hooked into an extremist ideology that uses clown iconography, and strives for ambiguity as to whether it should be taken seriously as a political message or is all being done just 'for the lulz,' huh?

[shakalooloo]

So, uh, how old is Punchline?

[kurenai_tenka]

Yeah that was my takeaway reading it ('why is Joker dating a teenager?')

[deh_tommy]

She’s in college, so she’s probably in her twenties.

[kurenai_tenka]

18-21, surely? And I would imagine in her first year, based on the attitude towards being there.

Early twenties is the best case, and I still wouldn't be into that.

[scorntx]

Don't got nothing against Punchline especially, but at the moment, her being an extreme murder monster isn't exactly a compelling draw.

Still, she's not a year old yet. Give her five years, and see how she's developed then.
Assuming she isn't murdered or erased or just plain forgotten.

[mastermahan]

I couldn't remember if James Tynion IV had any significant DC creations before Punchline, so I looked it up. His most successful characters so far have been the Immortal Men and Calvin Rose. That's a rough precedent on lasting five years.

[shakalooloo]

I can't see this not ending with a writer having Harley kill her once her original creator has moved on.

[scorntx]

Probably not Harley, so long as DC keep plugging her as the Hot Stuff, but apart from that, yeah, sounds like what they'd do if Punchline doesn't set the world on fire.

[ap0cryphal]

On a broader level, I'm just a bit jaded by the current tendency to HYPE new characters like this.

Can you imagine, if, for example - before Mask of The Phantasm came out we had every cast interview going "well Andrea Beaumont represents the COST of what bruce had to give up, in MORE WAYS THAN ONE wink wink nudge nudge"

Just let the story and characters make a space on their own merits, is that too much to ask.

ETA: Like, this is going into almost death of author territory, but do we really need the equivalent of a wiki entry on the character BEFORE their first appearance? Intent is great, but at the end of the day, the execution (writing, art, composition) will carry the story.