Batman #100

[cyberghostface]

 

Comments

[nyadnar17]

So the moral of the story is Jason Todd was right?

I really hope he gets an apology after this Joker obsession is finally done with....for hopefully like 5-10 years.

[cyberghostface]

He told the the Joker how to escape after Harley put him in a situation (and we later find out he did). It’s not the same as Jason trying to murder him. It’s not even like that bit in Batman Begins where he goes “I don’t have to save you” to Ra’s.

[janegray]

I've always believed that Jason is right.

Doesn't change the fact that Batman is the protagonist, not Jason, and the comics really need to stop putting the spotlight on the fact that locking the Joker in Arkham never did a thing to stop him from torturing and murdering people.

If you are never going to really address an issue, stop bringing it up.

[lucean]

That's actually a pretty elegant solution. Although the big question is how they bring the Joker back from this, but this seems like something that puts the character to the background for a few years at least.

[iamrman]

You mean DC will have to use different Batman villains now?

[cyberghostface]

We find out later he was able to follow Batman’s instructions to escape although he fakes his death with a victim’s corpse and plans to go on an extended vacation.

[alicemacher]

Bottom line: Warner is a business and the Joker one of its most profitable trademarks. He will die for good when he stops making the company money in films, broadcast TV, streaming video, and especially licensing (video games, miscellaneous merch). (And oh yeah maybe a little in comic book sales.) Until that happens, Joker ain't goin' nowhere. Not for long, and for sure not permanently.

Of course, that wouldn't prevent DC editors from having writers take a genuinely fresh approach to the Joker, rather than have him decimate (in the precise sense of the word) the population of Gotham, while monologuing about the cruel absurdity of life, in every appearance. If his mere name (brand) is enough to sell product, that means the publisher can well afford to be more creative with his characterization and plots.

[cyberghostface]

I wouldn’t mind seeing an approach similar to what Telltale did but he’s too popular as a villain for it to last long.

[lego_joker]

My proposal (which I might've shared here before) is still this: someone, maybe Jason, maybe Helena, successfully kills him, and his spirit winds up in the Dreaming for a couple of years, becoming Morpheus' newest horror host.

It'd put him in a situation where he can't tangibly affect anything in the DCU, but can still torment and corrupt people through words alone. While giving him enough facetime to support a monthly.

[silverhammerman]

Not the worst ending for the character, and satisfying both as a character beat for Harley Quinn and as Batman repudiating the idea that he'll consistently prioritize the Joker's life over basically anything else.

That said, all I can think is that it'll probably be two years at most before we get a big "The Joker's back, baby! And he's deadlier than ever!" storyline.

[cyberghostface]

Fwiw he’s not dead here. Although he’ll probably be gone for a bit as he kills a guy with his Joker gas to make people think it’s his body.

[superfangirl1]

It was weird having Joker making a point about corporate greed companies that suck the blood of people for profits.

I feel Harley character has written well. But don’t like that Harley now knows Batman's identity is a bit unsettling.

So at the end. The Joker escaped, not shown how he did it. But yet he sits around a diner with his hoodie up and no one notices him?

People all around the city should recognize him his face after what he has done.

[lordultimus]

*Looks at cover, sees Harley on the hero side and Ivy on the villain side*

Is Ivy evil AGAIN?

[cyberghostface]

The Joker War Zone issue indicated she was going to become a villain again after Punchline burned down Eden.

[lucean]

I also think a core problem is that Ivy is basically the only high level female villain in the Batbooks, in addition to Talia at times, so I can see the need to bring her back to the dark side. I just wish they would commit to it as comics perplexing need to redeem major female villains is an issue not discussed enough.

[zachbeacon]

Can we talk about how deeply messed up the use of Alfred is here? It wasn't enough to kill him?

[superfangirl1]

I agree. That was kind of cruel to do to Alfred.

[john_wyatt]

I was naive enough to think Batman #100 would end with a win for Bats and at feel like a conclusion. Nope. It's very much a middle, with a promised New Status Quo (TM) staring him in the face. Didn't feel like a win to me. None of the killers (including Joker, Clownhunter, Punchline, etc) face any consequences for their murders.
I'm also a little disappointed they couldn't find a panel to put Damian in.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

So, has Joker lost an eye now?

And I don't get the whole "can't kill Joker because he's a popular big deal that makes money for Warner" thing. The Burton film did it. More recently/relevantly, the Arkham games did it.

Besides, isn't DC's main purpose with comics like Marvel's, to be an idea farm for movies, cartoons, etc? Surely there's enough by now that they can step away for a bit, dead or no. Hell, plenty of unused ideas there, I'm sure.

On top of that, every new iteration in whatever media gives us some new take on Batman/Joker, why can't the comics be our place to escape from that?

Or is this like how Marvel decided that the decades long-running comic series couldn't be the one place where Peter Parker actually got to grow up and show character development?

[cyberghostface]

“More recently/relevantly, the Arkham games did it.”

And then the next game was a Joker-centered prequel. The game after that had Joker’s ‘ghost’ follow Batman around for most of the game.

Just as he’s popular with fans he’s probably popular with writers. Every Batman writer will want to do their big Joker story. Killing him off will serve no purpose because whoever comes next will bring him back.

[palgrave_goldenrod]

I think the Joker's been overused recently as much as anyone, but to be frank, refusing to buy the "can't kill Joker because he's a popular big deal that makes money for Warner" argument is just willfully ignoring reality.

Like it or not, the Joker's been an iconic villain beloved by millions of readers, viewers and writers for about eighty years now. His solo movie just made a billion dollars, and the movie he was in before that, on top of also probably making about a billion dollars by this point, is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic book movies of all time. He is literally one of the most famous and influential characters ever. So any comics editor who seriously and willfully decided to kill him off forever and ever and that DC Comics would refuse to ever accept any more stories featuring the Joker would almost certainly be shitcanned by the end of the day he made that particular announcement, and rightly so frankly.

Yeah, they could stand use him a bit less these days, but the Joker's never going away.

[beyondthefringe]

On the one hand, it's nice that they didn't insult our intelligence by pretending for a second that the Joker is dead, since no reader, and certainly not Batman, would believe it.

On the other, this felt remarkably inconclusive, and it's frustrating that it allllll played into Joker's big plan even though he "lost."

So do we now get a more grounded Batman with fewer resources, or will they wave the magic money wand?

[cyberghostface]

I think Lucius Fox has all of Wayne’s money now.

[magnetoisright]

So Bruce literally told the mass murderer who has killed thousands of people how he could escape death and get away scot free so he can murder more people and he's supposed to be the hero

Sure Jan

In case anyone's curious in this very issue the Joker horribly murders an innocent man less than a month later so that's yet another innocent person who'd still be alive if Bruce Wayne wasn't a moron and yet more friends and family members of the victim who wouldn't be burying someone in a pine box if Bruce was actually good at his job

[cyberghostface]

Harley Quinn's a mass murderer as well, are you mad he rescued her too?