Batman Annual #5

[cyberghostface]

Comments

[lucean]

I'm really digging the new version of Leslie Thompkins they brought back.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Motto.

[silverhammerman]

It's the height of the superhero comics highly contingent ethics that every other character talks about and to this multiple murderer like he's an At-Risk Teen. That's not a criticism, the ship sailed on this stuff making sense when Jason Todd finished his transformation from DC Punisher into the Raphael of Batman's personal TMNT, but the particular way this has been presented is genuinely really funny because of how on-the-nose it is.

Additional big LOL at Leslie Thompkins performing the unenviable task of trying to defend not just killing the Joker.

Stokoe seems like kind of a strange choice for the artist for this story, going by these pages. I love Stokoe, but his art tends towards the more bombastic and grody, and this seems almost like a waste.

[cyberghostface]

He’s a multiple murderer in that he was defending his neighborhood from psychopaths who had taken over the city. Batman’s characterization in trying to get him psychiatric help (in part because no one in his neighborhood would rat him out and in part because he doesn’t want to see him becoming even more violent behind bars) makes sense.

[dan_ingram]

Agreed.

Clownhunter shouldn't be regarded as a lost cause just yet. He was actively defending people who had no one else, and while he killed some of the Joker's people, he likely saved more lives in doing so.

[silverhammerman]

I don't mean to put it down, it's the same logic that any action movie hero follows and having him on the road to rehabilitation is interesting and makes sense for these characters today. It's just very funny that this dude is like "I've killed before, and I plan to kill again! I set a man on fire! I'm so fucked up!" and Leslie Thompkins is up there like "Sweet child, we have some wonderful anger management classes here." It's almost like they're talking down to him, and it's very funny to me.

Thinking about it a little more, this is maybe kind of a move towards a post-carceral Batman, which is certainly an idea I've pondered in the past, and having him trying to rehabilitate someone so extremely is a way of really pushing that idea. It's cool, just a little silly if you look at it a certain way.

[donnblake]

Yeah, this seems like the sort of case where they'd toss him in Arkham and he'd bust out a year later and start mutilating innocent circus performers. Keeping him *out* of the Gotham justice system is probably the best bet for all involved.

[deh_tommy]

I didn’t expect to like Bao as much as I do.

[tcampbell1000]

Cover: "i cannot tell a lie. it was the joker who chopped down the cherry tree. we should kill him."

[janegray]

While my intense dislike for Leslie is well-documented, I'm genuinely glad she talked him out of the costumed business. Chances of it sticking are low (and heck, even if it does, a writer might decide it would be funny to blow up the bus), but I'm hoping the kid actually manages to keep his happy-ish ending.

[lego_joker]

It's just occurred to me today how ironic it is that Denny O'Neil created both Leslie and Ra's, when the very existence of the latter in the DCU basically makes sure no reader has any reason to take anything the former says even half-seriously.

[jaxjyls]

Not really buying any of the 'not killing' Joker arguements

[cyberghostface]

Not surprised given how much you hate him.

[jaxjyls]

No surprising coming from the resident Joker fan, also I'm the guy who hates Jason, not Joker

[cyberghostface]

What? Who told you I was a Joker fan?