The Joker Appreciation Thread

[Master Planner]

That's a punchline!!!




We need more mooks with nicknames.Chucles and Chortles seems quite fun nicknames.

[Vil_Dee]

Well,that scene was a tribute to that silver age bizzare plot.In another issue of the same series,Joker is torturing a short,bald guy who looks quite similar with Danny DeVito,sort of a nod for Batman Returns.

I believe there was also a scene where he's in a panda bear suit holding a plunger. I wonder what that was a nod too.

[Vil_Dee]

More pictures to stoke your coulrophobia

[Master Planner]

Joker's first crime.I just love Joker's debut.He is just a murderous thrill seeker and a professional thief.Much better than "kill,kill,kill" and "life is just a joke" modern Joker.

[Vil_Dee]

I just love Joker's debut.He is just a murderous thrill seeker and a professional thief.Much better than "kill,kill,kill" and "life is just a joke" modern Joker.

Joker's my Number One Guy. Not my favorite character but the easiest to kind of geek over, and kind of geek-bond about. I've always loved how seriously fans, especially casual fans, regard him - not being particularly aware of the trope of the Unreliable Narrator. He's not a force of chaos. He's not irreparably insane. He's got a motive. But good luck discerning it from the chaos he surrounds himself with!

The ultra-modern baptism. He's a character that really says a lot about modern society, and it's no wonder writers keep wanting to use him as a cipher for their postmodern philosophies - but really Joker's just a dash of Dada and a heavy dose of Romanticism - that is, the negative side of Romanticism as applied to "urban sprawl" and industrialization, whereas Batman's the whole Gothic Romance revival side of the coin.


I think what appealed to me, always, for Joker (and what clearly isn't the main appeal for a lot of the guys writing him these days) is the same thing that appeals to me in less disfigured characters - that very urban, street smart, con man vibe. The well dressed gentleman of crime (with a twist). I mean everything about him feels street performance; card tricks, hustling, a suit-jacket with magician-esque gags stitched into it. His constant escapes from death speak of Harry Houdini, his card tricks and fixation speak of historic and fictional con-men - the Ocean's 11, Catch Me If You Can, White Collar vibe. Casinos and diamond heists, but with the catch of being the Wild Card.

It's never the slightly supernatural or meta nature of him that makes me love him - it's the street level. How he feels more like someone born and raised in Old Town Gotham than Bruce could ever be. Always playing the Game, bucking the system, his heroes the notorious American Outlaws - looking for infamy for himself but never quite getting it - until the day Batman Made Him Famous.

Although I can live without the supernatural, meta, avatar of chaos depictions of him, I can't say that I would want every Joker outing to be something akin to Laughing Fish or some other zany caper. Firstly, because I don't see how he could maintain his number one Batman villain status in a world with immortal global terrorists, devil worshiping ancestors and murderous secret societies. Joker needed to evolve as Batman did in order to stay relevant. I mean, only recently have they been able to successfully revamp Penguin and the Riddler, and lets face it, they accomplished this by making them much more violent.

And I just prefer the modern interpretation. I like the psychological warfare. Two individuals who appear like complete polar opposites and yet inwardly very similar, locked in a never-ending, mutually obsessive, increasingly destructive (occasionally psychosexual), battle for the soul of a city (or the hero himself).

I feel like the age of con men has long been over. They still exist, but the world is apathetic towards them. There's just too many greater horrors out there.

[ABH]

Joker's first crime.I just love Joker's debut.He is just a murderous thrill seeker and a professional thief.Much better than "kill,kill,kill" and "life is just a joke" modern Joker.

Joker is awesome here, while Bruce be like "Stop the Joker? No, not yet -- let me smoke my pipe".

[Master Planner]

Joker is awesome here, while Bruce be like "Stop the Joker? No, not yet -- let me smoke my pipe".

Well,Batman at the beginning was more like Sherlock Holmes,in term that he saw those challenges as a sport.

[Master Planner]

Although I can live without the supernatural, meta, avatar of chaos depictions of him, I can't say that I would want every Joker outing to be something akin to Laughing Fish or some other zany caper. Firstly, because I don't see how he could maintain his number one Batman villain status in a world with immortal global terrorists, devil worshiping ancestors and murderous secret societies. Joker needed to evolve as Batman did in order to stay relevant. I mean, only recently have they been able to successfully revamp Penguin and the Riddler, and lets face it, they accomplished this by making them much more violent.

And I just prefer the modern interpretation. I like the psychological warfare. Two individuals who appear like complete polar opposites and yet inwardly very similar, locked in a never-ending, mutually obsessive, increasingly destructive (occasionally psychosexual), battle for the soul of a city (or the hero himself).

I feel like the age of con men has long been over. They still exist, but the world is apathetic towards them. There's just too many greater horrors out there.

It's a matter of taste,but I always loved a more insane(in a funny way) Joker.Englehearts Joker would always be my favorite version of the character.Laughing Fish and Dark Detective are my favorite in my bat collection,along with Batman#1 and Joker Utility Belt story(my favorite silver age story).

Also,i miss Joker with hat and a trench coat.He looked so smooth and noir-ish.

[RubberLotus]

Count me in with the crowd that likes the Joker as a sleazy, slick, con-man type character first and foremost. The guy is so talented at deciphering human beings that he can make himself seem like an absolute blast to be around as long as you're not in the firing line.

I think that might be why Chuck Dixon's take remains my most favorite of all time. I'll see if I can rustle up some scans later.

[Xrated48]

Favorite villian of all time, nobody can beat him as far as that goes.

[Vil_Dee]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Laughing Fish, Dark Detective type also. I just don't want that to be the only way he is depicted all the time. People already doubting his planning skills as it is. The Joker can have big plans, people! He tired to turn Guatemala into a Joker theme park!




Speaking of scary looking Jokers, damn.

[The Nuke]

Love him. Love the idea of him. And I for one love the whole meta, avatar of Chaos, etc. rep he gets.

I just love that concept. That because there is an order, there has to be a chaos. I love how he and Bats are two sides of the same coin. That personal relationship he has with the hero makes him standout from the rest.

[Master Planner]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Laughing Fish, Dark Detective type also. I just don't want that to be the only way he is depicted all the time. People already doubting his planning skills as it is. The Joker can have big plans, people! He tired to turn Guatemala into a Joker theme park!

One of the most underrated Joker stories.I love that kind of absurd plots.Turning a nation into your own personal theme park?That's creative insanity.

[CapeandCowl]

Speaking of overrated Joker stories, I gave Death In the Family a go and was terribly disappointed. I expected more for the hype surrounding it.Same with the Grant Morrison Batman & Robin appearance of the Joker. Except for a decent cliffhanger, he was not the main attraction of the story which I despised.

[Enigmatic Undead]

The first two issues of "A Death In the Family" are excellent. The next two issues where Joker becomes the Iranian Ambassador are absolutely ridiculous.