Originally Posted by
Tzigone
I kind of agree. He often ends up more like a force of nature than an actual character. Even, dare I say it, some sort of evil god. I don't like Batgod, and I certainly don't want to see Jokergod.
I'm not really big on funny Joker, either, but I'll agree it's gross. Intentionally so, of course. But it's par for the course, with actions/stories getting increasingly big in scale, and increasingly "shocking" - be that through number of deaths or grotesqueness or whatnot. They always have to one-up the last outing. Not my thing.
Strongly disagree there. Despite his name, he was not funny on origin, and that's probably my single favorite story featuring him.
I also think the Joker needs to be less about Batman. They even made fun of it with Legos. For me, Lex Luthor can be consumed with Superman (though not a requirement), but the Joker should not be with Batman. Certainly he has laser-focused been for a long time, but I think I prefer old school where sure, sometimes he taunts Batman, but he's got way more things going on and has life outside Batman. And wants to steal jewels occasionally or whatnot.
For a long time now there's been a sort of setup where the Joker at least wouldn't be what he is without the Batman, where Batman's presence indirectly ends up causing the mass deaths. That's not a good thing to me. I, at least, generally prefer the versions where Lex would have basically done most of the same evil things regardless of Superman's existence (and began doing them before ever met Superman - don't like the childhood buddies bit). I think heroes shouldn't be the reason villains cause the deaths of scores of innocents. At least if they are, only very sparingly. At this point, given how many the Joker kills, and how often it's been specifically to taunt Batman, one has to wonder if Batman causes a net loss of life for Gotham. Still doesn't make the Joker's actions Batman's fault, of course. I guess if he was doing all the same things before Batman ever appeared, and Batman is just a focal point in the present, it's not as bad. Still not fan.