Do you think the Joker should be given a backstory, yes or no and why?

[kcomics]

Okay, the new 52 Joker leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion, but the earlier detective comics, not the Golden Age, but more the Silver and Bronze Age (the ones that weren't too campy, yuck!) portrayed Batman sort of like a Sherlock Holmes in a cape and cowl and the Joker was his Professor Moriaty. Not just a mass murdering psychopath, Joker was portrayed as a sophisticated mannerly criminal genius (even in the cartoons, he's well-versed in chemistry and machines, and we find out in one of the comics--Batman Europa, that he also speaks fluent French) who antagonized Batman just for the thrill of it but also sort of treated him like his annoying little brother or best "frenemy" and would come to his aid if he felt like someone else was going to get the honor of taking him out (like in Batman and Robin must Die) or if teaming up were more conducive to his plans than killing him at the time.

There are a few odd fan theories, one that Joker is actually Thomas Wayne Jr., Batman's estranged older brother--(personally, I would like to see a story arc that explores this idea. Maybe Batman thinks this is a possibility and this is why he inexplicably saves the Joker over and over again even though he commits heinous crimes and betrays the bat's trust?) That Killing Joke origin story was also pretty good, and there's a lot of really cool things you could potentially do with Joker, given what he knows and what he's capable of--since he knows enough to always be at least one step ahead of Batman, maybe he was once a master detective who was duped into becoming the bad guy and the ACE chemical plan thing was the breaking point (he certainly seemed brilliant enough in Batman and Robin must Die)? Personally, I would like to see them delve more deeply into the Joker's "super sanity" and give us an idea of how it works. Maybe the Joker knows how things usually turn out and so thinks he's doing good by doing bad? There's a little evidence for this in the older comics. They shouldn't have introduced the concept if it wasn't a real thing; plot holes don't always make a great story. Think about it. This guy is portrayed as having some serious brains; he's outwitted the police to pull off many many elaborate and deadly pranks, successfully killed Batman (in Emperor Joker), and won an insanity plea for every crime he actually committed (and somehow duped everyone into just throwing him back into his hideout--well, Joker, you've killed 100 people, so we're sending you back home so that you can escape and do it again! In the rare instances the Joker is framed for sloppy crimes and almost given the death penalty, we're introduced to the idea that Joker's insanity pleas for his own heinous crimes aren't automatically granted but are the result of careful planning.) I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to see Batman's world from Joker's twisted point of view; much more than a crazy murdering psychopath, this character has been portrayed as a very intelligent, suave, sophisticated, and sometimes surprisingly sportsmanlike criminal mastermind.

I know they made a campy version called Joker in the seventies, but they ignored a lot of the original nature of the character; the guy who appeared in The Man who Laughs wasn't the same guy we saw in those later comics. One was a criminal genius who could send chills up your spine; the other was a simple clown. One could have probably taken on James Bond; the other was barely a match for an actor dressed as Sherlock Holmes.

Plus, Joker has more history in the comics than Harley Quinn; it seems like he should be as redeemable and relatable. Trying to retcon really good material and make a complex multi-dimensional character "pure evil" and, therefore, one-dimensional, just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. People love to root for this villain, why not make him more of a human being, even if it's an incredibly complex super mysterious, probably still violent, human being?

I realize some of these things are written for kids, but I would like to read a Batman story with substance for a change! The new 52 Joker series was, well, a joke. It turned a Professor Moriaty in clown face into a simple gruesome mass murderer with almost none of that old theatrical Joker we all like so much. Sure, it's Joker, so it fits, but if that is where the new 52 is taking this iconic super villain, I think they are making a mistake. I would rather read about a guy who has Gotham in his grasp, not through brute force but through ingenious schemes. The cartoons give us the idea that Joker is really good at team building and gaining his victims' trust; he apparently has no problem rallying a gang of Batman's biggest and baddest super villains to pull off a big master plan if he needs to, but he's also dangerous and unpredictable, so unpredictable that even his allies are wary.

Okay, so you might have to be a Joker and Batman fan (or just a Joker fan) to know where I'm coming from, but what do you think? Don't you think they are wasting this character by refusing to develop him any further than they have? I mean, anything would fit with Joker; you could even have him traveling into outer space or breaking the forth wall to have a conversation with his readers. You could make him into an immortal demon or a relative of Batman, or anything interesting in between--it would all fit...