NIFTY TEASER POSTER, HUH?
My friend Steffano brought up this link in his FB profile, and I squealed like a teenager at a Justin Beieber Concert….My HERO, is making his comeback to the comic media and it looks that it is going to be in a grand way. Here is the whole report from our friends at BIG SHINY ROBOT
The Joker Returns to the New 52 in October
When it comes to Batman the stakes are never higher than when the Joker is involved. He is the ultimate bad guy! And It’s been a while since the Joker has been around, but that will soon change. The last time we saw him was in the first issue of Detective Comics almost one year ago in which he cut his face off and disappeared. We were left wondering where and when the Joker will pop up again. Will he have a new face? We have seen the cut off face once since Detective Comics #1 and that was in Suicide Squad in which Harley Quinn breaks into the Gotham police department and steals it because she thinks he’s dead. She then goes on to tie up Deadshot, put the face on him, and pour her feelings out as if she were talking to the Joker to get closure. It was a moment in comics that made me feel icky! I also wonder if Harley will show up in this story and what her reaction will be when she finds out her “Puddin” isn’t dead.
Now that the Joker is returning I’m sure he has some sort of master plan in the works and we’ll find out what that is in “Death of a Family” this October from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. DC’s blog gives us a couple of hints of where the story will be going:
“The Joker will come out of the dark in a horrifying, unnerving, and huge way. And the grave consequences of his reemergence will be felt by not only the Bat-family, but by all of Gotham City. He crippled Batgirl. He killed Robin. What will The Joker do next? And what must Batman do to protect his secret identity and that of those who fight alongside him?”
Both creators seem to be pumped to be working on this story, here are their thoughts that they shared with DC’s blog about the upcoming story.
Scott Snyder:
“Joker is my favorite villain of all time,” Snyder told THE SOURCE. “Not just in comics. In everything – film, books, TV. He’s the greatest, hands down. So this story is something extremely important and personal to me – something I’ve been building in my head ever since I started working in Gotham. Basically, this is my big exploration of the Joker, my ARKHAM ASYLUM or THE KILLING JOKE, only bigger in scope. Bottom line: it’s the biggest, baddest, most shocking Joker story I could tell. This is Joker completely unleashed. He has been away for a full year planning this revenge, watching, plotting, setting things up. And now he’s back. He has his traps set, his knives sharpened… And wait ’til you see him. Greg’s sketches literally gave me chills. Point blank: This is Joker like you’ve never seen him before. He has a mission. He has a secret. And he has a serious axe to grind with Batman. It isn’t going to be pretty, but it’s going to be a wild ride. Thanks for taking it with us.”
Greg Capullo:
“When Scott told me that he’d written a Joker story for our next arc, I couldn’t contain my excitement,” added Capullo. “Talk about a dream come true! For me, the Joker is the ultimate rogue and the villain I most wanted to draw. I gotta tell you, after hearing what the story is about, this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare! A macabre and bloody, flesh crawling nightmare. We hope you’ll have the nerve to face what’s coming. Warning: It ain’t for the faint of heart!”
Batman #13 On sale on October 10, 2012
I can’t wait to see what Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have in storage for us. Hopefully it will make the Joker shine with his own perverse sense of humor in a story well written, beautifully illustrated and with the correct characterization. THREE MORE MONTHS FOLKS!
(Picture courtesy of BIG SHINY ROBOT and original link provided by Steffano Joseph Kerr. Release date provided by DC Blogs))
… Back again / J-man’s back! / Tell a friend! (Oh come on, you were all thinking it!)
So help me if they don’t write the Joker well, if they don’t make this the epic J Vs. Bats battle they are promising me it will be, then I am going to be completely done with DC’s new line-up. If this isn’t a return to J being a sick mastermind and psychological manipulator as well as a killer, then you will have officially jumped the shark with him for me. I have put up with a LOT of crap from you with how you’ve treated Modern!Edgy!Joker in the past in your comics, DC, and I’m sick of you making him a Ledger!Joker clone.You have one shot at impressing me as a Joker fan and one shot at getting me into the New 52. Do not f**k this up.
I am seriously anticipating this and I am not sure at this point what I’ll do if it’s not what I expect it to be. I’ve been burned so, so many times with recent Joker tales and I’m not going to let myself get burned again. I just want the Joker to actually make me smile and make my skin crawl at the same time again; I want him to be a criminal mastermind again. That’s all I want. And so help me, this had BETTER be good if you’re comparing it to Killing Joke and SHOSE – you do NOT throw titles like those around lightly, and you do not utter them about your story unless you are going to make it a seriously dark, introspective, interesting, twisted take on the Joker where he’s more than just a killer in clown makeup for once.
I’m so scared this will be a let-down, and the gory details they’re promising will extend to just seeing Faceless!Joker for a few panels, seeing him stitch his face back on, and then seeing him go on yet another Goddamn killing spree like we’ve seen since before the reboot, and which was already tired before the reboot. This is your chance to bring the Joker back to his roots, DC. This is your chance to actually make him a wildcard again instead of just a psychopathic killer. This is your chance to make me squirm and shudder and fear the Joker again, as I feared what he would do in Killing Joke and as I feared what he would do in so many other amazing tales before it. It’s your chance to make him know what’s going on when everyone else doesn’t, your chance to redeem yourself for all of the impossibly savvy things Godmode!Joker has done in the past (and really shouldn’t have been able to do with Batman around; I’m looking at you, Devil’s Advocate). It’s your chance to finally, FINALLY make this character sound like Mark Hamill to me when I read his words and your chance to make me feel like the Fourth Wall Will Not Protect Me from him. Scare me, DC. Terrify me. Make me laugh, make me cry, and make me shiver. I want to see a REAL comedy act from my Clown Prince for once, and this is your big moment to do it.
I have a pretty good feeling about any guy who says they adore the Joker in all media. I have a good feeling about a writer that is passionate about the character, just as much as I am. I think only good things can come from this, if the author is as excited and passionate about this as he seems to be. After all, once you let the Joker fans start taking the reigns, they’re bound to bring him back to what he used to be, and what he should be – just as much a psychological threat as a physical threat to your life, just as likely to torture and torment you as kill you, and every bit as equivalent a dangerously savvy, charming, almost funny monster as he is an intelligent, fiendish mastermind. You’ve got a lot to live up to, Scott and Greg, but I trust you based on how you feel about this character, and how excited you are to bring him back after a year of absence (which IMHO, was the right thing to do – we need to De-Joker every so often; he’s so polarizing to the fanbase that we NEED a break from him every so often). Don’t let us Joker fans down. Time will tell if you become the next Timm and Dini for the Joker… or if you write the equivalent of ASBAR for the Joker.
And wow that was long.