Hold on, before you start sending us hate mail – this could work.
The Joker is a character that has been around for over 70 years and in that time he’s
gone through many changes.
So why not take the clown prince of crime and make him the protagonist of his own book
in 2017.
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for more.
It Makes Sense in lore One of the best books for understanding The
Joker and why he does what he does, is Grant Morrison’s ‘Arkham Asylum: A Serious House
on Serious Earth’.
The book features the Joker’s therapist, who has run numerous tests on the Joker and
has found that the Joker chooses to invent himself nearly every day.
This is why the Joker is less a character and more a plot device for whatever writers
want to do.
The Joker’s constant re-invention is why he changes so drastically between stories,
why his motivations are so unclear and why he can be a harmless jokester one day, and
a maniac the next.
This means that one day The Joker could wake up and re-invent himself as a hero of sorts,
it would need to be explained in book that he does this – but it would all make sense
in the peculiar mind of the clown prince of crime.
It Would Add Depth to His Character The Joker turning face brings a whole lot
of questions that a good writer would love to explore.
What’s the Jokers motivation behind being a hero?
Is it the set up for one of his own crimes, or has he genuinely changed sides?
These are questions that would be absolutely fascinating to both the reader and the writer,
and it could be made a real mystery as the series progresses.
We have seen super villains become good guys for dark, selfish reasons before, such as
in the acclaimed Dan Slott series ‘Superior Spider-Man’.
It would also allow us to analyse how he differs from Batman in his approach to fighting crime,
it could even pit him against The Bat, who would understandably be concerned that the
Joker is acting so bizarrely.
It’s hard to root against him The Joker is so ridiculously popular that
fans are rooting for him anyway, he has reached a point in popularity where fans don’t love
to hate him, they just love him – getting him to be a good guy would make sense given
current fan reaction.
Whenever the Joker walks into a panel, his die-hard fans are ecstatic and want to see
him do more.
We’ve reached a point over the years where it’s impossible to get anyone to hate the
most popular villain in comics.
So he isn’t the most effective adversary for Batman to fight anymore.
He simply doesn’t draw that negative reaction from the fans.
In the world of professional wrestling, when a bad guy gets really popular and starts getting
the cheers, they will make him a good guy so he can chase that title.
The Joker has most definitely reached that level, and a book that stars him could be
just what DC needs to sell issues, considering how low comic sales are at the moment.
He Can Still Be the Joker The main counter argument that the Joker should
remain a villain is that being a good guy would be a betrayal of the clown’s character.
This is simply not true.
Apart from the fact that it wouldn’t interfere with the pre-established lore of the character
(rebirth or not), the Joker doesn’t have to be a by the numbers good guy who helps
old ladies down the street.
He can be a Deadpool like character where he does bad things but tends to do them to
bad people, he could still even be at odds with Batman, and face off against other villains.
This doesn’t mean that he has to fall into the trap of edgy anti-heroes either.
The Joker has so many unique traits, such as his pranks, elaborate traps and personality
that would stop him from going too far down the 90s rabbit hole.
In fact, you wouldn’t necessarily need the Joker to act much differently, just change
the opponents that he faces.
There’s more opportunity to create new super villains for him to fight
If there’s one major problem that the comics industry has, it’s that all of its iconic
characters are over forty years old.
Even cooler new villains like Hush and Bloom get left in the shadow of Two Face, The Joker
and Lex Luthor.
If there’s any character who could get eyes on some brand new villains, and make them
popular, it’s the Joker.
Giving the Joker a new mortal enemy, other than Batman would completely solidify them
as a staple of DC provided they were well written.
When a new villain fights Batman, they have to stand out from the rest of his impressive
Rogues Gallery.
The Joker has no pre-existing Rogues Gallery, which means that you can start a new, and
give him some new enemies to fight and also make more use of older enemies who haven’t
quite gotten their due yet.
It Can Be Used to Improve the Three Jokers Plotline
At the time of this video DC have three Jokers running about.
This was meant as a sales booster, to finally discover the origins of the Joker.
It was met with negative reception from fans and critics, but it does serve as a window
for the Joker to fight crime in his own storyline.
With three Jokers to choose from, and a retcon being near imminent, it could be the perfect
time to experiment with the story using one of the three Jokers without damaging the character’s
reputation.
It also means that the Joker could at one-point fight himself.
More importantly it would give more purpose to a storyline that fans are currently not
happy with.
While it’s almost guaranteed that the Joker’s face turn would be met with hostility at first,
there is plenty of time to win hardcore comic fans over.
It Opens Doors for a Joker Solo Movie At this point in time, comics are more of
a formality for comic book companies.
All the real money comes from movie deals and adaptations, which is why from a business
perspective, a superhero Joker opens up doors for a Joker solo movie.
DC already know that a movie starring all villains will sell, because of Suicide Squad,
so a Joker solo movie should be able to pull in a lot of money in not only ticket sales,
but home video and merchandising.
The comic book would serve for a good testing ground, as DC and Marvel rarely want to take
a risk with an idea that has not already been testing in comic book format to some degree.
If the comic did well, then you could guarantee a financially successful movie to come out
of it.
It Doesn’t Have to Be the Only Version of the Joker
We mentioned earlier that it could be one of three Jokers, but it doesn’t even have
to be in the main continuity.
This could be done as an alternate universe story.
With the many alternate reality takes on the Joker, it would be easy to fit the Joker in
as a hero in one of those many realities.
This means that you can have a Joker series running alongside DC’s other titles, that
doesn’t have to adhere to any big crossover events that could potentially de-rail the
story.
It also prevents the main universe Joker from changing, if fans are really opposed to such
a change.
It could even be used in a reality where Batman and the Joker swap roles, and the Joker is
trying to stop Batman from committing crime, if we really want to be cliché.
It could lend itself to a wildly different tone as well, being anything from campy silver
age, to gritty and grim like the one shot “Joker” comic by Brian Azarello.
Arkham Asylum Could Provide the Setting One of the best things about Batman as a serious
is how strong and iconic a landmark Arkham Asylum is.
Assuming DC didn’t want to make a Joker ongoing series, Arkham would make for a great
setting for a Joker one shot.
Arkham has everything you need for a Joker story, a claustrophobic, creepy atmosphere,
a long, fleshed out history and most importantly tons of villains and psychiatrists that could
give the book its own unique identity.
With plenty of villains to fight, the Joker could turn over a new leaf, just for that
one day, fight off a villain uprising in the asylum and then wake up the very next day,
bad to the bone yet again.
It could make for a great one off story that could add more layers to the Joker’s character
– without interfering too much with DC’s canon.
The Joker Has Become Stale as a Character There needs to be something to give this character
new life.
The Joker has been Batman’s big bad for so long, and he has been crammed down the
audience’s throat so many times that he mostly succeeds in taking the spotlight off
of other villains.
While there are a lot of fans that think the Joker needs a break, it’s only part of the
problem.
The Joker as a character has become stale, and he needs something to breathe new life
into him.
It doesn’t matter what villainous antics get him to do, it’s never enough to shock
the audience and ultimately it’s all been done before.
What the Joker needs is something new and unique, Batman has other villains that he
should be fighting, and DC should be making more bankable characters out of those villains.
Give Batman a break from the Joker, and let Mr. J himself do something that hasn’t been
done before.
While some may view it as blasphemy, it could be just what the character needs.
That’s are list and those our reasons, be sure to comment below and tell us how wrong
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