The second and closing situation of DC’s Knight Terrors: The Joker miniseries, revealed this week, delves deeper into the fantasy world conjured by new supervillain Insomnia.
In case you have not been maintaining with the Knight Terrors occasion, the DC world has been hit with a “Nightmare Wave” which has plunged all of the heroes and villains into terrifying fantasy lands constructed round their worst fears – and even characters just like the Joker are struggling to make sense of their new atmosphere.
The collection raises the query of what precisely the Clown Prince of Crime is afraid of. The conclusion of the two-issue arc, by author Matthew Rosenberg and artist Stefano Raffaele, delivers a muddled reply, however does so in an entertaining and broadly amusing vogue. Spoilers from right here on in…
Final month’s #1 appeared to counsel that, in some methods, the Joker fears his personal success – the enjoyment of his twisted relationship with Batman is, partially, its countless nature. When he succeeds in really ‘killing’ the Darkish Knight (keep in mind, that is merely a fantasy with no wider ramifications for precise Batman) he derives no pleasure from it. The sport is over and it is ambiguous if he was even chargeable for Bats’ demise – he slipped and fell off a roof. Very unsatisfying.
The Joker then grows more and more listless. Positive, he is bought the rotting corpse of his final foe hanging up in his closet, however what is the level of being a supervillain if you do not have a mortal enemy to check you? One in every of his goons suggests killing Superman subsequent, however that won’t ever occur. Gaggy suggests executing Inexperienced Arrow as an alternative, which merely elicits a bored “Yeah. I suppose we may kill him. No matter.”
The Joker’s life grows more and more mundane. Ultimately he will get an workplace job (working at Wayne Enterprises, inevitably) underneath the identify Johann Kaiser, however he nonetheless cannot fairly discover a solution to really feel comfy, both as a part of the workforce or in his sporadic makes an attempt to trigger chaos. His solely solace seems to be watching reruns of Actual Housewives.
So is the purpose right here merely that the Joker fears the boredom and pressures of an on a regular basis life? Probably, however the comedian subverts that by making “Johann” concurrently each a diligent workplace employee who will get upset when no one needs to hang around with him after work and nonetheless a violent psychopath who often murders rival gamers at firm baseball video games.
#2 delves extra into the thriller of who’s defending Gotham’s streets within the Caped Crusader’s absence. In some way, Batman is lifeless, however nonetheless roaming the streets (once more, it is a dream and follows its personal disjointed logic). The Joker is eager to know who’s underneath the cowl and solely grows extra obsessed when he learns that this new model of Bats is extra violent than the unique and likes to crack jokes whereas killing individuals – sound acquainted?
Sure, evidently one other side of the Joker’s worry is that sooner or later both Batman will develop into an excessive amount of like him or maybe that he may begin figuring out together with his enemy only a bit an excessive amount of. The Joker’s final line earlier than he wakes up from his nightmare, in any case, is a shocked cry of “We want him!”
In a typically confused comedian the which means of that line is no less than clear. When he says “we” he actually means “I”. It is the Joker who wants Batman essentially the most, as he at all times has, and a world with out him is solely not price dwelling in.
That stated, there may be one different factor that the comedian establishes as an actual and tangible terror for the Ace of Knaves, one thing that might take him out of motion for good. And that’s: shellfish. He is allergic to it. It is a good factor they do not serve lobster bisque in Arkham.
Knight Terrors: The Joker #2 is out now from DC Comics.
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