Joker Causes Mass Hysteria!

This article represents the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of Enthusiacs.com as a whole, or of the other contributors to this site.

Disclaimer: Some gruesome images are contained within this article. Some of the more tame ones (like the one below) I’ve kept visible. The others are behind links.

And Here…We…Go!

Recently a variant cover was released for an upcoming issue of the Batgirl line of comics, with the issue in particular coming out in June of this year. This is part of a series of Joker themed covers slated to come out in June, featuring the Joker as DC celebrates 75 years of Batman and the Joker clashing with each other. The cover in question caused a bit of a stir across the internet, with people wanting the cover removed while others wanted it to stay.

(A variant cover, for those not knowing, is an alternate artwork cover. Variant covers often also have nothing to do with the plot of a comic either. For instance, here’s one of the Justice League as a bunch of male strippers Magic Mike style.)

The Batgirl cover in question can be seen here.

So let’s go ahead and get the obvious out of the way. This cover is clearly a reference to the acclaimed 1988 Batman story The Killing Joke. This story, among other things, gave us a popular origin story for the Joker in his multiple choice origin style, was such a defining Joker story that actor Heath Ledger used it as a reference when he portrayed the role, and also led to the events of the Joker shooting Batgirl and paralyzing her, then taking her and her father (Commissioner Gordon) captive and torturing the both of them.

The cover has since been pulled at the request of the artist, with DC citing threats against those who rallied to remove the cover as one of the main causes.

“We publish comic books about the greatest heroes in the world, and the most evil villains imaginable. The Joker variant covers for June are in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Joker.
Regardless if fans like Rafael Albuquerque¹s homage to Alan Moore¹s The Killing Joke graphic novel from 25 years ago, or find it
inconsistent with the current tonality of the Batgirl books, threats of violence and harassment are wrong and have no place in comics or society.

We stand by our creative talent, and per Rafael’s request, DC Comics will not publish the Batgirl variant. ­

DC Entertainment”

While I think the bit about “threats of violence and harassment are wrong and have no place in comics” is a bit poorly worded given that they mention stories about the most evil villains imaginable I get the gist of what they’re saying.

So without further ado I’m going to address the main issues on both sides of the aisle and inject my own opinion. I see three “main” issues in particular, with other issues kind of blending in with each other.

To the Batcave, Robin!

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