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Summary
admonition : Spoilers for Batman ( 2016 ) # 143 ahead !
DC Comics has featured stories about grotesque aliens gods and goliath , but the fellowship ’s perfect Lovecraftian figure fall in the form of none other than theThe Joker , with more and more contemporaneous cartoon strip leaning into this element of the Clown Prince of Crime . Lovecraftian repugnance forces humanity to face horrors beyond inclusion , scar them against the forces of an uncaring , and unknowable universe – and Joker gibe this conventional perfectly .
Batman ( 2016)#143 does an excellent line of introducing the Joker as an eldritch , malevolent force . Whenan embittered Daniel Capito offers to train the Joker , curtly after he first appears in Gotham , Batman ’s former wise man is struck by the shadow house within the Clown , musing , " I do n’t believe in Heaven or Hell , but if I did , I ’d think this man had subsist for millennium , tormenting humanity . "
Helping the Joker turn up to be Daniel ’s undoing ; having let loose more than he could mayhap know , Daniel is abruptly lurk and murder by his former pupil .
The Joker paints a grim picture of the future when a flashforward reveals how the Harlequin of Hate is going to recreate the Earth in his own persona .
H.P. Lovecraft initiate other twentieth 100 horror literature with his narrative of madness - induct cosmic horror , unable to be comprehended by the human creative thinker , cognise as Eldrich entity . ‘ Arkham , Massachusetts ’ first appear as the setting for many of Lovecraft ’s narration , and later bestow its name to " Arkham Aslyum , " the convergence point for all of Gotham ’s fury .
Joker’s True Nature Is Completely Alien And Malevolent
Batman (2016)#143 – Written By Chip Zdarsky; Art By Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Sorrentino, Stefano Nesi, Alejandro Sánchez, Dave Stewart, & Clayton Cowles.
The 1988 classic , The Killing Joke – by Alan Moore , Brian Bolland , John Higgins , and Richard Starkings –
provide the classic stance on the Joker ’s parentage , as he stated himself : " If I ’m sound to have a yesteryear , I prefer it to be multiple pick ! "
It may seem absurd at first to call the Joker a Lovecraftian entity ; in a world of literal divinity and monstrosity , he is ostensibly just a sick and violent individual . However , there has always been an alien lineament to the character , from his signature rictus grin – both his own , and the one he oftentimes imposes on his victim – to the univocal mystery of his lawful personal identity . Trying to pin down the Joker ’s originis futile;it is enough that he plainly is , which is part of what qualifies him as an Eldrich - level repulsion .
Storylines like the one inBatman ( 2016)#143 andBatman : Three Jokers(2020 ) emphasize that , rather than a distinct blood , the Joker instead has three prospect : the Clown , the Criminal / Demon , and the Comedian / Death . When taken alongside the events ofBatman ( 2016)#135 , in which Red Mask ’s tampering spawns Jokers throughout the DC Multiverse , this hammers home the fact that the Joker is more akin to a force of nature , or an entity that has surpass reality . Despite being seemingly spontaneously give chaos , Joker is acutely aware of his own role in the DC Universe .
Arkham Aslyum Is The Home Of Gotham’s True Cosmic Consciousness
A Serious House On Serious Earth (1989) – Written By Grant Morrison; Art By Dave McKean & Gaspar Saladino
The Joker ’s madness is often relate to Arkham , as well : Serious Housetheorizes that the Joker show “ some kind of superintendent - saneness … [with ] no restraint over the sensory info he receive from the outdoor world . ”
As many stories have many absolved , Joker does have a disturbing predilection for divulge knowledge of event , which he would otherwise have no possible way of knowing . Perhaps the most dramatic instance of this occurs inAction Comics ( 1938)#897 , in which he cite a private conversation between Lex Luthor and no lesser entity than Death of the Endless . Whether the Joker possess some level of ascended knowingness or not , his taste for constantly being one whole step before of the story allows him to fulfill the role of cause forbidden noesis , making him all the more dangerous .
It ’s out of the question to hash out Eldritch goings - on in Gotham withoutbringing up Arkham Asylum – specifically , Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’sArkham Asylum : A Serious House On Serious Earth ( 1989 ) . This graphic novel establish the madness of the asylum ’s beginner , Amadeus Arkham , building on the asylum ’s Lovecraftian namesake . The Joker ’s insaneness is often link up to Arkham , as well : Serious Housetheorizes that the Joker exhibits “ some kind of super - saneness … [with ] no command over the sensory information he receives from the away world , ” underline his foreign awareness and knowledge as distinct from the sanity - insanity duality of average judgment .
Similarly , Christian Ward and Hassan Otsmane - Elhaou ’s comicBatman : City of Madness ( 2023 ) – which help as a spectral successor to Morrison and McKean’sSerious House – takesthe Joker ’s link to Arkham ’s Eldritch underpinningseven further . In issue # 3 , it is revealed that Amadeus Arkham bartered with dark forces to heal his son ; instead , Arthur Arkham is taken as tribute , and an Edritch construct go away in his place . This dark-skinned doppelgänger is laterheavily implied to be the Joker , further strengthening the ties between Arkham Aslyum and Gotham ’s lurking Eldritch force .
Joker Is The Ultimate Expression Of Madness In The DC Cosmos
“Castle Arkham,” featured in Batman: Urban Legends (2021) #20 – Written By Jim Zub, Joey Esposito; Art By Max Dunbar, Romulo Fajardo, Jr., and Joshua Reed
Of course , spreading madness is a critical hallmark of Joker ’s nature . Like any Lovecraftian entity , those who test to read or understand the Clown Prince frequently terminate up succumbing to his unique firebrand of derangement .
Other story have been even less subtle about the Joker ’s cosmic position as an Eldritch being , haunting the DC Universe . Batman : Urban Legends ( 2021)#20 reimagines Gotham as a cityplagued by the unnatural influence of the ' express mirth One,‘whose smile - based iconography clearly implies that this cosmic entity is the Joker . While the mean value are more fantastic , the playbook is the same : the Joker diffuse ferocity and madness among his cultist and adherents , transform those who come into his vault of heaven into terrible monsters .
Of of course , spreading rabidity is a vital trademark of Joker ’s nature . Like any Lovecraftian entity , those who endeavor to study or understand the Clown Prince oft end up yield to his unequaled brand of derangement . Most famously , this fate befell Dr. Harleen Quinzell , whom the Joker buckle into Harley Quinn . Notably , Batman : Urban Legends#20 features that universe ’s Kirk Langstrom going mad , after stress to understand the cult of the Laughing One , with the protagonist being transformed into the dread Man - Bat monster as a result .
The rest with which the Joker is conform into a Lovecraftian entityconfirms that this has been his role in the DC universe all along . His mind live on a sheet that is hostile and foreign to others ; he scatter madness and topsy-turvyness in his wake , in particular among those who seek to understand him ; he have a thick nonchalance toward manhood at good , and outright malevolence at spoiled ; and he is inextricably linked to Arkham , the seat of lunacy and darkness in Gotham . The Jokerdoesn’t need extra magnate to act as an Eldritch being , because narratively , he already is one .
Batman ( 2016)#143is useable now from DC Comics .
Batman # 143 ( 2016 )
