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In “The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox,” the Joker reveals to Jim Gordon the extent of his arrogance and ego. Needless to say, it’s no laughing matter.
The Joker is one of DC Comics’ most unknowable villains. With his madness constantly manifesting itself in new and unpredictable ways, the Clown Prince of Crime changes like the weather – a grinning fool one moment, a criminal mastermind the next. Since his creation by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson in 1940, the Joker is many things to many people – serial killer, colorful gangster, demented psychopath and persistent foil to Batman.
Iconic storylines such as The Killing Joke, A Death In the Family, Emperor Joker and The Dark Knight Returns have all showed the Joker at his worst. However, it is rare for the Joker to offer up much insight as to how he views himself, other than as an agent of total chaos, and Batman’s nemesis. An answer manifests in The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #11, by Matthew Rosenberg, Jesus Merino, Shawn Crystal, Vicente Cifuentes, Ulises Arreola and Juan Doe. And it’s as disturbing as one might imagine.
The miniseries sees James Gordon and the GCPD attempting to decipher a Gotham City mystery, with a mysterious corpse, a puzzle box and the machinations of the Joker at its heart. As Gordon investigates the crime and interrogates the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime weaves a series of tales, taking in the dirtiest, scariest and darkest of Gotham’s criminal underworld. But how much of what the Joker claims is to be believed? In the Joker, DC Comics has its ultimate unreliable narrator.
In the heat of interrogation, Gordon snaps at the Joker – threatening to throw him back into a holding cell full of Gotham’s most notorious criminals, all of whom he has recently crossed and bear grudges. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Joker isn’t fazed. “Trying to scare me with your monsters, Jim Boy?” the Joker snarls, “Don’t you understand? I am what keeps those monsters up at night.”
For all the Joker’s bluster, this is a chilling statement – a clear declaration of how the Joker sees himself. The likes of Bane, Mister Freeze, Killer Croc, Clayface and the Riddler aren’t to be reckoned with, but none of them can intimidate a sick and demented mind like the Joker’s. It’s a riff on Breaking Bad’s iconic “I am the one who knocks” speech, but in this case, it’s accurate.
Recent years have seen the Joker depicted as something akin to a horror villain, tormenting hero and criminal alike. The Joker has given his enemies and peers good reason to fear him – but that doesn’t necessarily make it so. After all, most of them are crazy too. While the Joker has certainly proven himself nightmare-worthy, the likes of Mister Freeze and the Mad Hatter have their own deep, dark fears and neuroses to contend with. Meeker, more intellectual villains such as Scarecrow and the Riddler might approach the Joker with caution, but it’s unlikely that he’ll be keeping any of them up at night. Those nightmares are for Batman, Gordon and the citizens of Gotham.
Joker’s boast speaks as much to his arrogance and sense of pride as it does his monstrosity. It’s an unsettling glimpse of the humanity beneath the garish facade that Joker affects; a terrible ego which, in the Joker’s pursuit of the ultimate last laugh, threatens to consume and taint everything it touches.
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