#Batman: Three Jokers (2020)

[thebatbaes]

[ Jason Todd as Red Hood in Batman: Three Jokers (2020) ]

[striveattemptfail]

in prime earth canon, jason todd (NOT red hood) was* publicly known to be alive

red hood: outlaw (2018) #32 (ID in alt text)

considering that jason todd was the official owner of the iceberg lounge during this time, it's likely he acquired the lounge legally and thus can be inferred that he had to be declared legally alive to do so

which brings me to my point:

i've seen a lot of people writing/speculating the difficulties and limitations jason experiences bc he was declared legally dead after ethiopia, which is all well and good, and is fantastic fodder for angst

but i've been wondering if this was bc people are actively ignoring canon (valid) or simply didn't know that at one point* jason was publicly alive (also valid, bc following comics is a shitshow lol)

please reblog to increase visibility! the whole point of this poll is to gauge how many people know this, so i'd love to see this post reach as many people as possible. thank you~! 😅🙏

(* big disclaimer under the cut!)

note: all of this info is as of may 2023. i am only one human so it's impossible for me to read every comic jason has been in since rhato (2016) and remember every single thing that happened. if anything i said above the cut is incorrect now, i apologize! /o\

for reference, as of creating this poll i've read:

red hood and the outlaws (2016) #1-26

red hood: outlaw (2018) #27-52

task force z (2021) #1-12

batman: urban legends (2021) #1-6 – cheer pt.1-6

the joker: the man who stopped laughing (2022) #3-5

i haven't read a lot of other important runs like death metal (2020), three jokers (2020), robins (2021), etc. if jason (NOT red hood) was declared dead once again in any of those, that is the reason why i used "was" in the very first sentence of this post and reiterate that he was alive at least for a limited period

my bad that i missed his second legal death tho LOLLL

i'm also aware that red hood (NOT jason) was known as "dead" by others after task force z (even though he clearly didn't die). that said, in the little i've read of tj:tmwsl, it seems that 1) not everyone knows red hood is actually alive, and/or that 2) red hood died at all. again, if red hood is generally known to be alive after tfz, that's on me

if there's anything else i've missed, let me know!! i'll update/reblog this post for as long as the poll is up (-u-)b

[heroesriseandfall]

Jason Todd & Chronic Pain

I scrounged for the panels I know from Rebirth about Jason still having lingering pain and injuries from when the Joker killed him. We know Jason had substantial injuries and brain damage when he was resurrected, and Talia healed that with the Lazarus pit. But here’s some I know of being mentioned even after Talia healed him with the Lazarus pit.

The first I know of is when evil future Batman Tim targeted Jason’s hip because of a Joker-related injury that he claimed would eventually become debilitating for Jason. This move does take Jason out of the fight so it definitely seems like evil Tim successfully aggravated the injury.

Detective Comics #968 (Jan 2018) — earlier in #966 Batman Tim also mentioned future Jason would eventually lose an eye and a leg while fighting assassins.

More recently, regular, not-evil Tim referenced it while evaluating how to fight a Clayface Jason mimic:

Tim Drake: Robin #3 (Jan 2023) — Tim says the pit brought Jason back, which has sometimes been a thing. Originally Jason was only healed by the pit after he’d already been resurrected by something else.

This next one was black label, so it may or may not be canon (the creative team claims “it’s up to reader interpretation” and disagree on whether they personally think it is canon). I’m not a fan of the comic but it did pretty clearly indicate Jason had chronic pain from the Joker:

Batman: Three Jokers #2 (Nov 2020)

(There might be more than these—my reading of post flashpoint comics is kinda random and incomplete compared to my reading of post-Crisis. In post-Crisis though I think they mainly put emphasis on Jason’s destabilized mental health and didn’t really bring up physical aspects IIRC. His brain damage seemed healed and yet he seemed more affected after the pit than other one-time-in-the-pit characters like Dinah Lance or Cass Cain were.)

They haven’t bothered explaining how the pit didn’t heal them so far as I know (the pits kinda work to authorial convenience anyway). My route is usually to blame any weird Jason stuff on the strange, multiversal circumstances of his resurrection, but versions of his origin where he’s only brought back by the pit might not jive with that (which includes some Rebirth IIRC).

In any case, I do hope more writers pick up on this more and I love to see when it’s expanded upon a bit in fandom. I would already consider Jason’s mental health to be a disabling issue for him but it’s neat sometimes to have writers recognize chronic pain-related issues among DC characters. (I’d love to also see more expansion of Bruce mentioning he experienced chronic pain…it pops up every so often but rarely if ever in depth.)

Alt text is copied and expanded upon under read more below.

ID 1: Two panels from Detective Comics #968 showing Jason Todd as Red Hood leaping to fight evil future Batman Tim Drake. Jason says, “Sorry, Timmy, I don’t believe in Santa Claus.” Batman Tim slams his staff directly into Jason’s right hip joint, sending him flying back, and says, “Jason. In a few years you were going to learn that one of your bones never set right after the Joker killed you. There’s a growing debilitating bone spur in your hip joint. There, I found it for you you’re welcome.” They’re both in the batcave.

ID 2: A cropped panel from Tim Drake: Robin #3 showing a red narration box for Tim Drake which says: “The Lazarus Pit may have brought Jason back from the dead, but he’s still sensitive where The Joker killed him.”

ID 3: A comic page from Batman: Three Jokers #2. A Joker leans in Jason Todd’s face, looking intense and serious. The Joker says, “Who is the Joker, really? We’re going to find out.” The word “out” is written in an extended sing-songy way. The Jokers put Jason’s Red Hood helmet over his head but they’ve decorated it with a wide Joker-style grin. The two Jokers laugh, then one says, “We’ve spent considerable time trying to best answer that question: who is the Joker? We found that judge. A serial killer. A surgeon. All rather predictable and uninspiring. And then there’s you. Tell me something. Why would you put on that helmet and call yourself Red Hood after what we did?” Jason, who is sitting naked tied to the wooden chair, says, “Come on. Is every one of you copycats gonna ask me the same thing? It’s a joke.” One of the Jokers holds up a crowbar as the other says, “A joke? We left you with brain damage and permanent nerve pain. Physical and emotional trauma so severe that the only relief you ever find is when you inflict pain on others.” The Joker holds the crowbar by Jason’s head. “You and me, boy…..We’re more alike than you’d care to admit.”

ID 4: A comic page from Batman: Three Jokers #2 showing Jason Todd with no shirt on and small bandages on various parts of his arms and face. He looks at a calendar on a wall and reads the crossed out days that have physical therapy sessions written on them. He sees a stack of various healing and exercise books. The top book is titled Chronic Pain Management by Dr. D. Kresan. He picks it up. Barbara Gordon as Batgirl enters a different, dark room through a window.

ID 5: A comic page from Batman: Three Jokers #2 showing Barbara Gordon as Batgirl entering her own bedroom. She says, “Jason?” She sees a book on her bed titled “Chronic Pain Management” by Dr. D. Kresan. Jason says, “Barbara?” and walks out of the attached bathroom with only a towel around his waist. Babs says, “I figured you’d left.” Jason says, “I hope it’s okay I used the shower and I…I didn’t mean to go through your things. The closet door was open and that book looked…useful.” Babs says, “It was. Are you okay?” Jason has small bandages and bruises on his face as he says, “I don’t think I’ve ever been okay.” Babs looks concerned. Jason continues saying, “What the Joker said…about how I’ve been on the path to being like them for years…they’re not wrong. I don’t want to be like them though. I really don’t. You believe that, right?” Babs says, “I’m willing to.” Then Jason says, “Can I ask you something?”

[fleetcaptainpike]

You better make sure I stay dead this time.

Jason Todd in Batman Three Jokers (2020)

[fractualized]

Three Jokers Are Not Better Than One

(or, cheap twists don't make a good story)

Would you look at that? It's time to bitch about Three Jokers!

(spoilers for a 3-year-old comic ahead)

Gotham War got me into hater mode, so I figured it was time to take a second look at Three Jokers, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jason Fabok. I first read it when the issues came out, and I thought it was possible that the story isn't as bad as I remembered. I don't know why, since for the past three years I've been haunted by the possibility of it being deemed canon.

Of course, at the time of conception, Three Jokers was intended to be canon. Johns set up the premise in the Darkseid War storyline of the 2011 Justice League run, in issues published in 2015/2016. Batman takes control of the omniscient Mobius Chair, and he tests it by asking who killed his parents. Then he asks a second question, which Hal Jordan presses him on several issues later.

[Justice League (2011) #42 & Justice League (2011) #50]

Four years later, when Three Jokers was set to be released towards the end of 2020, Johns did at first confirm it would be canon despite being released via Black Label, where books are not meant to be part of the larger continuity. In later interviews, however, this assertion got walked back in favor of saying the canonicity is up to each reader, which is kind of a wild thing to say. "Look, this story merely proposes that one of our most popular characters has actually been three different dudes the whole time, which totally has a negligible impact on how that character should be seen and has interacted with the world. Take it or leave it!"

But then, DC's idea of canon has been pretty squiggly of late, especially with the increasing multiverse shenanigans. In the final issue of Dark Knights: Death Metal in 2021, the reader is told, "with our past finally set, myriad new futures are opening up. And as hypertime heals, we'll likely experience flashes of them– and even alternate pasts– in pretty epic fashion." Infinite Frontier followed, with a press release declaring, "When our heroes saved the Multiverse from Perpetua in Dark Nights: Death Metal, everything was put back where it belonged… and we do mean everything. All the damage from all the Crises was undone [....]"

I have a lot of thoughts about this, revolving around what the heck does it mean for storytelling and how we should understand characters that apparently, somehow, everything is canon? How are we supposed to take this as anything other than the omniverse being an excuse for DC Editorial to wave off responsibility for a legible timeline? "Batman can be in two places at once because, uh, the Monitor sneezed?"

But this too-long essay is about Three Jokers, so I'll narrow my concern: if character histories can simply change with a multiversal glitch, in whatever overwrought way those are usually explained to us, then it sure feels like it doesn't matter that Three Jokers was published under Black Label. It sure seems like, at whoever's whim, Three Jokers can still get locked into the main storyline. I mean, Zdarsky still hasn't explained what that three Jokers shit in Batman #135 is about. On the other hand, we know that the explanation for the two Jokers in The Man Who Stopped Laughing does not involve the multiverse, and Joker is supposed to reunite with Batman over in Zdarsky's story when that story closes out, so… I actually have no reason to be confident that means anything.

"But why would Three Jokers getting canonized be so bad?" you may ask if you've never read Three Jokers (or if you fully enjoyed it).

Speaking for myself, it starts with the premise: taking a character and saying, "actually, this is not one complex guy but three different guys, which fractures the character's motivations and relationships over the last several decades." When that character is one you enjoy very much, this twist is not fun. It's a fundamental change to who they are.

Then five months before the release of Three Jokers #1, Johns and Fabok did an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Some things the pair said raised red flags:

1) Three Jokers' story would focus on the trauma that Barbara, Jason, and Bruce suffered at Joker's hands, per Johns. "If you suffer some trauma, you don’t just get over with it and move on with your life, it changes who you are. Sometimes it changes you for the better, sometimes it changes you for the worse. You can heal right, and you can heal wrong. That’s really what the book’s about: Healing right, healing wrong, and surviving."

2) Johns also said of the story: “It goes back to the beginning when Batman first encountered the Joker, but it’s also The Killing Joke and A Death in the Family that speak to the book and that we’re building off emotionally." And Fabok mentioned that the book's look would be based on the aesthetics of The Killing Joke: "I really want it to feel like it could be a spiritual sequel, at least artistically."

These remarks foreshadowed a disconnect. A key part of The Killing Joke itself is that both Joker and Bruce experienced terrible trauma ("one bad day"), but in responding to it, they made different choices: broadly, Joker choosing to hurt people versus Bruce choosing to help people. Johns excluding Joker from his comments about trauma felt like a sign that he ignored a key part of the character, despite Joker being a core part of a new tale "emotionally" inspired by TKJ.

(We're setting aside "you can heal right and you can heal wrong" for now. Ohhh, we'll get back to that.)

Johns' blind spot was confirmed a few months later when he was quoted by the DC Nation Twitter account: "There are very few characters that are, to me, as irredeemable as The Joker. There is nothing in him that is good."

Wow, what close analysis from Mr. Emotional Build.

Look, I don't need Joker to be redeemed or woobified. (Ask me about the "Pushback" storyline from 2004 and hear my gnashing teeth crack a filling.) But I would like the full breadth of his character acknowledged, especially when you're claiming you're writing about trauma, especially when you're creating a "spiritual sequel" to one of best known Joker stories (if not the best known one).

Then Three Jokers finally came out, and over three months it proved to be neither an examination of healing nor very interesting, at least not in an enjoyable way. What it has to "say" about trauma, for any of the characters, is no different than the limited conclusion made in previous Batman books: mainly the drumbeat of fighting off the darkness by being a bigger person— or at least not killing your enemy. Making Joker into a role played by three different people adds nothing; it amounts to little more than a gimmick.

Hell, even as a gimmick, it's flawed. Theoretically, the three Jokers represent phases of personality the Joker has embodied over the years— but the representations we get don't make sense. Here they are summed up in Book 3:

Sorry, what? The Criminal is less interested in theatrics? In what time period was the Joker ever not interested in making a big show of things in one way or another? Maybe this is supposed to be an "early" Joker in terms of the Rebirth/InfiniCrisisDarkCarnateTier/whatever more recent conception of him, but I'll wager that's not what people think about when they think of Joker at his start. They think about Golden Age Joker doing goofy shit and laughing maniacally. They're not expecting this morose man.

The other thing is that, in Book 1, the narrative "assigns" each of our three protagonists to a Joker: Bruce to the Criminal, who appeared at the start; Barbara to the Comedian, who shot her; and Jason to the Clown, who killed him. Now at first I thought Johns was saying one Joker took over after another, but since Barbara's attack and Jason's death happened 9 months apart in 1988, which are not different Joker eras, I think we're supposed to see them as sort of… cycling on and off depending on the needs of the scheme? Maybe? But the descriptions above are still confusing. Why am I supposed to see the Joker who got carried away with the fun of beating Jason with a crowbar and successfully blew him up as less sadistic than the other one?

Johns does appear to lampshade this confusion in the middle of Book 1, when we get all three Jokers in a cabin in the woods. The Clown and the Comedian have this exchange:

This and a later panel with the Comedian actually imply that he and the Clown are interchangeable, even though they're supposed to be different. So are they or not? Is there an actual reason we need three Jokers, or did Johns just think it was a neato idea and then spend four years trying to figure out a "layered" justification for it?

The other thing about this cabin scene, and about the Joker trio largely, is that it should be fun and it's not. There should be chaos! Zaniness! At the very least, all the narcissism in the room should generate a competitive friction, make their interactions more dynamic. (Really it should generate bloodshed and end with one man standing within like ten minutes, but I'll grant the choice to save that for Book 3.) Instead it's almost mundane. The cabin isn't even decorated! It's dark and dreary, like the Jokers are dark and dreary. If we're gonna have three Jokers, can't they at least be Jokering with each other?

The same thought comes when I consider the very beginning of Book 1. It all starts out like a typical Batman story: three deadly crimes are committed in one night, the Joker seemingly responsible for all of them, and Bruce, Barbara, and Jason are drawn together as they try to figure out what's up. Of course, thanks to the Magic Chair, Bruce already knows there are three clowns, but Barbara and Jason are thinking that Joker is working with two look-alikes to create confusion. And considering the basics of what happens in this story, what the Comedian's larger plan is meant to accomplish, why couldn't this have been written with just two look-alikes? I mean, yeah, it would require Johns to forget about his continuity bomb, but maybe the story would have been better (and shorter). Again, the creation of other Jokers isn't doing much for what the plot is getting at. The three crimes that start us off would still serve the function of reminding Bruce of how Joker's been a constant in his life. The taunting of a convincing Joker look-alike is enough to set off Jason's anger and sadness about what happened to him, and his fears of what he could become. The climax with Joe Chill would have to be redone, but the threat of him being Jokerized isn't the crucial plot point; the Comedian's film of him is. Bruce doesn't even have any substantial thoughts about there being three of his nemesis.

But, alas, the story goes how it goes. And as it goes, we also see that Jason behaves more cruelly in his search for Joker than Barbara and Bruce. For example, Jason attacks and threatens one of Joker's victims to get information, feeling justified because the guy has a rap sheet, while Barbara scolds him and Bruce tells the victim, "I'm sorry this happened." What I find notable about this is that while comics regularly present Jason as hot-headed and Barbara as reasonable, Bruce… uh… If you gather a random selection of Batman comics, you'll find that his level of violence is all over the place. This story, however, requires a more somber Bruce, whose violence is more reactive, because Jason and Barbara serve Johns' dichotomy of "heal right" versus "heal wrong." We can't have Bruce on the sadistic side of the scale fucking that up, and besides, Jason's long been the posterboy for healing "wrong."

That notion comes to a head at the end of the issue. The heroes have encountered and subdued the Clown at the aquarium when Jim Gordon calls. The GCPD found another Joker, and Bruce leaves Jason and Barbara alone with the Clown to assist.

Goodness me, who could have predicted Jason might kill a restrained Joker? Not Bruce, who absolutely should have. Barbara is there to talk Jason down, sure, but what else is the Clown gonna do but needle Jason to kill him?

The Clown cackles then, declaring that Red Hood is his Robin, for the very reason of his violent impulses and how much he upsets the Bat, and of course Jason shoots him in the head, because oof.

Honestly, on this second read I found this scene a smidge too oof. Jason was a determined little Robin, dedicated to saving his awful mother to the very end, and him cracking and declaring that he'll work for a criminal… I don't know. I don't think it's impossible, but it feels superfluous. I don't think such a reveal is necessary to get Jason to fire. I think the Clown focusing on how the new Red Hood is actually quite similar to the old, as well as how Jason matters less than the neverending battle between Batman and Joker, is enough emotional stress to get to the same end result.

But that's a minor quibble; we've got bigger fish to fry! Such as the specter of the "healed right/healed wrong" dynamic that reappears as Barbara and Jason argue over the Clown's corpse.

Barbara leaves angrily after this, but man. I wish the story overall took more cues from this scene, that in a Black Label story we could stray from the simplistic idea of how a Good One would save Joker and a Bad One wouldn't. I want to explore Jason's assertion that Barbara didn't do her best to uphold Bruce's one rule. I want to know if maybe she's tired of being the fucking Good One.

Hell, let's go further: what if we were surprised by Barbara killing the Clown before Jason could? The Clown's taunting about Jason could have gotten to her too. We could have a story about how being put on a pedestal as a Good Victim is a cage, about Barbara struggling with falling from that position, about Jason feeling unsure if he should commend her for an act that obviously hurts her or comfort her for something he would have done himself. That's an actual examination of the struggle to process violent trauma— that you don't need three Jokers for!

But the story we have never gets back to Jason's suggestion that Barbara let the murder happen, not in this issue or the following two. This issue just ends with Jason hoping that the Clown was the actual Joker and that he didn't kill the wrong guy, which is a pretty "LOL oh yeah" line when you remember that he and Barbara don't know there are three Jokers yet.

Book 1, truth be told, isn't that bad. On my reread, I started to wonder if my only real issue with the story is that it's not as engaging as all the hype insisted it would be.

Then Book 2 starts, and goddammit. GODDAMMIT.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: why can we not have more DC writers having fun with Joker's multiple-choice backstory? Why did Johns read The Killing Joke and decide his interpretation would be this?:

Ugh. UGGGHHH.

I don't recall the issue, but there's these panels that circulate sometimes of Harley Quinn encountering Joker in Arkham or prison, in which they exchange words about their relationship and he's a creep and she kicks his ass. I have no problem with Harley kicking Joker's ass. He deserves it. My problem is that those panels play out like an empowerment scene in a generic Lifetime movie. My problem is that it doesn't have the flavor of Harley and Joker. My problem is that it's lazy.

And that's my problem with what Johns does with Joker's backstory in TKJ. He could take it anywhere, and he goes gritty without an ounce of nuance. Because hey, this is Joker, and  "there is nothing in him that is good," right? We'll just ignore that one of DC's all-time classics, the one this garbage is ✨inspired by✨, has Joker reflecting on a past for which he is an unreliable narrator, but in which he laments how his comedy dream put his growing family in a bad spot, in which he desperately aligns with shady people so his family can be secure, in which he's devastated by losing the only person he has in the world and their growing baby. And these memories could be distorted or entirely fake, but what's interesting in TKJ is that Joker never tells anyone else about them, even in his big speech to Batman. The flashbacks are not part of an attempt to manipulate anyone or convince them his world view is correct. It's a tale in Joker's head that, regardless of the truth, deeply affects him. It's what drove him to go to horrendous lengths to prove his point, even if the point is wrong.

But fuck that, right? We're going lazy! We're going cheap! We're going with the Jeannie backstory, but actually Joker was only terrible to her. The Comedian fondly fantasizes about terrorizing her and their son, because he's 100% an abuser, because he must have always been that way, with not a single appealing quality that we need to reckon with as we so often do with toxic people in real life. Even the freaking stutter Joker had as he struggled with stand-up comedy is given to Jeannie. Seriously?

I cannot emphasize enough: fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this "take."

On the other hand, when the Comedian is brought out of his stupor, we do finally get something super funny:

At least we'll always have this panel of Joker eating cat food.

The Criminal only interrupted the daydream because he's mad the Clown is dead, and the Clown was so eager to be dead I thought it was part of their plan buuuuuuut I guess not. Then we jump to Bruce figuring out that the "Joker" that Gordon cornered is just another victim, a dead judge. Barbara appears to tell Bruce what Jason did, and they discuss it over comms on the road.

Bruce, shockingly, says that they can't really do anything about what Jason did.

Pretty sure the guy who batarang'd Jason's throat rather than let him kill Joker would have a more intense reaction than this?? Or any reaction other than sober understanding? Maybe Bruce is still coping with finally dealing with three Jokers at once and will flip his shit when this all resolves. Or maybe he's just thinking, "it's okay, I still have two emotional support clowns left!" I don't know. He's so weirdly passive in this story.

What's more aggravating, though, is the other aspect of this conversation, that Jason "healed wrong." It would be one thing as a pat judgment Bruce is making, but we know from that interview that Johns positioned "healed right versus healed wrong" as the story's theme. It's not good. It's way too glib a framing for evaluating how people who've gone through trauma are dealing with it, in any context. Sure, there are better and worse coping mechanisms, better and worse outcomes, but healing is an ongoing process that can be so individualized. Reducing it to "right" and "wrong," saying that one is "strong" and implying that the other comes from some sort of deficiency… I hope Johns just spoke poorly and he does understand that it's not that simple.

Now, is it a stretch to apply that critique to Jason killing criminals at his whim? Sure, deciding that you personally should play the role of judge, jury, and executioner is not a good way to deal with trauma. But that's not exactly what's happening here. This "healed right versus healed wrong" framing is being applied to Jason Todd going after the Joker. Obviously, I like Joker, but can we be real about this? Can we be real in a Black Label book, the imprint where comic books (allegedly) have room to take things more seriously? Can we take the question of, "In this fictional world where Joker is an unstoppable fatal mayhem machine— now THREE machines— is it completely out of bounds for someone to finally kill him?" and be like, "Errr…not really?" When this story explicitly denies Joker even one teeny redeeming human quality, are we seriously still going to say, "Well, you know, if Jason takes the life of the man who murdered him and millions other people, because he doesn't want him to kill more people, which Joker will absolutely do and we all know it, doesn't that say something awful about Jason?" Are we really??

Plus the judgment about healing is put into the mouth of a man who— say it with me!— regularly dresses as a bat and beats the ever-loving shit out of people because his parents were murdered. Toning Bruce down in this particular story doesn't hide that.

Although, what I think is intended as a flawed assumption on Bruce's part is his other line, "Jason's suffering." It implies that Barbara still isn't, but we are shown Barbara reflecting on her paralyzation, even now when she's "strong" and has healed "right." And the story will get into this a bit later, but it absolutely does not let Barbara and Jason escape the dichotomy. To the story's detriment, their interactions go in a wild direction, but we'll get to that.

First, Bruce and Barbara's investigation leads them to Blackgate, because the fingerprints on the murder weapon for the dead judge belong to none other than Joe Chill. However, we learn that Chill has been in the medical wing for two months because he's sick with cancer.

Meanwhile, Jason's investigation leads him to a closed athletic center. The pool inside is filled with the chemicals stolen from Ace at the start of the story, as well as dozens of pale naked bodies with green hair. Jason's attempt to contact Barbara is interrupted when one of said bodies bursts to life and grabs his ankle, asking for help. Jason reacts with hostility, kicking the poor guy, and I'm not sure if it's because he's unnerved by a room of floating Jokers or if it's pretty normal for him to not keep his cool even for the sake of an obvious victim of a horrible crime. A Gotham City vigilante can't be that shocked by one guy being alive in a pile of bodies, can they?

But that's all setup. When the guy falls unconscious, the Criminal and the Comedian ambush Jason and drag him away, one saying, "He'll be perfect."

It's a line that meanly gets your hopes up, poking at a subject that could make all this more interesting.

Jason awakes, strapped to a chair and as naked as the bodies in the pool. The Criminal says he and his pals have spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect candidate for a new Joker, and he repeats the question of what's up with Jason taking on the Red Hood moniker.

It seems that, like DCAU Tim Drake in Batman Beyond before him, Jason Todd will be transformed into a fourth Joker! But it won't only be because it will wreck the Batman. It'll be because Joker already sees himself in Jason. This is something new to explore! There are places to go here; other comics hinting at Joker's past point to him having a childhood not dissimilar to Jason's, of growing up on the street, experiencing abuse, and learning unpalatable ways to survive. We could see Jason struggling with the possibility that he has more in common with Joker than he wants to think about!

But we won't. Inexplicably, the Criminal turns around and says that despite their similarities, despite Jason hating Batman as much as he does, despite the Comedian (presumably) saying Jason is perfect, and despite getting Jason ready for the pool, Jason actually isn't good enough, not "bright" enough. (Because all the Jokers we have in this dour story are so bright?)

And then the Comedian just beats the hell out of Jason (saying it's more fun than the first time, in another annoying nod to how he and the Clown are the same damn Joker) and says they're leaving Jason alive because maybe he'll prove them wrong and he'll become a new Joker after all? But the current Jokers aren't really going to go for it. Their interest is just abandoned.

The point is only to freak Jason out, so when Bruce and Barbara arrive, fight a horde of Jokerized victims, and find Jason alone and naked and vulnerable, he does not react well when Bruce tries to ask if he's okay. Jason turns on him and blames him for setting him on this path, for leaving him in the dirt, for replacing him easily. He lashes out at Barbara too, asking if she's going to lock him away, but ultimately it's easier to take comfort from her.

A direct reference to Return of the Joker here, focusing on the shadow Batman casts over the lives of his partners, the responsibility he bears in how Joker targeted them to hurt the Bat, and how poorly he offers comfort himself.

It does segue nicely into the next scene, when Bruce and Barbara get Jason to her apartment to rest. Bruce leaves to keep investigating, and Barbara is pissed because this is the exact lack of support that contributed to Jason going his own way. Support is highlighted again when Jason wakes in Barbara's room and looks around.

Aside from Barbara seeking out books to deal with her physical and mental struggles after Joker's attack, the old calendars show the help she received from her father and health professionals.

And this scene does get into something that's missing from TKJ, in which Bruce tells Joker that no, not everyone will retreat to madness like he did. How we react to trauma is greatly affected by the resources available to us.

This scene is nice. It's nice to come from the action to some place quiet and for someone to say this Jason, something he's wanted to hear. It's late in coming, but it's pain validated.

And then Johns fucking ruins it.

Man. Just. Ugh. Yeah, I know people seek comfort in moments of vulnerability, but… the reader knows. The reader knows moments like this aren't included to be like "oh, this was an isolated blip of human behavior! The story won't call back to it later!" Johns apparently wants Barbara/Jason to be a thing. And if you want a solid reason for that… well, we don't get any good ones.

Meanwhile, Bruce is in the cave, and I'm only mentioning that because these folder labels are incredibly funny:

Then the issue ends with Joe Chill kidnapped from Blackgate by the Comedian, who has a video camera and asks him to talk about why he really killed the Waynes. Dun dun dunnnnnnnn! Is that a twist on the way?! Well, yeah, but not really the one you think and it's incredibly stupid.

Finally we are at Book 3. Jason is suited back up, and he and Barbara have met up with Bruce in the cave to figure out how the Jokers plan to create another, better Joker.

Soooooo Jason and Barbara had that whole conversation. Jason was shaken by what the Jokers said to him. But now he's completely back on track. Allllllrighty.

Jason and Bruce then have an argument rehashing everything that Barbara said she was sorry Jason experienced, with Bruce saying of course he'd love to kill the Joker, and Jason pointing out that he obviously hasn't. Jason also says he thinks the only reason Bruce isn't turning Jason in for killing the Clown is to protect Batman's identity. Barbara just tries to de-escalate with her doe eyes. They're back to the status quo, and it sucks, which is the point. When they try to get back to the investigation at hand, Bruce pauses and attempts to apologize.

And again, with this blatant TKJ reference, it feels like we need to dig into the parallels between Jason and Joker! They both insist it's too late! They won't take help! But surely Jason isn't as far gone! There's something to chew on here.

But nah, this story is heading toward a big ol' revelation, foreshadowed here:

🎶 Why the fuck you lyin'? 🎶

Finally they get the alert that Joe Chill was kidnapped, and on investigating his cell, Bruce finds a bunch of letters addressed to… himself, Bruce Wayne. He seeks out the prison reverend.

Which is unintentionally hilarious, because in the storyline that started this whole three Jokers nonsense, there's a Batman Darkseid War one-shot where Joe Chill's behavior does not remotely align with this.

Lol comics are fun.

In the middle of Bruce investigating the letters, we get Jason being all repentant with Babs again.

You just said? You totally were?? Gonna kill more clowns??? How is this supposed to come off as genuine? Granted, Jason doesn't try to kill the other Jokers after this, but the apparently impetus for reversing course is... uh... we'll get there.

Anyway, among Chill's letters are tickets to the Monarch Theater, so the heroes all head over for whatever the Jokers have set up for them, which of course includes another horde of failed Joker zombies. During the fight, the Comedian's interview of Joe Chill plays on the screen, and the Criminal reveals they have Chill tied up in a chair suspended over a vat of green chemicals.

As Chill on screen explains that he killed the Waynes out of hatred and envy for how much they had, and how much he regrets his actions, the Criminal explains that he considered both Jason and Barbara as strong candidates for the new Joker. And wait. WAIT. Mr. Johns, sir, are you telling me it crossed your mind to write a story in which Barbara becomes the new Joker? That's so much more interesting than the bullshit we're getting! Imagine it: Barbara dealing with the dissatisfaction of being the "good, strong victim" and just losing her shit. You could combine that with how uneasy Jason is with his similarities to Joker, and maybe Jason is the one who convinces Barbara to turn back. This is Black Label! This could've been anything! Anything!

But we've got Chill. And the Criminal goes on to say the reason he wanted to make a new Joker at all:

Are… are you? I'm pretty sure Joker is pretty well fucking defined. He's a murderer with a very dark sense of humor who is obsessed with Batman. That's been a pretty good through-line.

Also, Joker pretty clearly means a lot to Batman, as that middle panel with Jason seems intended to remind us, but the Criminal does clarify that he wants to be "everything" to him, which is why he's pulling Bruce's parents' murderer into all this. I guess I can't blame him for reaching for the stars?

Cue big fight scene. The Chill recording continues to explain his regret, and soon the theater is on fire. Batman saves Chill and knocks the Criminal unconscious. Chill thinks Batman is going to kill him, but Bruce saves him from a falling brick wall instead— before the Criminal revives and tries to set off a bomb to kill them all, maybe. There's a BOOM flag sticking out of the dynamite a few panels later, after the Comedian shows up and shoots the Criminal in the head. TWIST!

The Comedian surrenders, and after a scene with Jason picking the most awkward time to suggest he and Barbara try being a couple and Barbara looking pissed she has to tell him no, we jump to Bruce and the Comedian in the armored police car.

As a batjokes shipper, looking at these pages is weird, because they are good food for the brainworms. The Criminal wanted to engineer a Joker who meant the most to Batman, but the Comedian wanted to be that Joker. It's a weird plan, considering that Joker prefers Batman over Bruce Wayne, so he would be more likely to not want to heal Bruce's wound lest the healing lead to less Batmanning, but still. This crazy plan is all about maintaining Batman's attention.

But I can only enjoy these panels out of context, not just because I'm pretty weary of insanely elaborate plans that manage to work out, but also because there's just so much to hate in the rest of the story, especially the real twist that closes it out.

Before we get to that, though, we're thrown back into the Jason/Barbara nonsense with a very gross letter he writes to her.

"Dear Barbara, I want to make a change. But I can't do that without you. I know I've come across cold and distant…"

1) Look, love can help people heal. Barbara could be a good friend advising Jason on what might help him. She could help bring him back into the batfam fold. This letter is not that. This letter is pushing someone to be in a romantic relationship with you for the explicit purpose of getting them to heal you. That's not how love works. That's using someone as a tool. It's supposed to be sad that Barbara never sees the letter but it's good, actually. Don't put that shit on her!

2) This romance came out of freaking nowhere and now we get Jason insisting he can simply stop being Red Hood for the sake of it— but only for the sake of it, apparently! Does Jason think his worldview as Red Hood is an impediment to healing or not? This is just surface-level melodramatic nonsense. And I wish that was the point, but no. Again, the letter getting swept away is presented as sad.

3) Speaking of which, who tapes a confessional letter that exposes your vigilante identity to a door where anyone can see it? You'd slip it under the door at least. Johns couldn't figure out any other way for the letter to vanish? Get out of here with this contrived nonsense. There should've been panels of Jason rereading the letter, realizing how unhinged it is, and throwing it away himself.

4) Is the "Funtime Cleaners" guy in his purple uniform supposed to be Joker? Or representative of Joker's influence on their lives? If yes and it's him, he's a goddamn hero. If it's symbolic, what does that mean, that even when you reach out to others… elements out of your control will keep you alone? 'Cause that sure is bleak for a book allegedly about healing.

With all that done with, now we get to the big twist, the dumbest fucking part of this story, the end, the takeaway. Of course it involves more crimes against The Killing Joke, which I'm increasingly convinced no one at DC has actually read in the past thirty years.

Bruce drives up to Alaska, and we get this reveal.

Do the kids still *headdesk* nowadays? That's what I'm doing. There will be a blood stain.

1) So Bruce has known the Joker's identity, or at least the Comedian's, basically the whole time. We're just retconning that the Joker question he asked the Magic Chair wasn't for information; it was a second test question. And all this is in the face of Bruce lamenting many times over the years that he doesn't know who Joker really is, of him lamenting it in The Killing goddamn Joke. "I don't know him, Alfred. All these years and I don't know who he is any more than he knows who I am. How can two people hate so much without knowing each other?" We're just. Fucking excising that. A line alluding to Bruce's motivation for visiting Joker in TKJ's opening scene.

2) We're rounding out the lazy revisions to the TKJ backstory with some copaganda! Geoff Johns doesn't think it's possible for Joker to have been anything but a horror to his family, but he does think it's possible that random officers in the friggin' Gotham City Police Department— in early Batman lore no less, when they were at their most corrupt— would fundraise for a "lady" they clearly don't know to get her out of the city to safety. Also, what was the plan for when Joker asked to see his wife's dead body?? Congrats, you've come up with something dumber than "Pushback."

3) This scrawls more highlighter on how bad the premise of there being three Jokers is, because the flashback in TKJ happens before Joker starts out. Like that's how Bruce always recalls it; he didn't meet the Joker until after what happened at Ace Chemicals. So isn't Jeannie then actually the Criminal's wife? Because the Criminal is the one who behaves as Bruce remembers Joker was at the start. So is the Comedian obsessed with the Criminal's wife for some reason? Or is the Comedian actually the first Joker, and the Criminal came later and used to be more wacky? What is going on here?

Under all these questions, per the final page, the point of Three Jokers is still visible: ultimately, his victims matter more than he does. But that's a hilarious point to a story that revolves around three of the guy, with very little payoff to the gimmick, and when part of the plot is that the heroes still shouldn't kill him.

And again, just because a story makes reference to healing, it doesn't mean it's "about" healing. The most we get is the knowledge that Barbara and Jeannie received support from other people. There's no discussion of how long it took either of them, of why Barbara came out the other side not wanting to kill Joker, of anything Jeannie has done since she left Gotham. The possibility that Jason could find connection is promptly throttled by a forced romance. It's implied that the Comedian's plan worked for Bruce, as we see Bruce at Chill's deathbed, holding his hand, and at Chill's grave. You might be interested in Bruce's thoughts as he juxtaposes Chill's repentance against the fact that his parents are still dead, so you can assess if this really would affect the feeling of loss that drove him to his lifelong mission, but you won't get them. The "how" of healing is up to the reader— who is never asked to extend the same thought process to the Joker. And you personally do not have to give a crap about Joker, but again, if this book is supposed to be about responses to healing, about Jason's response versus Barbara's, then taking an actual look at Joker feels relevant!

So there we are: fourteen pages of me venting my little heart out, hoping the premise of Three Jokers never gets looped into canon. I'm well aware that my personal attachment to a character means nothing against DC's incentives to promote stories with Big Twists (and endless events and multiverse bullshit), but then again, those incentives are based on what people will buy. So if I can add to the voices saying that Three Jokers is bad, and you should not spend your money on it or books like it, maybe I can be one vibe of many that keeps the Joker as one single bat-obsessed murderclown...

Though if not, I can always retreat to older comics. I still have plenty of those to get through.

[flickynightdarkness]

My Full Comfort Characters List

Oggy, Olivia (Oggy & The Cockroaches)

SpongeBob, Sandy Cheeks, Gary The Snail, Patrick Star (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Hello Kitty, My Melody, Cinnamoroll (Sanrio)

Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Shy (Little Miss)

Mr Quiet, Little Miss Giggles (Mr Men Show)

CookieSwirlC, Jaiden Animations, Dawko, Rageminer, REU Music Channel (YouTubers)

Chudd Chudders & DangerGrid Of Doom (Skatoony)

Jigglypuff, Eevee, Darkrai, Alice, Alicia, Iris, Sylveon (Pokémon)

Rosalina, Boo, Count Bleck, Tippi, Peach, Daisy (Mario)

Mario, Yoshi, Luigi (Mario/DIC Cartoons)

Cream, Chao, Orbot, Cubot, Zavok, Zazz, Dr Eggman, Vector, Chip, Tails Doll (Sonic The Hedgehog)

Sonic, Tails (Sonic/AOSTH)

Poppet, Dr Strangeglove, Baby Rox, Captain Squirk, Jeepers, Kissy, Shishi (Moshi Monsters)

Hanazuki, Yellow Hemka, Pink Hemka, Light Blue Hemka (Hanazuki)

Charles Calvin, Reginald Copperbottom, Right Hand Man, Dmitri Petrov (Henry Stickmin)

Mama (Cooking Mama)

Pusheen The Cat

Shirousa & Kurousa (Sugar Bunnies)

Pipsqueak (The Lorax)

Mushi Sanban, Numbuh 9/Maurice, Father/Benedict Wigglestein & Monty Uno/Numbuh 0 (Codename: Kids Next Door)

Bubble (BFDI)

Winner (TPOT)

X, Cake (BFB)

Orbulon (Warioware)

Kirby, Meta Knight (Kirby)

PukeyHurlC (Grossery Gang)

Duck Guy, Red Guy, Bread Mother, Electracey (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared)

ENA (Season 1/Dream BBQ)

Moony (ENA)

Toriel, Papyrus (Undertale)

Jevil (Deltarune)

Neo Cortex, Aku Aku, Dingodile, Lani-Loli, Kapuna-Wa (Crash Bandicoot)

Scar (Alien Vs Predator)

Secret History! Tails (Mashed)

MX (Mario 85)

N (Murder Drones)

505, White Hat (Villainous)

SCP-049, SCP-999 (SCP)

Sam (Trick R Treat)

Lord X, Majin Sonic, Hog, Curse (EXEs)

Hypno (Pokémon/Poképasta)

Lost Silver (Pokepasta)

XR, NOS-4-A2 (Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command)

Ms Joke, Eri, Tsuyu Asui (My Hero Academia)

Rayman (Rayman/Animated Series)

Snatcher (A Hat In Time)

Scarecrow (BTAS/TNBA/Arkham Asylum/Arkham Knight/Injustice 2/Harley Quinn Series/Happy Halloween Scooby Doo)

Mad Hatter (BTAS)

King Shark (Harley Quinn Series)

Ragdoll, Riddler, Joker (The Batman Series)

The Question (Justice League Unlimited)

Zardy (Zardy's Maze)

Dr. Nefarious (Ratchet & Clank)

Soft BF (FNF: Soft)

Cofi, Bezel, Slushi, Cheezborger (Chikn Nuggit)

Hex, Nikusa, Rascal, Sarvente, QT, Boyfriend, Girlfriend (FNF)

Skid, Pump, Robert, Jaune, Streber, John, Bob Velseb (Spooky Month)

Blitzo, Moxxie, Collin, Stolas, Paimon (Helluva Boss)

Charlie Morningstar, Angel Dust, Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)

Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony)

Taki (Friday Night Fever)

Shuey Rhon Rhon (Beijing 2022 Paralympics Mascot)

Miraitowa, Someity (Tokyo 2020 Mascots)

Harry Hill, Robert Englund, Charles Martinet (Celebrities)

Bingo, Snorky (Banana Splits)

Wall-E, EVE (Wall-E)

Mario.EXE (Mario's Madness)

Needlem0use, Luther, Sarah Hendedson (Needlem0use)

Hank Anderson (Detroit: Become Human)

Bendy (BATDR)

Sammy Lawrence (BATIM)

Tari, Meggy Spletzer, Melony (SMG4)

Mugman, Baroness Von Bon Bon (Cuphead Show)

Slender Man, Splendor Man, Lulu, Jeff The Killer, Laughing Jack (Creepypasta)

Moon Knight

Meilin Lee, Abby Park (Turning Red)

Spot The Dog

Edd, Matt, Tord, Tom (Eddsworld)

EteleD, Corrupt Mii (Wii Deleted You)

Perrito, Puss In Boots, Kitty Softpaws, Three Diablos (Puss In Boots)

Grogu (The Mandalorian)

Sayori, Monika, Yuri (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Mr Shark, Diane Foxington (The Bad Guys)

Grim Reaper, Jack O Lantern (Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy)

[dailycass-cain]

2022 Year in Review

2022 was a fascinating year for the character of Cassandra Cain. Like the years prior, the year built off creators who do adore the character. So let's look back at 2022 for Cass.

To start this was the first complete year that the character had an ongoing shared with two other characters in Batgirls. While the covers have been utter gold the story themselves has been divided the fanbase with the portrayal of the three Batgirls involved.

For me, my problems with the book is just the way to incoporate Babs into the series. Make her being Batgirl anytime in the series a MOMENT. Let her flourish as Oracle more here while allowing new fans to open to Cass/Steph as the Batgirls.

Cass has been somewhat coincidental with a character arc compared to say Steph/Babs. She continues to make strides trying to overcome her reading disability (thanks to Basil and Babs).

In truth, the only real hiccup for her character progression was this month's issue (#13) with Lady Shiva. The relationship between the two is always complicated. However, I feel it's forgotten the reasons why Cass/Steph bonded so well together. Their fathers are both monsters.

Lady Shiva and Cass is untapped potential. Instead of the usual "murder mom" cliche tropes that we see with Red Arrow/Shado, Lian/Cheshire, and Talia/Damian I truly feel there is an opening here for the two to be different and respective toward one another.

Likewise, Shiva escaping the trap of being stuck in this dragonlady trope she's been stuck in since the 90s (with Simone, Rucka, Puckett, Hill, and Taylor) being the few who broke those shackles put upon the character.

That is why I hope for 2023 that DC doesn't falter into this simplistic trap. Going for the "troubled" story with the character in Hush along with Young Justice. Focusing on this monster not digging into the layers this character has to give.

That said, Batgirls while having a bumpy start really got going with #9. The writers felt more comfortable with all the characters involved and it wasn't burden to any of the trio.

All I ask for 2023 is ironing out the rogues the Batgirls creators give a few more pathos along with a better motives to for the evils that they do to the city. I feel there's still potential for some of these newbies.

But in truth I want the return of this bastard. David Cain needs to return. While I did love the dimensions he had in Batgirl Vol. 1. I feel maybe a leap into some hard villainy is needed for the character. A fear of him going "soft" due to accidentally loving his daughter.

Or continue on with a "twisted" variant of his love for Cass theme. Something at least.

While Batgirls was middling, Cass found better more memorable appearances outside said ongoing in other places. Some more surprising then others.

I think the two biggest places of these was in Joker ongoing by James Tynion IV that concluded this year and Batman One Bad Day: Two-Face #1.

Both characterizations gave us a more mature Cass (if the younger version in Batgirls scared off longtime readers). One could feel the more "everything is canon" pathos DC started in 2020 with these appearances of Cass here.

This is a Cass that you know can drop someone easily and holds back purposely. She's scary, and it's nice seeing her interacting with characters she hasn't (in canon) for years.

In truth though writer Mariko Tamaki spent most of 2022 shoe-horning Cass into anything Bat-related she wrote this year. I'm enterally 🙏for th at.

Continuing off the story she wrote of the character in 2021's DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1.

Tamaki shows in the various appearances (mostly Tec) how she gets Cass (even if it was kind of funny seeing artists drawing various forms of Cass's costume in these issues).

But these weren't the only places Cass showed up in. She was in the "old stand bys" Batman, Nightwing, Robin (Damian and Tim's), and Batman: Urban Legends (never forgetting that page. NEVER because it has many layers to it).

But we had other places you'd never expect Cass in. We had her in the Flash (I still can't believe we got that) and--- SCOOBY DOO?!

Yeah, that is something I wasn't expecting. 😮

But these are nice fun little appearances. Though I feel her biggest "guest spot" other than Batman was here. Which allowed many answers to Jason being the "greatest fighter" of the Bat-Family from Task Force Z.

Though personally I found the appearance "alright". Nothing like Tamaki or Tynion's.

But that was all the tip of the Cass iceberg as she appeared in stuff outside the main comics too. DCeased continues to be a place where I never thought in my wildest imaginations I ever see a Cass like this. Nor ever getting a solo cover of the character (coming next month).

Dark Knights of Steel was the sneakiest Cass appearance ever as I didn't even realize it until someone said, "No she's in the issue." Tom Taylor is such a sneak cause we all now are hype for when she's gonna cut loose.

Then there's Batman: Wayne Family Adventures which gives us SOOO much Cass and an absolute BANGER of a story arc with the character earlier this year.

Probably the most disappointing multiverse Cass appearance was DC vs. Vampires. It started off strong making you think (oh hey Cass has a role in this and OH SHE'S ALIVE) before the second half came in July and whatever progress we had earlier fell off.

But I'll be frank, while DC vs. Vampires was disappointing it was nowhere near the car crash that was Future State Gotham #15-18, which concluded it's alternate future story of Gotham.

This story was a dumpster fire. Probably the worst Batman story of the year and I feel like only a few of us know of its crazy ass tale it gave us. I'm still in shock how everyone was wasted in this ongoing save Jason and Talia.

Jace the freaking co-star of this ongoing comic did NOTHING in that final arc save job and hard to everyone.  Everyone else in the family was equally was a waste and-- if you didn't hate Dick Grayson in Batgirls #7-8 you'll loathe him so much here.

Literally me the entire time reading this arc on Dick.

Quite possibly one of the worst stories Cass was ever involved in. I hate it was so utterly predictable in that regard for her entire appearance in the story.

Then there's the real surprise. The surprise NO ONE saw coming. Bat Wheels. Cassandra Cain is in another cartoon. One aimed at an even younger audience.

Though her costume has allusions to Babs and is kidified. The character is there. We haven't gotten much with the character (three episodes), but she's something else when on.

Some have said she isn't Cass, but other than the costume you can't really say much else because there isn't much layers to the character here save girl teen. But the last episode she appeared in facing off against Harley.

There was a tease to the Batgirl moniker being a legacy role and Cass wasn't living up to snuff. It got under her skin (much like the entire episode Bibi was bullied by Jestah).

Both overcoming the bullying.  It was a really fun episode. I truly hope for a bit more Bibi centric episodes cause that means more Cass. 😋

Young Justice also had Cass but felt more padding characterization that should've been there to begin with. Such as this version of Cass knowing sign language to talk now.

Likewise on the actual show she appeared at Conner/M'ggan's wedding with Babs and okay, if we have a Season 5 she's gotta be Batgirl in it right? RIGHT?!

But yeah, I kind of wish we got the sign language knowledge in her arc from last year. But again, those episodes were stacked, but again that could've saved Artemis some time yelling at Cass's motives in part 2.

All and all, this was another stellar year for Cass. I think the only real "bumps" was #7-8 in Batgirls, Future State: Gotham (which most forgot but I will NEVER FORGET), and DC vs. Vampires being so-- lackluster.

Other than that we got MORE Cass merch with TWO official shirts celebrating AAPI (Audrey Mok for Batgirls aka the pic I started this all with and Jen Bartel on Nightwing).

NOW... If only 2023 gave us some figures or statues. *glares at McFarlane*

And so... #CAINAISSANCE2022 ends with hope. Here's to #CAINAISSANCE2023 continuing the highs started three years ago. So far, it appears we will. Batgirls #14 next month (Cass focused silent issue) and so much more to come it seems.

[circusgoth-dotcom]

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚆𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛

The clown that once ran @painted-piggy-ships-archive has now taken up residence here after feeling exhausted with my very first self ship blog. It served me well for almost three years (the blog itself turns 3 in February of 2023). Can you believe I only joined Tumblr in 2020?

Anywho, the name’s Gabriel/Corey/Clownie and I am mostly attracted to a vast selection of fictional villains, but my other consistent interests include the arts (particularly film and writing) and the horror genre. This blog will be a mix of self shipping content and personal ramblings. I don’t often post straight up ns//ft content but my sense of humor can be raunchy at times and the content I’m interested in often tends to be gory/violent if not also sexual in nature so viewer discretion is advised.

Current Pronouns: They/Them, He/Him, It/Its, Hye/Hymn, Honk/Honks, Clown/Clowns, Lamb/Lambs, Halo/Halos, Glow/Glows, Teeth/Teeths, 🦷/🦷s/🦷self, 🥩/🥩s/🥩self, 📼/📼s/📼self, 📺/📺s/📺self, 🏝️/🏝️s/🏝️self, ▶️/⏸️/⏏️

Other Blogs: Horror Content - @phone-in-the-attic​ Film Reviews/etc - @cinephile-inc Batman Content - @the-jokers-husband​ Harry Potter Content (For people who hate JKR and aren’t terfs/bigots/etc only, of course) - @americannslytherinn​ FNAF AU blog - @wheretheresaway-theresawilliam​ Main/Dump - @offbeat-the-clownlord​ 18+ Blog - Ask for link if of age and interested ;0)​​

DNI: Terfs, bigots (racists, homophobes, etc), Joker/Harley shippers, proshippers, generally hateful people

F/o list below the cut (Short version) | See the complete version here!

Key: 💗 = Main | 💞 = Secondary | 💝 = Tertiary | 🏡 = Familial | 🌻 = Platonic | ✨ = Main Focus | 🔒 + bold = Not Comfortable Sharing

Structure: [f/o name] [source] | [relationship status or type] [marriage or engagement date if applicable] | [tag]

🔒✨ 💗 The Joker [DC Comics] | Married (12•04•21) | 🃏A Joker and His Ace🃏

💗 Wade Wilson/Deadpool [MARVEL Comics] | Married (07•12•22) | 💣Bulletproof Boys💣

🔒✨ 💗 Jack Torrance [The Shining] | Married (12•31•22) | 🪓Darling - Light of My Life🪓

🔒✨ 💗 Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray [Child’s Play franchise] | Married (03•19•20) | 🌈Foul-Mouthed Little Fucker🌈

✨ 💗 Betelgeuse [Beetlejuice] | Married (10•01•20) | 🪲Two Bugs in A Rug🪲 [🐞Two Bugs in A Rug🐞]

🔒✨ 💗 Severus Snape [Harry Potter Franchise] | Married (date n/a) | ⛅He Saw a Glow in The Darkness⛅

🔒💞 Michael Myers [Halloween franchise] | Dating | 🔪The Night He Came Home🎃

💞 Anton Chigurh [No Country For Old Men] | Dating | 🐮Sugar Bully🐮

💞 Dr. Otto Octavius [Spider-Man 2 (2004)] | Dating | 🐙6 Arms to Hold You Tight / Does That Make You an Insect???🐙

💞 The Metatron [Dogma] | Dating | 👁The Metatron🪶

🔒💝 Hannibal Lecter [NBC’s Hannibal] | Dating | 🍽️Ella et Porcus🍽️

🔒💝 Sweeney Todd [Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street] | Married (08•19•21) | 💈I Will Learn to Love Again💈

💝 Dr. Frank-n-Furter [Rocky Horror Picture Show] | Dating | 👠Material Girl👠

💝 Ashley “Ash” Joanna Williams [Evil Dead franchise] | Dating | 🍂Good. Bad. He’s The Guy With My Heart.🍂

💝 Scott Pilgrim & Ramona Flowers [Scott Pilgrim series/franchise] | Dating | ❗Multiplayer❗

💝 John Kramer [Saw franchise] | Married (08•17•23) | 🧩The Missing Pieces🧩

🔒 🏡 Pamela Voorhees [Friday the 13th] | Adoptive Mother | 🧸Mama Voorhees🧸

🔒 🏡 Jason Voorhees [Friday the 13th] | Adoptive Brother | 🧸Jason🧸

🏡 Morticia Addams [The Addams Family] | Adoptive Mother | 🥀Black Is Such a Happy Colour🥀

🏡 Gomez Addams [The Addams Family] | Adoptive Father | 🤺Either Way What Bliss🤺

🏡 Wednesday Addams [The Addams Family] | Adoptive Sister | ☠️Poison Sister☠️

🏡 Pugsley Addams [The Addams Family] | Adoptive Brother | 🧨Explosive Brother🧨

🏡 Fester Addams [The Addams Family] | Adoptive Uncle | 💡Uncle Fester💡

🏡 Addams “catch-all” tag: 🕷️*Snap Snap!*🕷️

🏡 The Sawyer Brothers [The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Pt. 1 & 2] | Cousins | 🍖Sawyer Family Shenanigans🍖

🏡 Glen & Glenda Ray/G.G. [Child’s Play franchise] | Step-kids/kid | 🎸Rebel & Rhinestone🎀

🏡 J. Jonah Jameson [Raimiverse Spider-Man] | Uncle | 🗞️

🏡 Fairy Godmother [Shrek] | Adoptive Mother | 🔮Just a MA! Away🔮

🏡 Prince Charming [Shrek] | Adoptive Brother | 👑Charming Siblings👑

🏡 Lydia Deetz [Beetlejuice] | Step-sister | ☔My Whole Life Is One Big Dark Room☔

🏡 Harry James Potter [Harry Potter Franchise] | Adoptive Son | ⚡👓

🌻 Tiffany Ray-Valentine [Child’s Play franchise] | 👰Living Dead Girl👰

🌻 Barbra & Adam Maitland [Beetlejuice] | 🌻👻 [🌻]

🌻 Peter Parker [MCU & Raimiverse] | 🕸️Spiderboy🕸️

🌻 Nellie Lovett [Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street] | 🥧Try It! (You Might Like It)🥧

🌻 Jay & Silent Bob [View Askewniverse] | 🧢The One That Talks (Jay)🧢/🧢Cute Motherfucker🧢

🌻 Dante Hicks [Clerks Trilogy/View Askewniverse] | 🏒What Are You Looking At Ya Hockey Puck (Dante)🏒

[desperatecheesecubes]

ALL THE COMIC RUNS IVE 💯ED

(A list because I am insane)

Adventures of the Supersons (2018)

Amazons Attack (2007)

Another Castle (2016)

Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target (2021)

Arsenal (1998)

Avatar: The Promise (2012)

Avatar: The Search (2013)

Batgirl (2009)

Batgirl by Gail Simone (2011) [1-42]

Batgirl: Year One (2003)

Batgirls (2021)

Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity (2003)

Batman and Robin (2009)

Batman and the Signal (2018)

Batman Eternal (2014)

Batman Incorporated (2012)

Batman Secret Files (2021)

Batman Vs Robin (2022)

Batman: Battle for the Cowl (2009)

Batman Cataclysm Event (1999)

Batman No Mans Land Event (1999)

Batman Fear State Event (2021)

Batman Knightfall Event (1993)

Batman Knightquest The Crusade (1993)

Batman Knightquest The Search (1993)

Batman The Cult (1988)

Batman The Detective (2021)

Batman The Knight (2022)

Batman Urban Legends (2022)

Birds of Prey: Manhunt (1996)

Birds of Prey: Sirens of Justice (2020)

Black Canary (1991)

Black Canary (1993)

Black Canary (2007)

Black Canary (2015)

Boxers and Saints (2013)

The Brave and The Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman (2018)

Challenge of the Super Sons (2020)

Checkmate (2021)

Convergence: Batgirl (2015)

Convergence: Batman and Robin (2015)

Convergence : Justice League (2015)

Convergence: Nightwing and Oracle (2015)

Convergence: Superboy (2015)

Convergence: Superman (2015)

Convergence: The Question (2015)

Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths (2022) {Also the event lol}

Dark Crisis: Young Justice (2022)

Extraordinary (2021)

The final Night (1996) {Also the event}

The Flash (2011)

Flash and Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold (1999)

Forever Evil (2013) {Also the event}

Forever Evil A.R.G.U.S. (2013)

Forever Evil Arkham War (2013)

Forever Evil Rogues Rebellion (2013)

Future State: Batman/Superman (2021)

Future State:Catwoman (2021)

Future State: Dark Detective (2021)

Future State: Gotham (2021)

Future State: green Lantern (2021)

Future State: Harley Quinn (2021)

Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman (2021)

Future State: Justice League (2021)

Future State: Kara Zor El Superwoman (2021)

Future State: Legion of Superheroes (2021)

Future State: Nightwing (2021)

Future State: Eternal Robin (2021)

Future State: Shazam! (2021)

Future State: Suicide Squad (2021)

Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman

Future State: Superman of Metropolis (2021)

Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex (2021)

Future State: Superman World of War (2021)

Future State: Swamp Thing (2021)

Future State: Teen Titans (2021)

Future State: The Flash (2021)

Future State: The Next Batman (2021)

Future State: Wonder Woman (2021)

GCPD: The Blue Wall (2022)

Ghost-Spider (2019)

Gotham Academy (2014)

Green Arrow (1983)

Green Arrow by Mike Grell (1988)

Green Arrow the longbow Hunters (1987)

Green Arrow Year One (2007)

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series The Eat Bang Kill Tour (2021)

Identity Crisis (2004)

Infinite Frontier (2021)

Infinite Frontier Secret Files (2021)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One (2013)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Two(2014)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Three (2014)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four (2015)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Five (2015)

Jane Foster and the Mighty Thor (2022)

Joker: Last Laugh (2001) {Also the event}

Justice League of America (2013)

Justice League vs The Legion of Superheroes (2022)

Justice League Trinity War event (2013)

Kingdom Come (1996)

Knight Terrors: Action Comics (2023)

Knight Terrors: Batman (2023)

Knight Terrors: Green Lantern (2023)

Knight Terrors: Nightwing (2023)

Knight Terrors: Robin (2023)

Knight Terrors: Superman (2023)

Lazarus Planet Event (2023) {NOT WE WERE GODS}

The Mighty Thor (2015)

Monkey Prince (2022)

Naomi (2019)

Nightwing (2011)

Nightwing/Huntress (1998)

Nubia and the amazons (2021)

Nubia Queen of the amazons (2022)

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011)

Robin (1991)

Robin II The Jokers Wild (1991)

Robin III Cry of the Huntress (1992)

Robin (2021)

Robin & Batman (2021)

Robin Year One (200)

Robins (2021)

Sensational Wonder Woman (2021)

Shadow War Event (2022)

Shazam! (2021)

Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse (2022)

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones (2023)

Spider-Gwen: Smash (2023)

Spirit World (2023)

StarFire (2015)

Stargirl: The Lost Children (2022)

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. (1999)

Steelworks (2023)

Suicide Squad (2021)

Suicide Squad Get Joker (2021)

Super Sons (2017)

Superboy The Man of Tomorrow (2023)

Supergirl (1994)

Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow (2021)

Superman: Death and Return of Superman event (1993)

Superman/Shazam! First Thunder (2005)

Superman and the Authority (2021)

Superman Smashes The Klan (2019)

Superman Day of Doom (2003)

Superman: Lois and Clark (2015)

Superman Lost (2023)

Superman Son of Kal El (2019)

Superman Up in the Sky (2019)

Task Force Z (2021)

Teen Titans (2011)

Teen Titans Academy (2021)

Teen Titans Year One (2008)

Thor (2014)

Tim Drake Robin (2022)

Titans United (2021)

Titans United Bloodpact (2022)

Trial of the Amazons (2022) {also the event}

Trial if the Amazons: Wonder Girl (2022)

Trinity of Sin (2014)

Our Worlds At War Event (2001)

The War for Earth 3 (2022) {Also the event }

Wonder Girl (2021)

Wonder Woman: Challenge of Artemis Event (1995)

Wonder Woman Gods of Gotham Event (2000)

Wonder Woman Paradise Lost and Found (2001)

Wonder Woman Agent if Peace (2020)

Wonder Woman Black and White and Gold (2021)

Wonder Woman Come Back to me (2019)

Wonder Woman Dead Earth (2019)

Wonder Woman Evolutions (2021)

Wonder Woman The Hiketeia (2002)

Worlds Finest (2009)

Worlds Finest Teen Titans (2023)

Young Justice (2011)

Zero Hour Crisis in Time (1994) {Also the event}

Zodiac Starforce (2015)

Zodiac Starforce Cries of the Prince (2017)

[nfcomics]

BATMAN THREE JOKERS no.2 (of 3) • BATGIRL VAR • cover art • Jason Fabok [Sept 2020]

As Batman and Batgirl follow an unexpected thread linking the three Jokers with someone from the Dark Knight’s past, Red Hood dives headfirst into trouble and finds himself struggling to stay afloat without the aid of his allies. Batman: Three Jokers continues its trajectory as the ultimate examination of The Joker and his never-ending conflict with Batman. Prepare yourselves for the second chapter of one of the most terrifying and personal mysteries Batman has ever faced!

(W) GEOFF JOHNS (A/CA) JASON FABOK

[thebatbaes]

[ Jason Todd in Batman: Three Jokers (2020) ]

[jedivoodoochile]

The work of Japanese manga artist Jiro Kuwata (1935-2020) was influential to the “Batmania” of the late 1960s. After the live action television series ‘Batman’ starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo was a smash hit in the U.S., it inevitably became a global phenomenon as well. So much so that in Japan, the shōnen magazine Shōnen King licensed the rights to make their own Batman stories, with full consent of DC. As a result, the late Jiro Kuwata was commissioned to create Batman stories based off of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's work from the past 20+ years in hopes of targeting the new audience who were swept in this Batmania.

Jiro Kuwata discovered, however, it concluded difficult to make these stories interesting to this crowd, not having the same effect such as The Joker and Two-Face. Hence he creates a new Batman that fit perfectly with the mid-sixties manga fan; tales filled with strange lands, even stranger villains and crimes all bounced in a large format magazine together with growing suspense in each right to left panel. Batman and Robin went toe to toe with villains such as Dr. Faceless, Go-Go the Magician and the monster that dwells in a nightmare, Lord Death Man (adapted from Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff’s “Death Knocks Three Times!” published in 1966’s Batman #180).

Kuwata's brilliant Batman and Robin stories seemed to be lost in time once the television show was cancelled in 1968. It wasn't until the 1990s when "Batman: Year One" artist David Mazzuchelli discovered their existence at a cartoonist comic-con and the rest is truly history. Informing graphic designer and Batman fan Chip Kidd, together along with collector Saul Ferris created a proposal to not only have these mangas translated into English for a new generation, but also illustrate a comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys made in this forgotten era. This created Pantheon Books' "Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan" from October 2008, introducing this art form to many and in a unique way sharing new adventures with one of the most favored heroes, the Batman.

[batmanofthewestcoast]

My Issues with the (Punchline) Issues

Hi.

So I don't typically do this, but because I've got an abundance of time right now with me off from work, I figured I would give my thoughts on Punchline now that it is complete.

Back in November 2020 I was super excited to have Harper Row return to comics after being absent from comics for three years. Sure, she was name dropped prior in Tynion's Batman run, but hey, I'm also the individual who kept a timer waiting for an appearance. She is unabashedly my favourite character in the Batfamily, and it probably has to do with how she was the new character introduced back when I started reading comics again in 2011 when The New 52 first came out.

Harper was used to great effect during the Punchline one-shot, providing the Gotham-perspective that Snyder and Tynion originally intended for her back when she debuted. The themes of misinformation and propaganda made the story chilling and uncomfortable, even more so when Cullen, Harper's brother, was indoctrinated by the media and personalities that proclaimed Punchline's innocence. Writers James Tynion and Sam Johns were in top form (in my opinion).

It raised the stakes and gave Harper the push she needed to come out of retirement.

A month after Punchline came out Tynion announced a Three-Year Plan for the likes of Batman, The Joker, and Punchline, with the intention of an inevitable convergence between the three titles. Tonally, five months later, the sequel Punchline backups in The Joker started strong, splitting page space between Alexis adjusting to life in prison and Bluebird investigating leads to discredit Punchline's message and put her in Arkham. Personally, I believe that the first four instalments were the strongest of the 15 parts.

Then, in August 2021, Tynion announced his departure from Batman, and in time, The Joker and Punchline in order to pursue a deal with Substack.

With nine chapters remaining to resolve the trial, the story was pinched for time.

I noticed a shift in the narrative after Chapter Four, with Punchline no longer having to do more than say something or wave her hand to move her plot along, and Harper continually struggling to investigate Punchline further and further.

We saw that in Punchline: Chapter Six with Harper using an alias to get into Blackgate and immediately be confronted by Punchline. Within that single chapter Harper's story shifted from investigation to survival, playing directly into Punchline's hand and allowing her to spin a narrative of her own that would be a crux of Punchline's defence case. I had hopes that Harper's obviously fake tattoos were a misdirect, that Harper had done something to that she could use to escape once she found Kelly Ness, the only person who could incriminate Alexis.

And indeed there was, in the form of magnetic implants in Harper's fingertips. The sequence of Harper working her way through Blackgate's HVAC (reminiscent of Die Hard) highlighted Harper's ingenuity and problem-solving abilities, which I really enjoyed. Orca being an ally to Harper, the first friendly face she's had since the start of the story was refreshing.

The immediate loss of Kelly Ness, the sole witness for the prosecution, chapters later hurt the narrative as it immediately resolved what little Punchline had at stake in the trial. The only thing that was unpredicted was Cullen denying the identification of Harper assaulting Punchline in Blackgate and the prosecution's attempt at claiming a conspiracy against their client.

The epilogue Punchline chapter in last week's The Joker 15 cemented the status quo for the two characters, with Punchline being hailed a victim of vigilante targeting and a growing target being put on Harper's back as a result of Punchline's propaganda and celebrity status.

It was a reversal of Harper's intentions at the beginning of the story.

Despite my grievances, I am hopeful that Punchline: The Gotham Game #1 will be better, solely because it's solicit implies a full-sized comic rather than several back-up pages.

The condensing of Tynion and John's story really made the Punchline back-ups harder to read because it never felt like it was enough; as soon as the story was getting good, it was over, and I (and the audience) was left waiting for another several weeks for the next instalment. The story fell into this cyclic rut in which whenever any plot development or momentum was made, the story ended and was put on hold for another month.

With a full 23 pages per issue (assuming it isn't a one-shot), the title will be able to show Harper's strengths and her development as she fights to discredit Punchline and topple the narrative Punchline has created for herself and her followers. I am under the impression that DC won't want to wait too long to properly solicit Punchline: The Gotham Game #1, it will probably show up later this month in the October 2022 solicits.

I want audiences to see the same potential Harper has every time I open a book with her in it. That like the rest of the Batfamily of characters, she is able to rise to the occasion and overcome whatever she faces. That she is capable of growth and development and improvement. That she has what it takes to stick around.

But that's just my opinion.

[star-going-supernova]

I think the way to think about the Bat!ness AU

Is that Ness and Micheal are living in the Batman 2020 verse while the villains (save the joker) and the kids are in like the 60s batman show

This is absolutely the correct way to think about this AU. I love genre mashing, just absolutely adore when a character or two are in an entire different genre from everyone else in the show/movie/book.

This AU is silly until it's serious, but it's only ever serious when one of three characters are present/involved: Vanessa, Michael, and Afton. Gregory and Evan can override the seriousness of their respective guardian, but Afton's just a monster 24/7.

[kevin-day-is-bi]

Embarking on watching all the live action Batman movies pt 6: The Dark Knight (2008)

I hate this movie so much that I had a whole argument about it four years ago that was so huge I managed to turn it into an officially structured school debate with two parts: is it an accurate Batman movie and is it sexist.

Good things first. The Two-Face sfx makeup is fantastic, the Jim Gordon characterization is great, and I continue to enjoy that Lucius Fox is a strong tertiary character. There's one shining comic-accurate scene, and that's the whole end Joker-trying-to-prove-humanity-is-evil bit.

Everything else...

The Falcone/Maroni crime families are too big of a topic to be relegated to a side plot. They are also enemies, and having them be the same removes a lot of the dirty money undercurrents that are important to their existence. Having Joker turn Harvey into Two-Face was done well-enough that if I wasn't an avid Two-Face fan, it would've been okay. However, it literally destroys the whole point of his character, which is that Harvey Dent was supposed to fight the secret monsters of Gotham while Batman fought the public ones, and then those secret monsters turn him into a public one. Removing that makes me ask questions like why is he specifically a DA? Why is he specifically going after the crime families? Also I don't like that they didn't make Harvey and Bruce friends. That plays a huge role in Bruce's guilt after the creation of Two-Face.

The Joker is...not a good Joker. Heath Ledger is a fantastic actor, the makeup is great, but the writing is just not comic accurate. Having him focus more on the machinations, having these plans and backup plans, working with the crime families, all of that sort of ruins what the Joker is. He's not a villain, he doesn't have reasoning, he's just evil. The two lines that I can see people pushing back on that are "it's about sending a message" and whatever the "chaos incarnate" line is, and that's fair, but the movie just doesn't back either of those things up. Time and time again, it gets played as your standard villain. Now, the reason that I can sort of see it working is because in this, the Joker is the second Rogue that Gotham has had. If you treat him as a normal villain, and put him alongside Riddler or Ivy, it raises the question of "why is he so hard to capture, then?", but because they made him an early villain, and Batman's struggles with the cops got in the way, it's not necessarily a disastrous change when it comes to the plot, just when it comes to characterization.

In terms of Batman, the character, Christian Bale continues to do an okay Batman. There's a little too much Bruce and Bruce Wayne in this, especially for something that has three villain story lines, but Bale continues to differentiate between Bruce Wayne, Bruce, and Batman perfectly fine. Not my favourite, but not inaccurate.

Plot wise, the movie is confused. There's too many side plots and tertiary characters, and very few of them get the spotlight. It dragged in a lot of places, to the point where I genuinely just considered skipping ahead (I did not, so I could be as accurate as possible). They put too much focus on Harvey's journey for the amount of changes that they made to it, and playing the three villain game in the way that they did just didn't work.

And then finally, the part of this argument that I lost in Spring 2020, is it sexist? Yes, so very much that I actually yelled at my laptop. There's one woman, she's a secondary character, she repeatedly gets saved by Batman, despite there being a tertiary woman this movie still does not pass the Bechdel test, nearly all of her scenes are romantic, and to top it all off, she gets fridged. For those who don't know, the term "fridging your women" refers to killing or injuring the women in your story to further a man's story line. She is literally blown up while talking about how much she loves a man, and then her voice over post-death is also talking about how much she loves a man.

1.5/10. It gets points for the Two-Face makeup and the nice Jim Gordon.

[markedbystars]

movies

2024 - joker folie à deux • immaculate • lisa frankenstein • love lies bleeding • maxxxine •

2023 - the iron claw • priscilla • spiderman across the spiderverse •

2022 - all quiet on the western front • barbarian • the batman • everything everywhere all at once • fresh • the janes • pearl • prey • three thousand years of longing • x

2021 - the green knight • saint maud • spencer •

2020 -

2019 - 1917 • joker • the king • the lighthouse • midsommar • the nightingale • parasite • portrait of a lady on fire • ready or not • us

2018 - cam • hereditary • sharp objects • spiderman into the spiderverse •

2017 - the beguiled • the florida project • get out • the shape of water •

2016 - the handmaiden • lights out • the neon demon • train to busan • your name

2015 - mad max fury road • what we do in the shadows • the witch

2014 - gone girl •

2013 - the great gatsby • kick ass 2 •

2012 - helter skelter

2011 - drive • the girl with the dragon tattoo • twilight breaking dawn •

2010 - black swan • kick ass • scott pilgrim vs the world • the social network • twilight eclipse

2009 - jennifer's body • twilight new moon

2008 - lake mungo • twilight

2007 -

2006 - little miss sunshine •

2005 - pride and prejudice •

2004 - howl's moving castle •

2003 -

2002 -

2001 - donnie darko • mulholland drive • spirited away •

2000 - american psycho

1999 - 10 things I hate about you • fight club •

1998 -

1997 - perfect blue • princess mononoke •