#source: batman beyond return of the joker

[incorrectwatamote]

It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway!

Sachi

[balu8]

Sean Murphy: Batman Beyond

Source comicartfans:Michael Cloe

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Commission Original Art, in Michael “Chad” Cloe's Sean Gordon Murphy Art Comic Art Gallery Room (comicartfans.com)

[emeraldspiral]

So, I know that because comic books are designed to go on indefinitely Bruce Wayne can never grow old and retire like he does in Batman Beyond and Joker will never be permanently killed off like he was in Return of the Joker. I think there was even a comic that actually showed that the Batman Beyond future isn’t set in stone by having Tim Drake get kidnapped by the Joker, but then escape unharmed. But like, what if he didn’t? What if the main DC comics continuity actually integrated elements of Return of the Joker into the canon? Like, we already have the Joker being the source of a huge traumatic character redefining moment in Barbara and Jason’s stories, so why not let him do it for Tim Drake?

I think the whole reason they skipped Jason in the DCAU but made Tim a lot more like him than the Tim from the comics is because they knew they weren’t going to be allowed to kill him off like Jason and they felt like that was too important to his character to ignore. But then they ended up putting Tim through something as close to Jason’s brutal murder as they could within the censorship guidelines. I think if it had happened in BTAS instead of Batman Beyond there could’ve been a lot more story to tell, rather than having it just be the setup for a story that takes place decades later. And because it was Tim instead of Jason and because Tim didn’t die, the story would’ve been something completely new rather than an adaptation of the Red Hood storyline that resulted from Jason’s death.

So, what if in the comics there was a whole story arc where Tim Drake goes missing and then Joker debuts a new sidekick, “Joker Jr.” aka “J.J.”?

You could milk that for a while, building it up as a mystery and then a great source of drama when the Batfam realize their new adversary is the missing Tim Drake. Then you have them trying to figure out what happened and how to help Tim. Is he being mind controlled by a machine or a telepath? Or has he been dunked into the same acid bath as Joker and gone completely insane?

Or maybe it’s like what happens to him in the future where Tim is switching back and forth between his identities and no one including him realizes he’s Joker Jr. Maybe he doesn’t even remember the Joker capturing him and anything bad happening. It’s all been repressed so no one knows he went through any trauma and no one suspects a thing until the clues reveal that J.J. can only be Tim.

In the original story we don’t get to actually see the concept of a “Joker fam” play out, and that could’ve been interesting. Joker often gives conflicting information about his background, but it usually involves an abusive father, so putting him in a paternal role might shed some light on what kind of role model he actually had for a parent. Maybe he projects his boyhood trauma onto Tim and either treats him shitty because of his own self-loathing or shows slivers of compassion he wished he’d gotten from his father.

Punchline could replace Harley as Joker’s accomplice in the brainwashing and act as an evil big sister, like a dark parallel to Barbara. She could revel in Tim’s corruption and how much it upsets the people who care about him, or she could view him as a rival for Joker’s attention and approval. Joker could even intentionally pit them against one another.

Whenever Tim gets rescued Joker either doesn't die, or it doesn’t stick, because comics. But then there’s fallout to explore afterward. Like, Tim has to grapple with it for a while, but Bruce is also not handling it well. This is the third time now that the Joker has done something super fucked up to one of his sidekicks. He feels horribly guilty for Jason, Barbara, and Tim, and also worries that Damien might be next. He doesn’t want his loved ones in the line of fire anymore, but he knows already that he can’t make them do anything. Dick and Babs are grown adults and even Damien just does whatever he wants.

So maybe Bruce gets the idea that the only way to force them all to hang up their capes is if he reveals his identity. He’ll claim he coerced them all into helping him so they don’t go to jail, but there would still be consequences for a lot of people. Jim Gordon has to resign and a new corrupt commissioner replaces him. Lucius Fox is indicted and that allows the Powers family to takeover Wayne Enterprises. Alfred has to go into hiding. People start to connect the dots between known associates of Bruce Wayne and deduce the identities of characters like Superman and Catwoman. It’s a huge domino effect. But just as everything is about to implode, this is revealed to just be a hypothetical, like Over the Edge. Batman realizes that even if he were ready to throw everyone else under the bus to protect his sidekicks it wouldn't even work because they’d still have enemies who’d go after them and their families if their covers were blown and they could no longer fight crime.

So Batman realizes the only thing he can do is go to Zatana for help. His relationship with her has been on the rocks ever since he found out she mindwiped him after he walked in on her altering Doctor Light’s mind to make him less dangerous but now he feels like he has no choice but to do something similar to his sidekicks. Of course just mindwiping them wouldn’t work because they still have friends in the Justice League, the Titans, and several other groups who wouldn’t universally agree to keep it a secret. So the only solution would be for Zatana to do some kind of Spiderman No Way Home spell that makes EVERYONE forget all of Batman’s sidekicks.

And just to make sure none of them can ever discover his identity and ask to join his crusade again, he makes them all believe he was an abusive alcoholic who they cut out of their lives. In fact, they believe there was a high-profile lawsuit between Bruce and Dick that resulted in Dick becoming Tim and Damien’s new legal guardian and moving with them to Bludhaven. Dick thinks he didn’t want to depend on the trust fund Bruce set up for him so he started his own company. Barbara believes she was an intern for Bruce Wayne but quit because he was a toxic boss. Jason believes he ran away from home and became a mechanic after a big blowout with Bruce, but still keeps in touch with the other boys. Damien doesn’t remember his mother or grandfather or the League of Assassins at all, he thinks he lived a normal life as the child of a billionaire playboy and a random fling and gets along with Tim and the others just fine. Alfred and Bruce believe Bruce somehow kept his secret from Dick and the others for many years before deciding to purposefully act like a bad parent to drive them all away because he knew the danger was always there and he didn’t feel like he could be the guardian they deserved dividing his time between them and the double-life they couldn’t know about. Only Zatana knows the truth.

So Bruce continues doing his thing as a solo act while the rest of the Batfam are living normal lives. But over time they all end up getting back into vigilantism despite everything Bruce did to keep his influence away from them. Barbara gets interested in politics and running for public office as a means of improving the city, but when her campaign fails she finds she can do more as Oracle. Dick can’t help but intervene when he sees a mugging on the streets of Bludhaven and feels compelled to keep going out to fight crime to make the streets safe for his brothers. Car thieves bring a vehicle to Jason’s shop to be stripped for parts and when he realizes it was stolen from a friend of his who was murdered they try to kill him, forcing him to go to Dick’s to hide out.

Neither Jason nor Dick trust the police to take care of the car theft ring and decide to try and deal with it together. Tim and Damien know something is up despite their efforts to hide it from them and end up following them to a confrontation with the gang. None of them remember their training so they’re in over their heads, but fortunately Black Canary shows up, having been recruited by Barbara to deal with the car theft ring. Canary sees the boys’ potential and starts training them and Barbara and we end up with a Birds of Prey team consisting of Oracle, Black Canary, and quadruple Robins, which tuns into quintuple Robins when Stephanie Brown later joins them. Also, we find out that Dinah Drake and Tim Drake are related and Tim has the same superpower.

Bruce instinctively worries about these new young heroes taken under Black Canary’s wing before he even learns they’re his estranged kids. He confronts her about it but she tells him they’re all making their own choices and she can’t stop them. She can only give them the guidance they need to do what they’re doing as safely as possible. When he does learn their identities and they learn his there’s a lot of drama and angst over Bruce lying to them, being shitty on purpose, and finding out for the first time how much he actually loves them and is proud of them.

The Joker reenters the picture after having been thought dead since the end of the inciting arc with Tim, and this leads to a Joker Jr. relapse. Everyone’s confused as to how Tim could have this repressed split personality/DNA overwriting microchip implant when he’s only met the Joker recently and never been alone with him. Investigating uncovers evidence of mental tampering which eventually leads back to Zatana, who gives everyone the truth. Seeing as how the charade didn’t stop the Batfam from becoming vigilantes again or erase the trauma hiding deep within Tim’s psyche, it seems pointless to keep the spell going, so Zatana restores everyone’s memories.

But it’s not just a hard reset to back before she cast the spell. The whole scandal of Bruce and Dick’s custody battle that tarnished Bruce’s public image is still in the public conscious. Even after announcing that Bruce has cleaned up his act and the boys have reconciled and moved back in with him a lot of people still think Bruce is a dirtbag. Barbara finds she prefers being Oracle to Batgirl and pursuing a career in politics instead of being Batman’s sidekick. Damien still remembers being a normal kid and enjoying normal kid things and is much more well-adjusted. Jason still works as a mechanic and Dick still has his own company and they maintain relationships with workplace associates introduced in this arc. Tim still has to grapple with what Joker did to him, but he also has a strong relationship with “Aunt Dinah” now and a Canary Cry. So he decides it’s finally time to concede the Robin identity to Damien and step out of Bruce’s shadow to create a new identity like Dick, Jason, and Barbara before him.

IDK what his new name could be. “Red Canary” almost sounds like it would work because it’s like when he went by “Red Robin” (Yummm!) combined with his new superpower and relationship with Black Canary. But at the same time, it’s still a derivative sidekick name an not an independent identity like Nightwing, Red Hood, or Oracle. Also, there’s already a Red Canary who was just introduced. I think she’s from another universe, but it still doesn’t really make sense to give Tim a new name so he doesn’t have to share an identity with Damien, but then make him share his new one with someone else.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE BATMAN OF THE FUTURE AND A LOOMING LEGACY OF DARKNESS.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on close-up shots of WB Stores exclusive art print promoting the American direct-to-video adult animated superhero film "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" (2000). Warner Bros. Animation.

"Ah, the new boy. Ears are too long and I miss the cape. But not too shabby. Not too shabby at all."

-- JOKER to Terry McGinnis as Batman (screenplay by Paul Dini)

Resolution from smallest to largest: 1498x2025, 960x1200, & 933x1237.

Sources: Alex Ross' official Twitter page (it's proving difficult in listing sources after Musk has locked all non-"Twitter" users from his website).

[jjorbles]

(Repost) How The Killing Joke ruined Batgirl

Note: This article was originally posted March 20th, 2015 on the Agony Booth, which I used to write for. Since that site is sadly no longer with us, I’m reposting my old articles here.

Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel The Killing Joke is probably his most controversial work to date, and that’s saying something. It’s a great read, with some fantastic artwork that continues to influence and inspire the Batman franchise to this day. But along with the praise, over the years it’s attracted quite a bit of criticism from many sources (including its own author) for its callous maiming of the character of Barbara Gordon. The Killing Joke is one of comics’ most famous examples of “women in refrigerators”, a decade before the term was even coined.

The subject of The Killing Joke has again been raised recently by a controversial variant cover for Batgirl #41, which features the Joker menacing a petrified looking Batgirl while smearing a smile of what is presumably blood on her face. It was created, without the input or consent of the actual comic’s creative team, mind you, to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Joker’s first published appearance in 1940’s Batman #1.

The cover drew immediate criticism, spawning the twitter hashtag #CHANGETHECOVER, and as of now, DC has officially pulled it, and will not be including it as one of the final published covers of the comic. Beyond the misogynistic undertones it conveys, the cover just plain doesn’t fit with the tone of the comic itself, which has been leaning in a much more fun, lighthearted direction under its new creative team, who all protested the cover immediately. Unfortunately, this wasn’t in time to stop a small army of angry readers online from making the cover’s cancellation their new pet cause, raising it up as a martyr to “self-censorship”.

I shouldn’t even have to explain this, but “self-censorship” is an oxymoron and doesn’t exist. You cannot, by definition, censor yourself, as censorship is something imposed on you by an outside party (such as, but not always, the government). A privately-owned company commissioning a work of art and then choosing not to sell it is called self-control.

On its own, the cover may seem relatively harmless. There’s certainly nothing wrong with celebrating the character of the Joker. He’s arguably the most popular character DC has right now, even more so than Batman. And the fact that they chose to reference The Killing Joke isn’t surprising—it’s probably the most famous Joker story ever written. However, while it may seem harmless out of context, in context, it comes across as rather disturbing.

When Alan Moore first made the decision to have the Joker cripple and sexually humiliate Barbara Gordon, DC was rather alarmingly unconcerned about it. You’d think they would be hesitant to take a character who was mainly known for being the colorful, fun sidekick created for the ‘60s TV show and do something that dark and mean-spirited to her. Instead, Moore’s editor Len Wein famously responded, “Yeah, okay, cripple the bitch.” Moore has made no secret of his regret over ever writing the scene and wishing in retrospect that they had said no.

Fortunately, the character of Barbara Gordon did not end with The Killing Joke. Despite being paralyzed from the waist down, she returned to crime-fighting under the identity of “Oracle”, a secretive master hacker who provides tech support and intel to other heroes in the DC universe. In this capacity, she became a popular and important hero in her own right, free from Batman’s shadow, and even formed and led her own superhero team, the Birds of Prey.

Barbara continued on as Oracle for a few decades. Then came the New 52. When DC decided to reboot their entire universe of characters, they decided to make Barbara Gordon into Batgirl once more, bringing her back to her more iconic roots. That’s not a bad idea in theory. I enjoy the young, spunky, purple-suited Batgirl just as much as I like her as mysterious, badass Oracle.

However, they made a horrible miscalculation when they elected to keep The Killing Joke as part of her new continuity. She still got shot, molested, and possibly raped by the Joker; she just wasn’t crippled afterwards, and continued being Batgirl.

It’s understandable that DC wouldn’t want to write one of their most popular stories out of continuity (even though they had no problem writing out Alan Moore’s actual best DC story, “For the Man Who Has Everything”, thirty years ago during Crisis on Infinite Earths). However, keeping Killing Joke in continuity while removing Barbara’s rebirth as Oracle* trivializes the entire event as a part of her character. The idea that she could just bounce back like it never happened, without being profoundly changed by the experience, is at best childish and simpleminded.

[*By the way, I read somewhere that her history as Oracle is still supposed to be in continuity, but since she’s essentially back to square one regardless of what came in between, it hardly matters.]

That’s not to say Barbara isn’t still affected by The Killing Joke; quite the opposite. I only read the first few issues, but in those stories, New 52 Batgirl couldn’t stop talking about how not-over-it she was. Barbara was constantly suffering from PTSD, cowering at anything that even reminded her of the Joker. It’s a rather infantilizing step back from the Barbara who remade herself stronger than ever as Oracle.

Plus, on a personal note, the major appeal of Barbara as Batgirl, to me, was that she was the only Batman sidekick that wasn’t defined or motivated by some past tragedy. She became Batgirl because she wanted to, not because some random criminal killed her parents. Now she’s just as messed up as the rest of them.

By continually focusing on the lowest point in Barbara’s history, DC is refusing to let her move on, forever keeping her the scared little victim. They’re defining her by The Killing Joke, and The Killing Joke isn’t even her story. She has almost no dialogue in that comic, and her only role is to be maimed and degraded in order to traumatize her father, Commissioner Gordon.

Likewise, this cover is also not about Batgirl, not really, despite being a cover for her comic. It’s intended to be a celebration of the Joker. And choosing such a horrifying image as a celebration is in incredibly poor taste. It comes across as a glorification of Batgirl’s humiliation and degradation. It’s not like they couldn’t have given her a more empowering or even fun Joker-themed cover: The variant cover for Action Comics features Superman threatening the Clown Prince of Crime with heat vision. The Catwoman cover shows a Catwoman-branded giant boxing glove punching the Joker out. Even the covers that do show the Joker seemingly triumphant don’t show the heroes in such a infantilized, compromising position.

Defenders of the Batgirl variant cover are quick to point out that Batgirl is far from the Joker’s only famous victim, and there are plenty of times comics show male heroes in moments of defeat or weakness. This is true, but it’s almost never done this way. Male heroes, even in defeat, are almost always drawn to still look defiant and “cool”, keeping their dignity intact. You’d never see the same image with Batman in Batgirl’s place, with that same teary-eyed look of childlike horror. Case in point: the image below, with the Joker and Batgirl replaced by Doomsday and Superman:

This parody drawing by comic artist Ray Dillon perfectly illustrates the comics industry’s double standard. Male heroes are never allowed to seem this weak. The same image with a male hero instead of a female hero becomes laughably comical. Even if it weren’t, it still wouldn’t have the same impact, because The Death of Superman was nothing like The Killing Joke. Superman wasn’t fridged in one scene halfway through to further some other character’s story, and he wasn’t humiliated or violated. He was the central character, and he went out it a bloody blaze of glory, and took his assailant with him to the grave.

For a better example, let’s look at the Joker’s other most famous victim: Jason Todd, the second Robin. Famously beaten to death with a crowbar by the Joker in the storyline A Death in the Family, Jason eventually returned from the dead. Despite having arguably more reason than Barbara to fear the Joker and experience PTSD over his encounter, there mysteriously seems to be little in the way of art or storylines to that effect. Nothing comparable to this variant cover featuring Jason Todd with the Joker exists, that I’ve seen.

Jason Todd’s post-resurrection stories haven’t been about fear: they’ve been about anger. Jason’s been out for revenge ever since he rose from the dead. His stories are all about how badass and vengeful he is now. He doesn’t cower in fear every time someone pulls out a crowbar—he turned around and beat the Joker half to death with a crowbar. (Not that I want to see Batgirl shoot the Joker through the spine, but at least it’d be better than having her live in constant fear.)

And even putting that aside, Jason didn’t get nearly the short end of the stick in A Death in the Family that Barbara did in The Killing Joke. Once again, Death in the Family was Jason’s story. He had agency, and his actions drove the plot. Even in his final moments, he had more control than Barbara did, with his last act being throwing his body in the way of an explosion in a futile attempt to save his mom.

Showing a female character as scared or victimized doesn’t have to be a bad thing. For example, there’s one comic book all about a woman being brutalized by the Joker that I absolutely love and would have no problem with DC revisiting: Paul Dini’s Mad Love. Why? Because Mad Love is 100% Harley Quinn’s story. She drives the plot, she has the arc. And her victimization isn’t just there for its own sake, or for the sake of Batman or the Joker; it informs her character and the story and it teaches something. That’s the difference between the Joker defenestrating Harley and crippling Barbara. One is all about the victim, while the other is all about the victimizer.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Brothers Lost and Found

by MermaidMarie

The Gotham Gazette headline read: Is Robin Missing? - In which Jason was trying to make his dramatic return to Gotham, but found out that the new Robin had been kidnapped.

Words: 10600, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: DCU (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Robin (Comics)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne

Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Additional Tags: Movie: Batman: Under the Red Hood, Movie: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Batbrothers (DCU), Good Sibling Jason Todd, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Hurt Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, listen it's just not about him, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/44406481

[taiblogcomics]

Joke's On Us

Hey there, sugar skulls. Now that we've refreshed ourselves with a somewhat decent Mountain Dew flavour, let's ruin the mood with a much worse comic book. What fun, right? What I love best about Taiblog is the diversity of review topics, said nobody ever~

Anyway, here's the cover:

So we went from a bunch of characters in a white void, to just one character in a red void. Is that an upgrade, downgrade? I dunno. I do know I always kind of hated this Joker design. Like, exaggerate the man, sure. It's a comic book! We're used to fun exaggerations. But he is, at the end of the day, just a man with a weird bleach job. Falling in a vat of chemicals should not give him teeth like that. The other details of this are good, though. The Joker has Jimmy Olsen's accoutrements to imply something bad has happened to Jimmy. And something bad has, he's starring in Countdown!

Last time, we kicked off this grand tale of god-awfulness by introducing a few of our major players. Darkseid has an action figure collection. Mary Marvel is out of her coma, out of powers, and out of friends. Trickster is joining the Rogues on a grand plan to put them back on the map. And most pertinently, Jason Todd watches Duela Dent get murdered by the Monitor, only for another Monitor to come in and stop his colleague. The other Monitor then goes to the Source Wall and asks it how to stop the Great Disaster. And instead of "CANCEL THIS SERIES EARLY", it responds with Ray Palmer's name.

Well, speaking of Jimmy Olsen, we open in a dirty alley in Manhattan. I'm sure that narrows it down for you. He's tracking down a lead for a story, and Superman's helping. More specifically, he melts the lock off the door with his heat vision--from outer orbit, mind you. That's precise to the point of impossibility, but since it's Superman, I'll give it to him. He warns Jimmy that his target is unpredictable, then wishes him good luck before flying off into space. Thanks, very helpful, Clark. I'm sure Jimmy will be fine, given the cover.

Anyways, it turns out the guy he's meeting is Jason Todd, who's wrapping fighting a bunch of orange ninja clones. And I don't mean Naruto. Even Jimmy sums up Jason Todd's recent return to life as "it happens", which probably shows how dumb the frequent resurrections are if they're being treated as this banal even in universe. And this was 2007, it only gets worse! Blackest Night hasn't even happened yet! But I digress. The real question is, how does Jimmy Olsen know Jason Todd by name? Did Superman tell him Red Hood's identity? Is it public knowledge post-resurrection? Is it just Countdown's poor writing? Let's go with the last one.

As Jason cleans up his fight, Jimmy fields an interview. (And lemme say, it's a little confusing writing up a rappaport between two guys whose names both have five letters and begin with J.) He wants to know the details on Duela Dent's murder. Jason first asks how he found him, and Jimmy just shows his Superman signal watch. Which I guess is also public knowledge. Jason quips it must be nice to not do your own legwork, and Jimmy doesn't comment. Regardless, the gist of the interview is that, since Jason didn't recognise the Monitor(s), he concludes they must be aliens. And Jimmy should be familiar with that.

Meanwhile, Mary Marvel is chasing her own mysteries. She's talking to DC's resident blind seer, Madame Xanadu, who notices magic stuff beyond Mary's questions. She's only asking where Freddy Freeman is, but Xanadu is much more intent on telling Mary she's going to be tested in the future. Her path is unclear when it comes to whether her magic lies on the light or dark sides. She also tells her to stay away from Gotham City, which seems like good life advice in general. And if she feels lost (which, who wouldn't after such cryptic answers), she should find a guide.

Speaking of Gotham, though, here's three wordless pages of Batman fighting Legion of Super-Heroes' Karate Kid. He manages to take Batman's utility belt, which apparently just comes off with no repercussions. With no transition, Black Lightning shocks Karate Kid, knocking him out. Batman notes that Karate Kid seems to be having an amnesiac incident, since he's dressed like (and responding to the name of) C-list Titans villain Trident. The fact that he's having such an identity crisis and managed to attack Batman in the Batcave is a bit concerning.

So the Rogues are hanging out in a run-down shitty place, doing hookers and blow. No, literally. No disrespect to the ladies, of course, work is work. But this place is seriously filthy, so I hope they're getting hazard pay. Heat Wave lays out some lines of cocaine on the table, and Mirror Master appears in the reflection to snort one. But the main point of the scene, other than to show the shitty lifestyles of the Rogues is to illustrate that the rest of them don't trust Trickster and Pied Piper, which we also established last issue. Great! Next scene!

Following his talk with Jason, Jimmy finally decides to pay off this issue's cover by going to talk with the Joker, who's currently in Arkham Asylum. I wanna dissect his logic a bit here. First of all, Duela did occasionally call herself "Joker's Daughter", so that seems like a connective line. But the real moment that gets him going "Hmm" is something Jason says after he postulates the "But it was aliens" meme. "It's a crazy theory, but we live in a crazy world. And there's a guy in Arkham who wrote the book on crazy." Apparently Jimmy takes this as a legit tip for his investigation.

To wrap things up, Jimmy's led to the Joker's cell. Jimmy interrupts the Joker's taunts by telling him his daughter's dead. Joker briefly feigns remorse, and then taunts Jimmy to come closer so he can tell him what he knows. To give Jimmy credit, he's smart enough to stand back behind the line of approach and not get goaded by Joker's taunts. Joker gives up and replies that his daughter isn't dead… because he doesn't have a daughter. He erupts into laughter, and will offer no more info. As the comic ends, Killer Croc breaks out of his restraints and is about to attack Jimmy, just as he quips "Well, that was a dead end." Wah-wah-waaah~

Now you begin to see how this series is going to go, yeah? We've got over a dozen protagonists (which we still haven't introduced all of) and eight different viewpoints to juggle. So some characters are only going to get a couple pages or even less per issue. So not only do you have to keep track of eight different viewpoints from week to week, some of them might be barely worth updating you on--or might not even get updated at all. And since this series was not so tightly plotted as its predecessor, this will quickly start to unravel as the series progresses.

And honestly, this is kind of a nothingburger of an issue in itself. Other than introducing Jimmy Olsen and Karate Kid as two more of our protagonists (and if it wasn't giving headlines each time the POV changes, would you even think Karate Kid was the protag? You'd think it was Batman and possibly Black Lightning), did this one really advance anything? Despite being one of the protags, Jason Todd did nothing but beat up some entirely unrelated Mortal Kombat fan characters. Jimmy Olsen had a pleasant chat with the Joker and ended on a cliffhanger. Mary Marvel got advice, Karate Kid got amnesia and knocked out, and Piper and Trickster got in a fight instead of getting sex and high. Isn't this fun~?

[mogai-headcanons]

Sorry I just wanted to add these to my second Friend Group ask:

Varian from Tangled is a NonBinary DemiBoy Bisexual DemiRomantic!

Darcy from amphibia is a NonBinary DemiRose Bi Lesbian!

Kodi GizModi from Paw Patrol is a Pansexual Polyamorous DemiGirl!

Packard From MiniForce New Heroes Rise is a NonBinary TransMasc LibraFlux XenoGender DemiBoy IntraMasculine Intersex OmniSexual AroFlux!

Crossover Friend Group Headcanons! Casey from Dark Carnival(Made by @/thrumples ) is Canonically a Lesbian! She's friends with: Alex(Her GF/Also from Dark Carnival), Who is also Canonically A Lesbian Tara Jones and Her GF Darcy Olsson From HeartStopper, who are both Canonically Lesbian Ghoul from BatMan Beyond: Return of The Joker, a TransMasc Biromantic Gay(MLM) Elle Argent From HeartStopper, Who is a Canon TransGender Female and is currently Using the Term of AbroSexual Barney From Dead End ParaNormal Park, who's a TransMasc Gay(MLM) Uruaka from MHA, who is a Bisexual DemiGirl Denki From MHA, who is Pansexual Polyamorous Mina From MHA, who's a Questioning PanRomantic GenderFluid DemiGirl Kyle From She-Ra(POP), a Gay(MLM) DemiBoy Perfuma from She-Ra(POP), a TransFemme Demi-Lesbian Rabbid Peach From Mario+Rabbids, a TransFemme PolySexual Queen Bee From Helluva Boss, a Pansexual Polyamorous Octavia From Helluva Boss, a Questioning Demi-Girl Rotor From Sonic Archie, a Gender Questioning Queer Trixie Kitsune From Pirates of The Foggy Waters(Made by Jordango on Deviant art) a Bisexual Polyamorous CisFemme Serena From Pokémon XY, a Gender Questioning Bisexual Demi-Girl Silver from Sonic IDW, a PanRomantic DemiBoy Valentine De VilleForte From Gankutsuou, a Gender Questioning HeteroFlexible DemiGirl SamSon Rogers from The Mystery In Crimson(Made by @/Toasted Robin), an Unlabeled Asexual Panromantic Trans Guy(Normal TransFlag) Beth Taylor From Monkart, a TransFemme NonBinary AroAce Trixic/Spring Lesbian+ Bambi Lesbian Willow Park From The Owl House , a Demi-Pansexual DemiGirl Hunter From The Owl House, a NonBinary Bisexual Gus Porter From the Owl House, an Asexual Biromantic/Moon Bi DemiBoy And Dick GraySon from the Lego BatMan Movie, a Gender Questioning Trans Demiboy All of Them are in a Large Queer-Platonic FriendShip Group! Just some more to Add on my Casey friend group ask: Leo from DinoCore is a NonBinary Pansexual InterSex Boy who uses They/She/He! Vee from The Owl House is a NonBinary LibraFlux Unlabeled Asexual Intersex Enby who uses They/she/It! Barbara Gordon/BatGirl From The Batman 2004 series is a Bisexual Cis Fem who uses She/Her! Skara from the Owl House is a Questioning DemiGirl uses She/Her! Rosie(Su Rose/Pre-TransFormation Form Pls) from Dragon Ball Super is a Polyamorous Demi Pansexual GyneRomantic TransFemme LoveGender SoftGender Nonbinary GenderFae DemiGirl who uses She/They/Love/Ae! Hop from Dragon Ball Super is a NonBinary IntraFeminine GenderFluid LibraFlux Moon Butch Futch Bi Lesbian and uses She/It/Claw! Mabel From Gravity Falls Is a Pansexual XenoGender DemiGirl Who uses She/They/He! Gia from Power Rangers Super Mega Force is a Bisexual CisFem Who uses She/Her! Luka from GoKaiGer is a Pansexual CisFem and Uses She/Her! Tracey From Pokémon is a Bisexual DemiBoy and Uses He/she! Sophocles from Pokémon sun and Moon is an Unlabeled Demiboy who uses He/volt/It/They! Lillie is a DemiRose Questioning DemiGirl who uses They/She! (also, I spotted you spelt one of my Characters a Lil wrong! His name is Spelt Pakcas, Not Packard, just so u Know!)

(answered the second ask instead of the first so i could remove the creator tag)

queued! though:

i removed the helluva boss characters because i don't take requests for that source

i couldn't figure out who packard/pakcas? is so i left them out

i couldn't find a moon butch flag, but if you lmk where i can i'll get it added

removed the queerplatonic aspect because these characters' ages vary quite a bit

[phyrexianphamily]

It's true, Gerry! I know everything. And kind of like the kid who peeks at his Christmas presents, I must admit... it's sadly anti-climactic. Behind all the Sturm und Wetterlicht, you're just a little boy in a toy ship, crying for Mommy and Daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic... Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway!

Yawgmoth, Apocalypse

[toomanyf4ndoms7]

Cassie vs Kano. (Inspired by Kano being compared to the Joker in mk vs dc)

Sonya Blade: Kano’s vain and likes to talk. He'll try to distract you, but don't listen. Block it out and power on through.

Cassie Cage: Wait... I like to talk too...

[They fight, and Cassie knees Kano in the balls]

Kano: What're you doing?

Cassie: Fighting dirty.

Kano: Your Mother would never-- [Cassie pushes the knee in further]

Cassie: Told you ya didn't know me.

Kano: How original, Sonya junior...

Cassie: Can't say the same for you. [shoves Kano so that his gut hits a table]

Kano: You Little brat. Who do you think you're talking to?

Cassie: Not a comedian, I'll tell you that.

Kano: [draws a knife] Shut your mouth! [throws it at Cassie]

Cassie: [retreats into the rafters] Sonya never talked to you much, did she? That's probably why you were so fixated on her. [shoots the knife out of Kano’s hand]

Kano: Don't play psychoanalyst with me, girl!

Cassie: Oh, I don't need a degree to figure you out. [shoots the lights with a gun, turning them off] The real reason you kept coming back was you never got a laugh out of Sonya blade.

Kano: I'm not hearing this...

Cassie: Get a clue, creep! She's got no sense of humor! She wouldn't know a good joke if it bit her in the boot... not that you ever had a good joke.

Kano: [really getting angry] Shut up... Shut up!!

Cassie: I mean, joy buzzers, squirting flowers? Lame! Where's the "A" material? Make a face, drop your pants, something!

Kano: Show yourself!

Cassie: You make me laugh. But only 'cause I think you're kinda pathetic. [starts laughing]

Kano: Stop that!

Cassie: So you got orphaned in Australia, got your eye punched out and decided to become a Wanted Criminal. What, you couldn't get a job as a pirate? [laughs mockingly]

Kano: [grabs some grenades] Don't you dare laugh at me!...

Cassie: [laughs harder] Why? I thought Kano always wanted to make Sonya laugh!

Kano: [throwing grenades] YOU'RE NOT SONYA!!!

Source: Batman Beyond: return of the joker.

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

Even artstyle stuff really shows how 1991' QJ is different then Comic and 2017 QJ, in the original source his lines are softer, his angles are softer, very little lighting, comix QJ has harsher lines, sharper angles, the shadows are dramatic, it's very dramatic and edgy looking, 2017 has some sharper angles, but the liminal shading like OG QJ gives it a very pleasing stylized look, even if it isn't a photo copy of the original

He's not the original OG QuackerJack, but when stacked against the others, he's probably a soft compromise between the two, design choices nonwithstanding.

A little too short in stature, maybe, but at least he's not looking like a sleep paralysis demon or looking like he be channeling Joker from the Batman Beyond movie, which, mind you, is from 2000, so there's a good chance that this was definitely viewed at some point while this comic was being put together, because look at this, I am not just grasping at straws

((By the way, "Return of the Joker"? Fantastic entry in the DCAU, I highly recommend the uncut version, they actually keep the blood in it, but they didn't originally have seat belts in that cut, so the censored version has seat belts. Mark Hamil's performance, absolutely spectacular, easily some of the best Joker lines))

At the very least...

He's got that bouncy energy once more. And he got Mr. Banana Brain again. Oh, thank goodness, they made sure to make it a point that this version of QuackerJack still has his Mr. Banana Brain.

[hecallsmehischild]

Recent Media Consumed

Books

The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I have mixed feelings about this book. I am torn between admiring the writing device the author employs and being annoyed by it every time it crops up. The idea is that the writer, Goldman, is actually presenting you with an abridged version of an antiquated Florinese novel while cutting out all the “boring political satire” bits and only keeping the action/adventure/romance portions just like his father did when reading the novel to him as a child. The author character continually interjects himself and this was distracting to me in a way that Lemony Snicket’s work was not (I cannot tell you why). Also there’s an awful lot of uncomfortable racial depictions in the original novel. Also I hated Buttercup’s guts, she truly comes across as someone who doesn’t deserve anyone, MUCH LESS WESTLEY. My end impression was that there are some parts of this novel that really elaborate on scenes in the movie and give an interesting depth to them (for example, we really get to know Inigo Montoya’s father and when he dies, it’s a character that we the reader can mourn as well) but in my estimation, the movie adapted the book marvelously and actually is one of the rare movies that I would say is overall better than the source material.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Second read, I bought my own copy this time. This is such a chick flick book but it’s soul food for me because goshdarnit a novel took fanfiction writing seriously and it’s so comforting to read. It also re-inspires me to keep pegging away at my fanfic.

The Dancing Realms series by Sharon Hinck. Hidden Current and Forsaken Island are written by one of my current favorite Christian fantasy writers. This is her second developed fantasy world, and while there are some things that I didn’t care for as much (I thought some bits of characterization didn’t work as well in this series as her previous one) the world she built is really cool and there are moments in the story where real glimpses of something deep and beautiful bleed through. My favorite set of themes from this work is the damage that can be done by elevating one sort of gift above all the rest OR by losing yourself entirely to your gifting and seeking only the pleasure derived from your gift without any grounding. I’m not synopsizing very well, but it’s worth a read and I look forward to the upcoming third book, Windward Shore.

Momo by Michael Ende. I wish this story were as well known as The Neverending Story, which Michael Ende also wrote. This novel wielded a surgeon’s knife on my fears of being meaningless and wasting my time and my life. It’s one of those novels that really has something important to say about life, I think. I want to add this into my queue of books to read on my Youtube channel, when I get an opening.

Given by Taylor Nandi. The cover looked amazing, and I was intrigued that Wattpad now has its own publishing press. However I was (I really am sorry) disappointed. I had to put it down within a few pages. There is very much a “tell, not show” feel to the writing and I can’t keep on with it.

Movies

Soul. PIXAR KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK AGAIN, REPEAT, PIXAR KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK AGAIN ON BASICALLY EVERY LEVEL. The visuals and character designs were fantastic, the messages beautiful, the characters believable, relatable, and fully embraceable. And every five or ten minutes, Sergey and I would pause and discuss implications and theorize about different parts of the movie and lore which turned a ninety minute watch into a three hour one which made it EVEN BETTER (for me). This is THAT kind of movie. Hats off to you, Pixar.

It’s A Wonderful Life. It must have been well over ten years since I’ve seen this movie. First, I was shocked to see it has been colorized. Second, the colorizing actually helps me catch a few fantastic details I would never have noticed (like Mr. Potter’s giant gold-framed painting of himself in his own office). Also there’s so much adult context I missed watching this as a kid, it’s fantastic to re-watch it and get so much more out of it this time around. I don’t think all “great classics” deserve their crowns, but this one does for sure.

Batman: Hush. Fun! Not much else to say. Just, fun to watch.

Collective films I binge re-watched for whimsy value: Klaus, The Little Prince (recent re-imagining), Mary Poppins Returns, The Lego Move 2.

Shows

24. So I finally finished all (the good) seasons, 1-8. Talk about an emotional meat grinder. This is possibly one of the most well written, well acted TV shows I’ve ever seen in my life, and it just. Never. Stops. Punching you in the gut. I had to take massive cartoon binge-watching breaks in between seasons. But it was worth it. This is an amazing show for many reasons. One of the things that stands out most to me is how it tackles the post 9/11 racial tensions from almost every angle. *announcer’s voice* Now featuring, that time a Muslim was the bad guy, and then that OTHER time when a Muslim was the valiant head of the Counter Terrorist Unit tracking all the terrorists down, and that OTHER time when you were certain someone was being wrongfully accused of terrorism by a dumb racist but it turns out the dumb racist was right and you hated him for being right because he was right but all his reasons were wrong, and that OTHER time the Big Bad was from China/Russia/Africa/our own dang government/our big corporations, and that OTHER time when we got a whole scene of an Imam guiding our protagonist in a deathbed prayer that was so moving I was choking up, etc etc etc. There is no black and white, it is all shades of gray, and every moral you ever held will be challenged in the course of watching this show.

Batman Beyond (3 seasons + Movie). Kinda cheesy, kinda campy, and I will punch the next person who says “Schway” out loud. But it was fun to watch. And some individual episodes were really excellent, I think. Also Re: Return of the Joker movie, HOLY CRAP.

DuckTales (reboot) 3rd season. It felt… like they ran out of ideas? Like they ran out of caring? The first couple seasons were spectacular, but it kind of petered out at the end, there. Still, the first couple seasons were fantastic.

Animaniacs (reboot) 1st season. IT’S TIME FOR ANIMANIACS. THEY’RE STILL ZANY TO THE MAX. IT’S LIKE THEY NEVER LEFT, AND THEIR COMEDY’S STILL DEFT, THEY’RE ANIMANIACS!!!

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE BATMAN OF THE FUTURE FACES HIS GREATEST ENEMY FROM THE PAST.

PIC(S) INFO: Mega-spotlight on WB Stores exclusive art print promoting the American direct-to-video adult animated superhero film "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" (2000). Warner Bros. Animation.

Resolution at 1889x2646 & 1657x1766.

TERRY MCGINNIS: "It's funny. You told me about all your other baddies, but you never mentioned him. He was the greatest, wasn't he?"

BRUCE WAYNE: "It was hardly a popularity contest. He was a psychopath. A monster."

Source: www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/gc4ote.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

I'm Gonna Make of You Another Believer

by RenegadeTheForgotten

It had been a single word. A nickname only intended to tease Tim. And yet he could feel himself struggling to breathe. The clothes he was wearing felt like straps holding him down. He could feel needles sticking into his skin. He could feel electricity coursing through him, making his body jolt.

Damian paused, reaching a hesitant hand out to the former Robin. "Drake..?"

Words: 2012, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman Beyond

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Characters: Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Joker Junior, Bruce Wayne

Relationships: Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne

Additional Tags: Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake Gets a Hug, Hurt Tim Drake, Tim Drake Angst, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Okay, Damian Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Protective Damian Wayne, Damian Wayne Has a Heart, Good Sibling Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Protective Bruce Wayne, Mentioned Joker (DCU), Movie: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, they're brothers your honor, I don't know how tagging works, Mentioned Alfred Pennyworth, no beta we die like the robins

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/45995029

[hallowed-be-thy-username]

If You’re Good At Something, Never Do It For Free Chapter One: In Need Of Some Assistance

I figured I’d post the first chapter of my WIP on here! TDK Joker x Original Female Character. It is currently at 17 out of ? (Where it stops, nobody knows!) chapters on AO3! 

**Warnings for full fic include: Graphic violence, explicit language, blood and gore, smut smut smut, graphic depiction of corpses, murder, aaaand recreational drug use!**

Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think! I might eventually put all of the chapters up on here or check it out on AO3!

Meet Nora Hawthorne. She spent her time like most Gotham residents. Go to work, go home, keep up with the news. That changed one night. Her life becomes even more interesting after Gotham's own Clown Prince of Crime comes crashing in with a life-threatening injury, leaving her questioning her morals as well as her romantic desires

Jesus, it’s been a long day. A woman with brunette hair above her shoulders, wearing a pair of loose teal green scrubs stands from her desk chair to twist her torso until a satisfying *crack* is heard, followed by a deep sigh. The noise of her tired spine popping into alignment is heard only by her as she stands alone in the treatment area of the now empty veterinary hospital. The brick structure sits between an apartment building and a law firm in West Harlow, the Gotham City neighborhood west of downtown, adjacent to The Narrows. This location makes Dr. Nora Hawthorne one busy veterinarian. On a daily basis she tends to anything from impatient businessmen toting in their wives’ teacup Yorkies with a little cough to large Rottweilers with deep neck wounds. To say she’s gained a variety of experience is an understatement.

She doesn’t own the place, though. Two years out of school and 30 years old means she has some hefty bills to pay. Dr. Moore owns the clinic. Taking this job meant long hours and a busy schedule with not much sympathy from David Moore. “Your generation expects everything handed to them, don’t you? I had to work harder than this to get where I am,” as he just loved to remind her of every time she requested time off for a little… what is it called again? Oh right, work-life balance. Sure, Moore. Enjoy your mini mansion in Uptown since it seems you have no problem balancing the weight of your business on a pair of younger shoulders. Even if it means those shoulders are constantly wound up in to deep knots that no amount of morning yoga can seem to unravel. But she can’t quit. Those bills to pay threaten to pile higher and she’s afraid of heights. Plus, job security in Gotham is hard to come by. Especially since the Joker escaped from Arkham two months ago.

That was in May. Everyone in the city has been on edge since then and the Summer heat is not helping. The days go by but not a peep has been heard in regard to the Clown Prince of Crime’s whereabouts. Same for the Batman. The eerie silence has only been making it worse. The traffic congesting the city streets increases in intensity every evening as Gotham’s citizens rush home in an effort to avoid getting caught up in whatever devastating scheme the Joker has been cooking up during his involuntary vacation. But the threat never comes, leaving the city’s inhabitants to nervously watch and wait. Maybe it won’t come. Maybe he left Gotham for good. Left to terrorize a new city. Wishful thinking is what gets us all through the day. But the tension still weighs on everyone’s nerves, making Nora’s day that much harder when she gets an earful from her clients on a regular basis for things that are out of her control. “Sir, you don’t need to speak to me like that. I did not give your cat a urinary tract infection,” is not something she thought she’d ever find herself saying.

It is what it is. All she can do is keep her head on her shoulders and do her job, care for Gotham’s only truly innocent citizens. Animals don’t dwell in the past, they only live in the present. In that regard, they’re smarter than the majority of Gotham’s inhabitants. She made it her job to advocate for their health and well-being, since they can’t do it themselves. Nora was staying late to finish medical records for the sea of patients the clinic took in that day and she wanted it all recorded while it was fresh in her brain. If you don’t write it down, it didn’t happen. She told her assistant, “You go on home, I’ll just be here finishing notes. Get some rest.” The heavy set women expressed her concern for Dr. Hawthorne being here by herself but the job has gotten her used to being out well after dark. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep the door locked,” was the response her assistant, Jen, would always get in return. She didn’t want to argue so she would leave Nora to her work within the off-white walls of the dimly lit hospital in silence.

Nora stretched once more and shifted a glance to the clock on the wall. 9:58pm. Had it been fourteen hours already? Her stomach responded with a growl as if to answer in the affirmative. The hard-working staff finished cleaning the treatment room a couple of hours ago leaving the two metal tables in the center of the room shiny and ready for whatever tomorrow brings. The room wasn’t very large but the open design left ample room for patient care. The treatment tables against the walls opposite from each other extended toward the center of the room, leaving a four foot space between them, and had ceiling-mounted exam lights above them. Along the walls there were shelves of neatly organized equipment and tools. Essentials. White medical tape, boxes of gloves, bandage scissors, IV catheters in a variety of sizes, thermometers, bottles of isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, jars with gauze soaked in chlorhexidine scrub, sterile lubricant, needles and syringes, and bandage material being among the most heavily utilized items. Along the back wall is a bank of cages and kennels for patients spending the day in the clinic (any patients in need of continued care were transferred to a nearby twenty four-hour hospital) flanked by drawers full of IV fluids and sterilized tools. The back right corner of the room opened into a short hallway leading to the area that housed a small surgical suite, devoid of any light this time of night, where a cart with monitors and a gas anesthesia circuit sat in wait for its next use. Just beyond this suite is a small door marked “Radiology” indicating the digital X-ray equipment kept inside, keeping radiation exposure to the rest of the place at a minimum. Nora’s desk is in the back left corner of the treatment room, a shelf full of medical reference books sitting above her head.  Also that “World’s Greatest Dog-tor” certificate Jen gave her last Spring. Nora didn’t have the heart to tell her she found it kind of insulting.

With the last medical record completed, details of the day’s procedures noted in succinct but thorough language, it was time for the doctor to make her way back to her nearby apartment for some much needed rest. She left her seldom-worn long white lab coat on the back of her chair where it always was and removed the black stethoscope from around her neck to place it on her desk. Walking toward the red-lit exit sign above the side door leading to the alley, she flicked the switch to turn the remaining lights off. She usually had a small can of pepper spray readied in her hand when she left alone at a late hour. But Nora had been practically beaten into the ground with exhaustion at this point and her thoughts were instead centered around a hot shower and her soft bed.

She opened the door to receive a gust of warm night air to her face, intensifying her sleepy feelings. Letting out a rather large yawn, she turned to put her keys in the door to lock it. As she removed the key from the lock, she felt a strange sensation on the back her neck. Like a crawling of her skin, a feeling of dread. Before she could turn around in search of the source of her body’s sudden danger signal, a purple glove slammed onto the door next to her head. Her eyes snapped to the glove and she froze, unable to breathe, while her heart jumped into her throat.

“Evening, doc,” a nasally, raspy voice said. She slowly turned her head to find herself face to face with the Joker himself, leaning with his gloved hand against the door. His makeup was smudged wildly and he was wearing his signature purple overcoat and suit. All color drained from Nora’s face as her breathing quickened to a practically panting rate, the idea of sleep drowned in a surge of adrenaline. Before she could make a sound his other gloved hand clapped over her mouth, a knife tucked between his thumb and index finger, the blade laying flat across the top of his hand.

“Ahh tah tah, no screamin’, doc. Wouldn’t want to wake the neighbors, would we?” he said, his dark eyes staring straight into hers. Nora struggled to regain her composure, it did her no good to panic. She knew begging and crying would get her nowhere with the Joker. Better to have as clear a head as possible. She took a sharp inhale through her nose. The wave of gasoline and extinguished matches that met her nostrils was overwhelming. It almost made her dizzy. But she slowly let the breath back out through her nose. Their gaze into each other’s eyes, hers wide with fear, his black and hooded, had not been broken since his zeroed in on hers. It was like magnets were keeping her eyes on his, no matter how hard she tried to look away, she couldn’t do it.

“Now. I’m going to move my hand and youuu are not gonna scream. Got it?” his voice getting slightly higher as he spoke. Without thinking Nora nodded slowly, still not breaking their stare, as he slid his hand from over her mouth.

She allowed herself to blink. Then, trying not to let her voice crack, she quietly said, “H-How did you know I’m a doctor?” Stupid stupid stupid. You are an idiot Nora Hawthorne.

Joker let out a breathy giggle and Nora’s gaze then fixated on his mouth. His scars. They were even more striking up close. Nora was no stranger to stitching up wounds and these must have been awful. She didn’t want him to see her eyeing them so she shifted her eyes back up to his.

“Who else would be here this la-te, hm?” Nora couldn’t do anything but open her mouth and shake her head, her eyebrows knitted together with anxiety.

Still bracing himself against the building on his left hand planted on top of the door he said, “Enough with the formalities doc. I am in need for some, uh, assistance, you see.” It was then that the doctor noticed the Joker’s breathing. It was shallow and rather fast. Like he couldn’t catch his breath but was trying to. Oh shit, what does he mean by that. She wasn’t sure how she didn’t notice his labored breathing until now. She supposed being paralyzed with fear would do that to a person. Nora watched as the Joker then lifted the flap of his coat from his right side, revealing a two inch wide piece of glass sticking out from between his ribs. There was blood trailing from it, down his green vest. She gasped. He dropped the fabric and grabbed her by the chin, jerking her head so her eyes met his yet again.

“So, my little doctor, youuu are going to provide said assistance-ah,” he growled. Nora’s eyes grew even wider.

“Wait wait, what? No no I’m a veterinarian, I’m not a human doctor,” she said in a panicked voice. Yeah, nice one, Hawthorne.

“I can read, doc,” the Joker said, gesturing to the painted door that read Gotham City Veterinary Urgent Care. “I know you’ve got what I need in that pretty little head of yours.” He tried to stifle a gasping sound from his throat as he attempted to inhale before speaking again. “I am an animal after all aren’t I, hm?” he said, leaning his head forward and bouncing his eyebrows suggestively. Nora was stunned.

“Why me? Why did you come here for help?”

“Can’t quite go to the emergency room, can I doc? Besides, you take care of little doggies and kitties all day. Just think of meee as a lost little, uh, puppy,” he said, shifting his weight to put his knife-wielding right hand against the door on the other side of her head so Nora was trapped beneath him, their noses inches apart.

Fear bubbled its way up into her head again. She couldn’t think straight. How did Gotham’s most notorious criminal end up here, in front of her, with a life-threatening injury? It didn’t matter how, it only mattered that now it was happening. But, how could she justify helping the Joker? He caused so much death and destruction to this city, her city. She could do her best to fight, she might stand a chance against him in this weakened state. But he was the Joker. He’d probably still be able to slit her throat faster than she could get out from under him. He was the Joker but he also was a person. A person in what she was sure was a significant amount of pain. Another gasping sound made its way out of Joker’s mouth.

“Haven’t got all night, doc.”

Nora’s expression softened. What the fuck am I getting myself into?

“Ok,” she said, lifting her keys and turning to unlock the door.

[batmannotes]

DC Collectibles, known for its iconic lines of collectibles, statues and action figures, directly from the source, is returning to New York Comic Con (Oct. 3-6) and will reveal an extensive slate of new statues and action figures. Big reveals include the reveal of #102 in the popular Batman: Black & White series, new character additions to the fan-favorite Batman: The Adventures Continue action figure line, and additions to expand its best-selling action figure and statue lines including DC Bombshells, DC Essentials, DC Designer Series, and more.

DC Collectibles just recently hit a major milestone with its Batman: Black & White series by announcing its 100th statue designed by Todd McFarlane and #101 by Frank Miller.  With the line gaining even more notoriety the DC Collectibles team knew they had to keep going above and beyond for the line’s fans announcing the 102nd statue in the series would be designed by non-other than the legendary Jim Lee. The all new 7” Batman statue is based on a panel in Batman: Hush, marks Lee’s fifth statue in the line.

Fans will now be able to immerse one of the most popular DC Super-Villains, The Batman Who Laughs into their Batman: The Adventures Continue collections. The Batman Who Laughs figure, designed by Ty Templeton bio by Paul Dini, combines the popular character from the Dark Nights: METAL comic and the beloved animated TV series art style.  The figure is due to hit shelves October 2020.

Harley Quinn fans rejoice as an all new Harley Quinn Red, White & Black statue designed by Steve Pugh will make its debut on the Comic Con show floor.  Based on Pugh’s art from the young adult graphic novel, Breaking Glass, features a young Harley Quinn.

Additional 2020 releases include a DC Designer Series Batman statue by Alex Ross and several new DC Essentials action figures including a number based on the popular DC Comics miniseries from 2019, DCeased, where the action figures take on the some of the post popular characters in the line and turn them into zombie-like creatures. Characters include, DCeased Batman, DCeased The Joker, DCeased Harley Quinn and DCeased Superman

DC Collectibles will be hosting a can’t miss panel (Thursday, October 3rd at 1:45 pm, Room 1A21)

featuring Greg Cupullo, Paul Harding, Jean St. Jean and DC Collectibles own Creative Director, Jim Fletcher.  Fans will get a front row seat to hearing about all the new collectibles and what goes into making these amazing fan-favorite statues and action figures. Those in attendance will be treated to hearing about and seeing several upcoming statues and actions figures including, Batman Black & White: Batmonster by Greg Capullo, DC Bombshells - Carrie Kelly as Robin (designed by Ant Lucia and sculpted by Tim Miller), DC Cover Girls - Harley Quinn (designed by Frank Cho), and three new concept designs for Batman: The Adventures Continue action figure line -Talon, HUSH and Thomas Wayne as Batman.