Barbara, I… My life right now is insane. Everything’s different, the whole world’s changed, and I just need to know… I need to know where I stand on at least one thing. The single most important thing in life. All the time I was away, all the missions I’ve done, all the danger I’ve faced—it was you that kept me grounded. You always reminded me where home is. It was always you. (Batgirl #45)
Justice League: Darkseid War: Batman #1 - “God Only Knows” (2015)
written by Peter J. Tomasi
art by Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan, & Gabe Eltaeb
What I love most about Jared Leto’s Joker is that he is a walking tribute to the 75+ years of history of the character. Just from the brief amount we have seen, I can call out several inspirations:
Like… This is AWESOME. This is both something completely new and something extremely familiar. And that excites me. It’s like arranging a jigsaw puzzle in a wholly new configuration and finding an even cooler image.
I’m sorry that some people can’t get past a few tattoos, even if they are accurate to at least one version of the character; while I’ll concede the source material they come from is not the strongest piece of literature, it is no less valid. I would also point out those those that are complaining about THIS single look in particular, this is NOT his only outfit in the film. That’s confirmed. The set pictures are out there, showing an outfit extremely reminiscent of that found in The Dark Knight Returns. He has multiple outfits (and this one looks like he’s breaking out of Arkham and grabbing the bare, irreplaceable essentials). There should be no hang up about this.
The situation is exactly like Ledger’s Joker all over again, with people decrying the look. Then, afterward, it was lauded as one of the greatest performances in cinematic history.
Maybe I’ll be proven wrong. Maybe it’ll be awful. But, until then, I, for one, learned my lesson about pre-judging.
TL;DR: I’m stoked.
