In the winter of 1988 , one thousand of people across the country voted to make up one’s mind whether Jason Todd , the 2d Robin , would be or break down in an upcoming issue of Batman . Some 5,271 citizenry wanted Jason to survive the Joker ’s brutal ravishment and torture ; 5,343 did not . You do the mathematics .
It ’s wild to think that there was once a clip when a comics newspaper publisher would leave behind the fate of one of the most democratic eccentric in one of its most popular books up to fans like that , but the ‘ 80s were a dissimilar sentence . Despite how gimmicky the existent domain circumstances of Jason ’s death were , the change had a sound and lasting wallop that send rippling across DC ’s books for yr to come .
Jason ’s end changed Batman both on the page itself and in the minds of readers because for the first time in his biography , Bruce had lost someone who depended on him — one of his adopt children , really — because he was n’t prepared for something . As tectonic a switch as the issue was , though , there ’s never been all that much of an explicit reasonableness as to why the Joker went right smart beyond his normal obsession with tormenting Batman . Sean Murphy ’s Batman : White Knight might not take spot within DC ’s meridian continuity , but this calendar week , the comic revealed a far more compelling spin on the Joker ’s motives .
Gotham City is a place where nothing good can come about unless there ’s something much worse waiting just around the corner , so it ’s fitting that the Joker ’s recovery from his various genial illnesses comes along with a side of unforeseen mayhem that ’s out of his control . With Jack Napier ( the ex - Joker ) on his new antipsychotic MEd , the former supervillain feed up his life of overt terrorist act in favour for a new career in politics as Gotham ’s new city council appendage .
Napier ’s goal is to expose the rampant degeneracy in the Gotham PD as well as the organization ’s history of law brutality — barbarism carried out by Batman , who Napier ( correctly ) indicate is essentially an unofficial limb of the GCPD . Unsurprisingly , neither Commissioner Gordon nor Batman take kindly to that charge , but Napier ’s refusal to revert to his one-time Joker self ( for the most part ) have it so that neither of them can touch the councilman . curiously enough , Batman and Napier ’s keep form really end up keep Gotham comparatively supervillain detached for a while , but the repose slowly begin to come to an closing when a young womancalling herself Neo Jokersteps onto the shot .
Like all of Gotham ’s very best weirdo , Neo Joker ’s got a worrisome backstory that ’s ( blessedly ) easy to add up up : Once upon a clip , the Joker robbed a cant and the Edward Teller hold at gunpoint just so happened to be a young , suicidal fair sex who ’d been cutting herself under her desk wondering whether anyone would remark . The moment the teller came face to face with the Joker ’s gun , however , she suddenly discovered her desire to know and decided to bet along when the Joker offhanded bid her “ Harley ” as he overcharge the bank . Rather than getting away the second she was safe , the womanhood stays with the Joker and finally becomes an ersatz Harley , pretend Harleen Quinzel ’s Hellenic catchphrase and pose .
It ’s Napier ’s turn in his Joker act that bring Neo Joker out of the woodwork . At first , she assumes that she can simply convince Napier to come back to her , but when Harleen shows up , complain her ass , and walks away with the bozo , Neo Joker decide that it ’s time to get serious about get her world .
Neo Joker reasons that even though Napier insists he ’s cured , it ’s really Batman that ’s keeping her from being reunify with the Joker , so she does what any ego - respecting Gotham villain would do and blasts the whole of downtown with a gargantuan frosting ray highjack from Mister Freeze . Neo Joker ’s approach on the metropolis prompt Batman and Napier to enter into an uneasy confederation with one another and as they ’re speeding off to meet their shared enemy , Bruce demands that Napier confess why he kill Jason Todd all those year ago .
The answer , though simple , is heartbreaking . The drug in Napier ’s bloodstream make it difficult for him to access his Joker store , but in sentence , he ’s capable to excuse how he only ever murdered Jason out of jealousy rather than any sorting of real personal hatred . Multiple characters throughout White Knight have repeatedly told Batman that he and the Joker are two halves to the same whole , and Napier admits it himself . The Joker saw the intimacy that Jason had with Batman as something he himself would never be able-bodied to experience , and he was enrage by the fact that Jason knew Batman ’s on-key identity , something he did not .
It ’s worth noting that in Batman : White Knight ’s universe , the Joker does n’t actually down Jason Todd ; once he divulges Bruce ’s identity , the Joker lets him go , something that shock and confuses Batman . The reason Jason never came back , Napier says , is because it ’s the sprightliness Bruce led him into that broke him that dark — not the Joker ’s attack . The Joker just thought it was funnier to lease Batman adopt that his protégé was dead , only to later be devastated by the truth that he ’d simply leave the Bat - Family .
Napier ’s tale is tragical and perverted , but it ’s also the source of one of the first and only moments of genuine light and warmth in White Night . teach what really bump to Jason pain Bruce deep , but it also drives him to seek out Nightwing and Batgirl to separate them , in his fashion , that he loves them and everything he does as Batman is to keep them , his family , safe .
If this were the end of Batman : White Knight , you could nearly convince yourself that the chronicle was go to close on something of a positively charged note . But there ’s still one issue left to go … and thing are almost assuredly about to get much unfit .
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