The Joker Thing

[Thaluikhain]

I didn't mind the Batman in time thing, as a standalone, TBH.

Actually, the Joker works well as a standalone too. One or two times, he can get away with not being offed. Any individual story might be ok, but when you line them all up, problems arise.

 

[shrekfan246]

Yeah pretty much but you have to bear in mind comic quality can jump hugely on an arc to arc basis (this is why buying in trade format is cost effective) there are some fantastic things in comics but you really do have to tread lightly, its probably why there is a big market for comic reviews nowadays because the variance in quality is so massive.

Taken as a standalone product (and the actual death of batman (imagine) R.I.P is nothing less than fantastic, its all about picking and choosing, which i understand is more effort than most people want to put into researching a passtime (hello avatar and transformer films profits).

I'm a bit too tired to form a coherent and debatable response, so I'll simply say I agree completely, and that I believe it's no different than most other entertainment mediums such as television, film, music, books, and video games.

 

[keideki]

Generally speaking, the insane are not held accountable for what they do. No state executes the criminally insane. Thus Joker goes to the funny farm to break free shortly after.

 

[Aprilgold]

Because Batman won't kill as that makes him no better than the villains ( I think that's why he doesn't I may be wrong). Besides, when you have a character as interesting and important as the Joker you can't kill him off! That's no fun.

You know, hes right B man, Mr J can't die because your stupid or something, I always forget. Well B man, I have to go and meet Mr J's needs so BYE!

Ok, the real answer is right here.

Generally speaking, the insane are not held accountable for what they do. No state executes the criminally insane. Thus Joker goes to the funny farm to break free shortly after.

 

[Astoria]

Because Batman won't kill as that makes him no better than the villains ( I think that's why he doesn't I may be wrong). Besides, when you have a character as interesting and important as the Joker you can't kill him off! That's no fun.

You know, hes right B man, Mr J can't die because your stupid or something, I always forget. Well B man, I have to go and meet Mr J's needs so BYE!

Ummm what? Was that calling me stupid or making a joke out of my avatar? I'm confused.

 

[The Pinray]

Because capital punishment is illegal in Gotham, of course!

 

[similar.squirrel]

They're superhero comics. Reality doesn't so much take a back seat as fall out of its hiding-place in the trunk midway through the journey. Besides, the Joker is the most compelling villain in the DC Universe. Wouldn't make sense to kill him off, especially since there are still many interesting interpretations of the character left.

 

[WolfThomas]

It's called Joker immunity, there's no more stories if he's killed off.

In Kingdom Come, Magog killed the Joker while he was being taken away in handcuffs, after he killed 70 something people at the Daily Planet (including Lois Lane), this and the public's support of Magog is what causes Superman to retire.

Also this is the DC universe, death is cheap, you kill the Joker off and then in 6months he's back as a Demon-lord invading the earth. It's easier to break every bone in his body and lock him up. He'll break free eventually but for the moemnt everyone is safe. It's an unfortunately reactive strategy.

Long version is that he "died" (explosion unresolved till later issues) in batman R.I.P. (which is a damn good story and a great finale which should of been the way to kill him off. BUT DC needed batman for their big final crisis event (terrible) where he gets zapped by darkseid's (lame villains) omega beams (whatever they are) which somehow both leave a corpse.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wpPLG-yJpJw/ShN0gWBsMWI/AAAAAAAAC58/hCZKivEY7IQ/s200/batman_dead_final_crisis_6.jpg
AND send him back in time (for some reason). Its just a load of gibberish really. Which is how he "survived" via travelling forward in time to now. Although i think the new "reboot" nullifies 90% percent of this :/

I think Final Crisis and the Return of Bruce Wayne works a lot better when collected than as weeklys. Everything ties together more tightly.

Spoiler: For example Dr Simon Hurt

being Thomas Wayne an ancestor of the Waynes, possessed/tainted by the Adapter from the future that contained the Darkseid essence that would have killed Batman and everyone, which in turn made him both immortal and insane. Who was then breifly adopted by the Waynes's as their son, which actually ties into a golden-age story where Batman had an older brother.

I also love the reasoning behind Batman using a gun.

The root of the Batman mythos is the gun and the bullet that created Batman. So, Batman himself is finally standing there to complete that big mythical circle and to have the image of Batman up against the actual personification of evil and now he's got the gun and he's got the bullet. It seemed to me to work. -- Grant Morrison

Never mind his capture, police snipers exist for a reason. If he is endangering people's lives in some way, like he always is, they are allowed to kill him to end the threat.

Unfortunately if someone was that smart to do that in the comic, it would be subverted by the joker dressing a hostage up to look like him.

 

[Aurgelmir]

As i been reading through Batman comics there has been something that's been bothering me About the joker. Why hasn't this man been executed. no seriously the joker is one of the most murderous, completely psychotic, and Severely detached from reality human being in comic book history.he's killed almost a good thousands of people and either crippled or drove insane many others. but they never execute him they just keep sending him back to arkham where he escapes almost every time.

And even by comic book logic it does not really make sense. they always attempt to execute him and he finds a way out of it but when they catch him again they just lock him up in arkham.

But am i missing something here

Think Robot Chicken made a joke about that.

 

[Shiftygiant]

Because he's insane. In america, you legally can't put someone to death on insanity grounds, and because the joker see's the world as he does, he uses the insanity defense as his ace in the hole.

Does that answer you question Alik?

 

[Queen Michael]

Well, the thing is heroes and villains in comic books never stay dead even when they're killed off, probably because the writers are afraid of some miniscule but extremely vocal group of people who start whinging about it. EDIT: Oh yeah, and if they killed them off, they'd need to create new enemies. Heaven forbid! :END EDIT. If they killed the Joker, arguably one of the most iconic Batman villains ever created, he'd probably return to life a year later in some form of ret-con.

Hell, wasn't Batman himself killed back in 2009 or something? Take that with a pretty massive grain of salt, though, because I don't actually read comics.

nope he got shot with a time gun (well thats the gist of it at least, which resulted in this travesty happening)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Return_of_Bruce_Wayne_1_art.jpg

Long version is that he "died" (explosion unresolved till later issues) in batman R.I.P. (which is a damn good story and a great finale which should of been the way to kill him off. BUT DC needed batman for their big final crisis event (terrible) where he gets zapped by darkseid's (lame villains) omega beams (whatever they are) which somehow both leave a corpse.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wpPLG-yJpJw/ShN0gWBsMWI/AAAAAAAAC58/hCZKivEY7IQ/s200/batman_dead_final_crisis_6.jpg
AND send him back in time (for some reason). Its just a load of gibberish really. Which is how he "survived" via travelling forward in time to now. Although i think the new "reboot" nullifies 90% percent of this :/

If that's a travesty, then it's the most awesome travesty in the world.

 

[WolfThomas]

just two words make the whole thing silly to me
time bullet. I don't mind far fetched ideas, but its lazy writing as a way to bring him back. Hell i prefer clones to that BS, not to mention that DC had 2 valid ways to bring him back (blackest night, the lazarus pit). Final crisis may be an alright read (its nothing spectacular, 52,infinite crisis (both), sinestro corps war, and blackest night were all superior.

I don't know why everyone blames the time bullet (Captain America Returns had time bullets and they were genuinely stupid). It was the Omega Sanction that sent him back in time, not the bullet. A time-traveling radion bullet was just what killed Orion (and stopped Darkseid), and it's not too weird for the DC universe.

The act of sending him through time creates this loop, where Bruce Wayne inspires all the Bat mythology in the Gotham area and creates Dr Hurt as a villain. I thought that was all pretty neat.

Now yes Final Crisi wasn't that good, nor was return of Bruce Wayne. But Batman Inc and Batman and Robin those have been some good reads.

 

[Shinomori]

I can't say this with certainty, but perhaps gotham does not believe in the death penalty...Please correct if wrong.

 

[holographicman]

The reason he hasn't been sentenced to death us because he is legally insane, thus he is not responsible for himself. That's why he gets sent to Arkham Asylum while his goons get sent to Blackgate Prison. As to why he's still alive, other than the courts, Batman doesn't kill(At least mainstream Batman doesn't. Flashpoint Batman and several others, like the multiverse guys, do. Earth 1 Batman has a strict no kill poilcy)

id love to see who the joker's lawyer is.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

because the comic gods will not allow him to die

DING DING DING

He's just too much fun as a villain to be killed off. Also nobody in Gotham besides the comish and his daughter, Alfred and Bruce himself seems to realize how much of a threat he really is. Not to mention the fact that he will escape anything with time.

 

[Rednog]

That's the thing that has really bothered me with the batman universe and was a real unsettling thing for me in the game Arkham Asylum. It's like oh look batman takes out all the prisoners...and then they get out and murder all the guards....and batman doesn't blink an eye. Seriously the turn over rate of prison guards in Arkham Asylum must be insanely high. Why would anyone even work there, your odds of living are worse than an ice cube's chance in hell.
There is also the nagging thing about batman that he is not cool with killing people but leaving them crippled, mangled for life, or brain damaged is completely fine.
Insane or not you'd think that the politicians in Arkham would be like yea...these super villians and their thugs are getting out every other week and causing mass murder in the streets...screw trying to rehabilitate them or even bothering to try to lock them up for life...the lives of every innocent they kill is worth way more than their fucked up selves.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

But am i missing something here

You could say the same about Bats, or Killer Croc, or Two Face, or Poison Ivy.

The thing you're missing is the crossover. As it's fiction (and superhero fiction at that), all deaths must be meaningful.

And all karma must be avenged. If you were to kill the Joker with lethal injection, then it'd be switched out by his henchmen (or Harley for her puddin'). Electrocute him? You've just turned him into Zzazz. Gas him? The locker keeps him safe while the gas sprays outwards.

Most of the populace of Gotham know they're under the same laws though. As long as the artist doesn't draw them in detail, they're safe.

If they draw them going to kill the Joker though,

Know the rules. Stay away from the super-villains.

 

[Viral_Lola]

For marketing reasons I'm sure but probably for a technicality. The Joker is crazy and so he gets the insanity defense.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

As i been reading through Batman comics there has been something that's been bothering me About the joker. Why hasn't this man been executed. no seriously the joker is one of the most murderous, completely psychotic, and Severely detached from reality human being in comic book history.he's killed almost a good thousands of people and either crippled or drove insane many others. but they never execute him they just keep sending him back to arkham where he escapes almost every time.

And even by comic book logic it does not really make sense. they always attempt to execute him and he finds a way out of it but when they catch him again they just lock him up in arkham.

But am i missing something here

Because he's obviously clinically insane. I.e "sick". That's why they insist on sending him back to arkham ASULYM (you know a "madhouse" where you treat clinically insane people, or at the very least separate them from the rest of society because they could be harmful to others).

Didn't you know that a lot of people escape death sentences and prison time by being declared clinically insane? Sure, there have been instances where it's pretty much a cop-out, but in The Joker's case, it's kind of obvious that he's completely bonkers.

 

[gothicboris]

Because he is the most famous batman villain. If for some reason they decided to kill him i guarantee that sooner or later they would bring him back in some strange way.

He has been killed before by Batman. However it was in an Elseworld Novel called Bloodstorm where Batman is a vampire.