Smiiiile !!
Yup, the Joker is back in Gotham City in "Death Of The Family" and boy what an entrance! In case you haven't got around to reading the first installment yet (download it now for £2.49 from the DC app on iPhone), I wont go spoiling it but its typical Joker and a welcome return to the Clown Prince of Crime. I fear Batman will have more than his hands full in this storyline, and from where im standing its gonna get real bloody.
The Maniacal One even goes all Hannibal Lector on his most dedicated supporter, Harley Quinn.
*** Tease ***
Harley (about to carve her face off on Joker's orders): Would you still find me beautiful mr J?
Joker: My dear, whoever told you I ever found you beautiful? Hahahaha!
Cue sad Harley eyes.
Menacing, cruel, psychotic, mocking. You can almost feel the nastiness drip from the page/screen. Tis a dark storyline that lies ahead to be sure.
Adding to the atmosphere (in my opinion) is the 'feathery' style of the artwork in some panels. They are a stark contrast to other areas when the art is quite striking and harsh which illustrates perfectly (again for me) the danger that the Joker poses. Its unpredictable, violence hanging by a thread, always ready to spread carnage. Soft and hard, which way will it go?
So this storyline gets clean out of the block and I for one can't wait for the next installment. I have a feeling im not along either. Smiiiileee ! The Joker's back.
"Look into his eyes and tell yourself he's just a man. Tell yourself he can't know the things he says he does. He can't know your fears. But he has Alfred. He has your friend. And his eyes...
...You have studied the human eye. There are six eye movements that reveal motive, then fifteen variations of each one.
On everyone else you face ~ even the most hardened criminals ~ the pupils contract or expand depending on emotion.
Happiness, laughter, affection. The pupils open.
Fear, anger, hatred, the pupils close.
But not his. His pupils stay fixed, tiny points of blackness, the eyes of someone who hates everything, everyone.
Eyes that let in no light, that see through the darkness, stare into you, each pupil a tiny black pearl fixed in space.
A bullet coming at you. Eyes that say he's more than a man, eyes that say he knows you.
No, you know what he is. Tell yourself the truth. He's just a man who fell in a vat of chemical waste.
He's just a man. Like you, made of bone and tissue and blood."
