8 Comic Book Characters Who Broke The Joker

2. Anton Arcane - Swamp Thing

What's Joker's most identifiable trait? Is it his makeup? The purple get-up? No, it's his laugh - that iconic cackle that reverberates around the halls of Arkham Asylum and punctuates every encounter with Batman. It's what makes the Joker, Joker.

So, with that in mind, you'll probably understand that him not laughing is kind of a big deal. And you'd be right! The absence of laughter indicates that something is seriously, tremendously wrong with the character, which should go some way in intimating just how big a deal it was when Swamp Thing villain Anton Arcane left the Joker in a vegetative state during Swamp Thing #30, written by Alan Moore.

The creepiness of this moment is made all the worse by what Moore and artist Steve Bissette withhold from the reader. We never see what transpired in Joker's cell, or how Arcane caused the Clown Prince's breakdown. All we see is that blank expression, and Arkham's doctors looking on in shock.

Moore's Swamp Thing excelled at horror, and while there are plenty of scary moments to choose from, this might just be the most unsettling.