How do you make a white-skinned clown with a rictus smile who has a talent for murdering masses of people in painfully hilarious ways even more terrifying than he already is? Simple. You cut off his face and get him to wear the decomposing skin as a mask, like Mrs. Doubtfire if it was directed by Eli Roth. Because The Joker wasnt scary enough, Scott Snyder took a ridiculous moment from Tony Daniels Detective Comics run (The Joker lets the Dollmaker cut his face off because comics) and made it the genesis for another transformation of the character. Which is a fancy way of saying that he used it as an excuse to show you a clown with a rotting flesh-mask strapped to his head, beating people to death with a hammer. Because Snyder is a demon who feeds on your night terrors. In Death of the Family, The Joker returns in all his is that a f***ing face on your face?! glory and, get this, this time he actually isnt playing around. Apparently, putting a gun to the head of a newborn and forcing hundreds of innocent civilians to laugh to death was Joker on an off-day. The Joker is a teensy bit jealous and wants to have Batman all to himself, so he goes about systematically targeting Batmans allies as he believes that they make Batman weak. Harley Quinn, now comfortable in her role in the Suicide Squad and having moved on from The Joker, is initially happy that Mistah J is back, but soon comes to realise that they both have changed and that, well, maybe they should be friends. Hell hath no fury like a Joker scorned. You know when someone who was recently broken up with gets themselves a rebound who looks exactly like their previous partner and its kind of creepy? Joker is that kind of creepy. Ned Flanders pining over Maude kind of creepy. In a Suicide Squad tie-in, penned by Adam Glass, The Joker, unhappy that Harley has told him that loving him doesnt mean belonging with him, decides to lock Harley away with the others. The others being all previous Harley Quinns, now a pile of skeletons. Each of them were considered a failure by Joker, with Harleen Quinzel being the latest. Joker chains her up with her predecessors, locks the door and leaves her there. The moral of this story? If you break up with a psychopath, do it via text.
