Case Study is another origin inspired by Batman '89, but one that also brings together the considerable talents of Paul Dini and Alex Ross.
Dini and Ross' comic heralds from the same school of thought as Morrison's in that it hypothesises that the Joker isn't insane, and can therefore not be 'cured' of his insanity. It shows the perspective of two doctors at Arkham Asylum and one who has arrived at that very conclusion after glancing at a forgotten report, which also details a version of events that created the Joker we know today.
According to the report, the Joker was once a prominent criminal who eventually created the Red Hood persona out of boredom. He then ostensibly fakes his insanity after falling into a vat of chemicals (again, after being ambushed by Batman), wearing it as a 'mask' as a means of matching the Dark Knight and summarily avoiding any prospective capital punishment, should he ever be apprehended.
The doctors almost seem won over by the theory, until Harley Quinn gets dragged past and finishes the conclusion for them. It was Quinn's thesis while she was at Arkham, and the story relayed to her likely another made up fantasy.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
