I have never seen a cover and characters more perfectly represent the absolute worst of comics fandom. It is glorious. And it is going to sell like gangbusters.

(I actually like Campbell as an artist, so please be snippy about him elsewhere.) https://twitter.com/JScottCampbell/status/1359618239039348739

It has everything terrible about fandom in one place! The glorification of abusive men. The fetishization of Japanese culture! A refusal to move past a dynamic found comfortable.

Just looking at that image I know exactly who is going to see that and think, "That guy is cool" instead of "The Joker is a poisonous trash fire." And that guy is terrible. And he makes fandom terrible. But he spends a lot of money. So everyone puts up with it.

That image, like the character Joker himself, is going to be read in two different ways by two very different groups. And one of those groups is a problem.

Joker is not a hero. He's not an antihero. He's not even interesting. He's ****.

"How can you say Joker isn't interesting when so many writers--"

BECAUSE HE IS NOT! He is boring and obnoxious. His pain is boring and obnoxious. His violence is boring and obnoxious. He's not special. He's a troll. Joker stories are interesting in spite of Joker. Not because.

Joker stories are interesting because Batman is interesting. Because Harley is interesting. Because we get to see them grapple with their humanity in the face of inhumanity. Joker himself is irredeemable and worthless. And worst of all? Unfunny.

And that image perfectly illustrates what a piece of **** Joker is. The disrespect of anything sacred he doesn't understand (and he understands so little). The inflated ego to cover his physical inadequacies. His need to subjugate women to make himself feel powerful. All there.

And it's in fandom too. Which is why these covers exist. Because the worst of fandom embraces this kind of soulless villain as its hero.

The reason why I can't stand Joker is because unlike so many villains and antiheroes popular in fandom, Joker terrorizes and abuses the innocent. Not for some "greater good," but because he FEELS hurt and wants random people to suffer.

I stressed "feels" instead of using "was" because Joker really didn't know pain. What was his original pain? He was poor and had a dysfunctional childhood? Join the club, snowflake! He couldn't last a day in Waller's shoes. Or Bane's.

I hate that Batman has the second best rogue's gallery in comics and yet everybody wants to run back to this poisonous well. Holler at me when Hollywood is ready to let Scarecrow be great. https://twitter.com/cheryllynneaton/status/1223792818096955392