#flashpoint batjokes

IF BATJOKES NOT DESTINED BY FATE, WHAT THE FUCK IS FLASHPOINT DOING HERE?!

I quit dc around the time three jokers was published. I still think the comic is bad.

But i think about this line alot

Joker has been bruce mother. His twin brother. And another personality of his in other universes.

And now even dark versions versions of himself (absolute joker . The batman who laughs)

Joker is nothing to bruce but has been everything.

Hello! Thanks for enjoying my not-at-all rambling thoughts.

You know, I did read Flashpoint Beyond, but when I saw this question and tried to remember what the broader plot is, my brain did the ol' dial-up modem noise. I remembered the end with Martha letting herself be incarcerated in the batcave, of course, and her and Thomas taking Dexter in, but I had to run to Wikipedia to refresh myself on whose kid Dex was and everything else that happened.

And god, even skimming that entry, augh. I find multiverse stuff SO EXHAUSTING at this point. At least Knight of Vengeance didn't go as deep into it, to the point that I often forget it wasn't a stand-alone elseworld.

So with that, I'd say I enjoy elements of Flashpoint batjokes but not so much the actual comics featuring it. There's the core part of Batman and Joker mirroring each other, echoing how they responded differently to that one bad day. The implied destiny that someone has to die in Crime Alley and Batman and Joker must result from it. And of course— while to Azzarello it may have just been a crazy twist— Batman and Joker being a freakin' married couple. They are bound not only by destiny but by the Lord and bureaucracy!!! Uh, and love, yeah. Love all twisted up by resentment.

It does raise interesting questions about what Thomas and Martha were like as people outside of Bruce's childhood memories. Perhaps they really were different people than in the Flashpoint universe and just as goodhearted as he remembers. But perhaps they weren't, Martha in particular. Until recent years, she's gotten the short shrift in comics when it comes to Bruce reflecting on his parents. In older comics, Bruce mostly thinks about the kind of person his father was and if he's earned Thomas's approval, just leaving Martha to be slotted into a standard Good Mother role. But it's fun to think that she tamped down a darker side that Bruce never saw, and therefore it never clouded the idyllic vision he had of her.

Would be fun to see a Flashpoint batjokes comic dig into that, rather than, you know, Geoff Johns pushing his TKJ-flattening agenda once again. Jack Oswald White?? Shut UP, man. I won't say that the way Flashpoint Beyond ended wasn't great batjokes food, but I also hope Johns never follows up on it, because most of the time I've read his stuff, I've thought, "Man, I really wish you'd stopped a ways back."

Speaking of follow-ups I want, how about DC cowardly not giving us a comic where Bruce processes that there's a universe where not only is his father Batman, but his mother is the Joker? On top of Batman and Joker being a married couple who smooch and everything! Like we know Bruce knows!  He's made a freaking record of it that one of his kids has read!

[Batman (2016) #77, "City of Bane, Part 3"]

The Hall of Justice archives. Not Bruce's personal archives. Implying people other than Damian know. Implying plenty more people could hack into it! Where is my comic where this information gets back to Joker and he needles the hell out of Batman about it?

It's nowhere, because they let Azzarello make things weird, but now they want to back off the weirdness. Well, they can't! The oedipal cat is out of the tragedy bag!!

Martha: you're not good enough for my son, your schemes are shit.

Joker: do you like screw ball romantic comedies from the 40s.

One 2-hour conversation later

Martha: you have my blessing.

Bruce: what blessing?

Martha: Oh wait you're not going to propose to ... I'm calling him Jack so we don't get confused.

Bruce: who's Jack?

Martha: your world's joker.

Bruce: with a look of horror on his face: excuse me.

Martha: Bruce I raised you don't try to deny it. You want him so bad it makes you look stupid.

Martha: You remind me too much of your father he tried to deny that he liked me too, it was quite funny.

Bruce: Can we stop talking now.

Martha: It was a real pride and prejudice situation.

Bruce: kill me