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    Scott Snyder

    Person » Scott Snyder is credited in 922 issues.

    Scott Snyder is an American comic writer working for DC Comics and Image Comics. He is known for his work on titles such Batman, American Vampire, Swamp Thing, Superman Unchained, Severed, Wytches, and The Wake.

    Scott Snyder Reveals Joker's Motives Against Batman and Gotham City

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    gmanfromheck

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    Edited By gmanfromheck

    If you've been reading the Endgame story arc by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, you know Joker is back and he's not playing any games. After being absent for nearly two years, Joker has returned with a vengeance. Spurned over the events of Death of the Family, this is a more motivated Joker. As he's made his first move against Batman and Gotham City, we're finding out more about Joker that just might change what we and Batman thought we knew about him.

    BATMAN #37 is on sale today. There will be some minor spoilers below so be warned.

    No Caption Provided

    COMIC VINE: Joker is done playing around with Batman but does he want to make him suffer first by destroying Gotham?

    SCOTT SNYDER: Oh yeah. He wants him to see how insignificant he is. He wants to show him, “I could have always done this to you, but I played along with you for a long time, hoping you would see what you’re supposed to be. Because you rejected that and rejected me, I’m going to crush you in a way that shows you how incredibly meaningless your whole mission has been.

    CV: Joker could’ve just taken him out at the end of 36.

    SS: Right. Well…I don’t know if he could’ve taken him out. I wouldn’t go that far because maybe Batman could have gotten out of it somehow. Or he might have survived. I would say he’s certainly out to punish him.

    CV: Can we assume you intended the opening for issue 37 to be similar to the opening of 15?

    SS: Yeah, it’s meant to be a mirror of that issue. That issue was largely about Batman, or Bruce, convincing himself that Joker was just a person. He’s made of meat and bone and gristle so don’t be afraid of him. Here, he’s trying to convince himself that he, Bruce, is somehow is, at least figuratively, more than just the bone and gristle and meat. He’s Batman. He can do this. He isn’t just Bruce Wayne. He’s bigger than that. He has to be to win.

    Opening to BATMAN #15 and #37.
    Opening to BATMAN #15 and #37.

    It’s meant to be a complete inversion of that issue where, at the end of the issue, it’s meant to be Joker reducing him to the smallest possible thing he could be. With that phone call, he’s just saying, without spoiling it for anyone that hasn’t read it, “You think you’re so special, you’re big, larger than life. No, you’re actually just this. I know it and I see it. You’re just done.”

    CV: Can we also assume Joker’s been working on his new toxin since the last time we saw him?

    SS: Yeah, he definitely has plans that have to do with why he was at Arkham. He worked on things while he was at Arkham. He was planning. He’s been setting this up for a long time. It really began the moment Death of the Family ended. After that last encounter, it was like, “Alright. You want to play that way? That’s it.”

    CV: In 36, did he somehow get his old face/skin back from Joker’s Daughter that he held up to Batman? Was it another fake face or something?

    SS: No, that’s his real face. He got it back.

    No Caption Provided

    CV: So that’s something we may see addressed in an upcoming issue of BATMAN ETERNAL?

    SS: Yeah, it very well may be.

    No Caption Provided

    CV: With Gotham getting attacked again, is real estate really cheap? Why don’t people move away?

    SS: I always ask myself that. Why would you ever live in Gotham? It seems awful, right? It’s always that you’re under attack or gloomy. It’s awful. I think the reason people stay in Gotham is because they know if they stay and can fight through the challenges and all the things the city throws at them, they’ll come out better for it. That’s part of the lesson from Batman, I think. Because he’s in Gotham, what he says is tragedy, adversity, any obstacle thrown at you in life by the city, if you overcome it, you’ll be a better hero for it.

    CV: For those that haven’t read the issue yet, will we finally get the answer to whether or not Joker knows Batman’s identity? Are there any tricks here?

    SS: Oh yeah, everything is definitive in this. Nothing is going to be ambiguous. This is really meant to be if I had a chance with Greg and the team to do the last Batman/Joker story for our continuity from our own imagination, what would it be? It’s really the highest stakes possible, the highest level of drama. We’re really not leaving anything on the table with them.

    CV: We see the return of a character from Zero Year. Will this character start to have more of a presence in the title, if he survives?

    SS: Yeah. Duke is a character we tried to hint that he has a place in Gotham. Whether in costume or not, I sort of leave that out of it at this point. But he’s absolutely important to me, personally and to the team…yes, there are plans for him.

    No Caption Provided

    CV: It seems you might be changing Joker to having an even bigger presence in Gotham. Anything you can say about that?

    SS: Well, that’s just what he’s saying. He’s saying, “I’ve been here longer than you. I’m larger than you. I’m stronger than you. I’ve just been pretending all this time to be what you think I am. I’ve been playing a game with you because I thought you’d come around. But because you didn’t, now all bets are off. I’m going to take my real face off and show you who I am.” That’s kind of what he’s saying. It’s up to you, the reader, whether you believe him or not. I think Bruce and Jim would never ever in a million years believe that. It’s really who’s side you’re on ultimately. It’s about what you choose to believe when reading the story. Hopefully that’s part of the fun of it.

    CV: Because this arc is halfway over, have you written the end, issue 40?

    SS: I’m writing issue 40 pretty much now. For me, it’s almost over. It’s hard to write it too, I’m telling you. Crazy stuff happens in this one. It really really changes a lot for us. We come out on the other side very different.

    BATMAN #37 is now on sale. Make sure you go and buy it to see what happens next.

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    righteous300

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    Having to wait a month for the next issue is going to be brutal.

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    PunyParker

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    Having to wait a month for the next issue is going to be brutal.

    Every month is.

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    PortlandsBatman

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    #3  Edited By PortlandsBatman

    This was such a great issue.

    The Joker is so creepy and of course there is this:

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    _Darkwing_

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    @mrtummytumms said:

    Having to wait a month for the next issue is going to be brutal.

    Every month is.

    I know! Goddamn it, man.

    Hey Puny, you're reviewing this right?

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    Spidey_Jackson

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    Eh.

    Beata

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    asjmooney

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    Wow absolutely loving this although I was slightly confused with the alley scene and the guy who was in the hospital bed (which I won't name for spoilers) as it through me out of the story a tad.

    is the kid the one who helped patch Bruce up in zero year when the city was overgrown?

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    DrF8

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    I gotta buy it...

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    NightFang3

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    @theacidskull said:

    Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on with joker? How does he have his face back again?

    He's not human.

    Wow absolutely loving this although I was slightly confused with the alley scene and the guy who was in the hospital bed (which I won't name for spoilers) as it through me out of the story a tad.

    is the kid the one who helped patch Bruce up in zero year when the city was overgrown?

    Yes, how could you miss it.

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    MadeinBangladesh

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    Snyder is back!

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    wowlock

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    All the more reason Batman should've let him face justice....permanently. If you keep allowing guys like him , he will think he is invincible like this.

    Of course it wouldn't have caused drama and such but I wonder if this is ''truly'' the end game since I doubt Joker could've done what he did if it wasn't for Batman's ''allowing'' attitude.

    I mean Joker , aside from being an Iconic villian , literally has no redeeming qualities to be kept in ''Rehab'' and at best should've been kept in a very dark and very deep place...at least he would feel at home there. Hell just give him to Superman and let him put Joker in a Space Prison or Phantom Zone.

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    Golden Cod

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    #13  Edited By Golden Cod

    Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on with joker? How does he have his face back again?

    To reference Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke", sometimes Joker remembers his past one way and sometimes another. The implication is that he's either:

    (A) Genuinely crazy and doesn't know who he himself is.

    (B) Secretly sane and uses this as a means of laying false leads for Batman / Gotham PD / the readers.

    Snyder is giving us option (C): what if all those origins are true? Joker plants the idea of a multiple-choice question in our heads so who's to say that it couldn't be another misdirection on his part.

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    amazing_webhead

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    *sigh* I miss when Joker was all about exploding cigars and boxing gloves hidden in a bouquet. Back when not every story he was in was treated like some big finale.

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    Vivide

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    *sigh* I miss when Joker was all about exploding cigars and boxing gloves hidden in a bouquet. Back when not every story he was in was treated like some big finale.

    They want to make him DC's pennywise

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    amazing_webhead

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    @vivide said:

    @amazingwebhead said:

    *sigh* I miss when Joker was all about exploding cigars and boxing gloves hidden in a bouquet. Back when not every story he was in was treated like some big finale.

    They want to make him DC's pennywise

    So they want to make him the villain of a story where a bunch of 11-year-olds f*ck?

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    Vivide

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    @amazingwebhead: yeah, and you can feel spawn's Violator vibes on joker now

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    entropy_aegis

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    #18  Edited By entropy_aegis

    Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on with joker? How does he have his face back again?

    Forget that,I still wanna know why he had it cut off in the first place.

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    TheComedian_

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    #19  Edited By TheComedian_

    Yeah. I don't like this whole Pennywise Joker thing. It's freaking me out.

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    MikeGrier

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    *sigh* I miss when Joker was all about exploding cigars and boxing gloves hidden in a bouquet. Back when not every story he was in was treated like some big finale.

    He knocked out Gordon with a spring-loaded boxing glove in this very issue.

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    amazing_webhead

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    @amazingwebhead said:

    *sigh* I miss when Joker was all about exploding cigars and boxing gloves hidden in a bouquet. Back when not every story he was in was treated like some big finale.

    He knocked out Gordon with a spring-loaded boxing glove in this very issue.

    Sounds like a step in the right direction

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    asjmooney

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    @nightfang: seems like ages ago when I read zero year. Took me a while to place him

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    SilverPool

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    TBEMrMcCoy

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    The Average Bear

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    #29  Edited By The Average Bear

    Okay, I'm really conflicted with the direction this is taking. While I enjoy the Joker as a character, I can't help but feel like his entire history is cheapened with the idea/ realization that he's some "immortal evil". I know that there are issues to come so this might be resolved in a less drastic way, but here's my gripe: the Joker is supposed to be human. He's supposed to be the scariest, most evil, most sadistic human. Not a monster, not a demon. If this story concludes with him being some immortal representation of evil, it'll take away 95% of what makes him interesting.

    And if he's not human, why in the world would he need to take oodles and oodles of chemicals to replace his face or alter his skin tone or whatever it is he did? What would be the point if he could just hellfire-and-brimstone a new face on?

    Snyder said he's writing this as the last Joker story he'll write, and by the way it's going, it's gonna be the last Joker story for anyone to write. Making him anything other than human defeats his entire fear factor. Batmans arch enemy should be exactly as he is: a human. If his arch enemy turns into some supernatural character it'll change the entire scope of Batmans title. I hate to say this, Snyder, but I am not a fan (YET. It could change).

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    bladewolf

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    AbdullahZubair

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    EH Looked better without the face!!

    eh on the joker's new look, not the book. The book is awesome

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    TorstenAdair

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    I suspect there's a bigger "mask" theme running through Snyder's run.

    Joker has been shown to wear at least two masks, and when he was an up-and-comer, masked gangs were rampant. If memory serves, the mask factory was where Joker was dipped. [Insert Judge Doom reveal here.]

    That might be how he infiltrated the Bat-family earlier, learning the many secrets he revealed. Especially if he's using an artificial skin to cover his dermis.

    That makes him even more devious... he can be a master of disguises, and a brilliant tactician, just like Batman.

    In essence, he's Joker+Hush. Which makes him even more of the greatest villain in comics.

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    amazing_webhead

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    @amazingwebhead said:

    @tbemrmccoy said:

    @amazingwebhead: you read it? It was terrible.

    No, I'm broke and unemployed so I couldn't

    Sorry to hear that. Times are hard.

    Well, it's more that I haven't even graduated high school, but your sympathy is appreciated

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    mak13131313

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    Just read it and loved it!

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    Darkmount1

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    #36  Edited By Darkmount1

    For the love of Pete, will someone PLEASE kill the Joker already, and have him STAY dead for a longer while? I even know the perfect storytelling way to do so. He doesn't get killed by a Bat-clan member, or another villain, or even a member of the GCPD--he gets killed by a civillian who is tired of living in constant fear of the clown-faced creep, and when an opportunity arises, they shoot the Joker in the head, heart, and 'downstairs', effectively causing the Joker to die he way he lived: randomly.

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    vandinejd_1991

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    @darkmount1: NOOOO! If the Joker dies then there is no reason for me to read Batman comics. I barely want to read comics anymore anyways with Steve Rogers being old, Falcon being a douche, and Red Skull being good.

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    deactivated-5a4aaebccd120

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    Okay, I'm really conflicted with the direction this is taking. While I enjoy the Joker as a character, I can't help but feel like his entire history is cheapened with the idea/ realization that he's some "immortal evil". I know that there are issues to come so this might be resolved in a less drastic way, but here's my gripe: the Joker is supposed to be human. He's supposed to be the scariest, most evil, most sadistic human. Not a monster, not a demon. If this story concludes with him being some immortal representation of evil, it'll take away 95% of what makes him interesting.

    And if he's not human, why in the world would he need to take oodles and oodles of chemicals to replace his face or alter his skin tone or whatever it is he did? What would be the point if he could just hellfire-and-brimstone a new face on?

    Snyder said he's writing this as the last Joker story he'll write, and by the way it's going, it's gonna be the last Joker story for anyone to write. Making him anything other than human defeats his entire fear factor. Batmans arch enemy should be exactly as he is: a human. If his arch enemy turns into some supernatural character it'll change the entire scope of Batmans title. I hate to say this, Snyder, but I am not a fan (YET. It could change).

    Well said.

    I don't like the concept either, the next step is makin Batman some kind of super power to match him.

    But from what Snyder said in the interview uptop, it looks like their gonna never really flat out say thats the fact of who or what he is anymore than the other three origins that might be true. Like he's gonna leave it to the readers to decide.

    Then again that's not much better, the story might as well have not even happened, if it's just adding one more maybe origin.

    I'm gonna call it and say this ends with them finding out he did doctor the photos, he was wearing a vest, but one last panel that makes you think 'or did he?' Then Joker disappears for another eight months.

    I just want to see the an answer to who the joker is thats grounded and human.

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    Battle_Forum_Junkie

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    @the_average_bear said:

    Okay, I'm really conflicted with the direction this is taking. While I enjoy the Joker as a character, I can't help but feel like his entire history is cheapened with the idea/ realization that he's some "immortal evil". I know that there are issues to come so this might be resolved in a less drastic way, but here's my gripe: the Joker is supposed to be human. He's supposed to be the scariest, most evil, most sadistic human. Not a monster, not a demon. If this story concludes with him being some immortal representation of evil, it'll take away 95% of what makes him interesting.

    And if he's not human, why in the world would he need to take oodles and oodles of chemicals to replace his face or alter his skin tone or whatever it is he did? What would be the point if he could just hellfire-and-brimstone a new face on?

    Snyder said he's writing this as the last Joker story he'll write, and by the way it's going, it's gonna be the last Joker story for anyone to write. Making him anything other than human defeats his entire fear factor. Batmans arch enemy should be exactly as he is: a human. If his arch enemy turns into some supernatural character it'll change the entire scope of Batmans title. I hate to say this, Snyder, but I am not a fan (YET. It could change).

    Agreed. I have been enjoying the arc so far, but If this is how it turns out I think it would also ruin Joker's dynamic with Batman to a point. What I love is that they're essentially two sides of the same coin. They both had that "One bad day". Batman used it to drive him to do good, while Joker used it as an excuse for insanity and evil. And the fact that Batman often teeters on insanity himself makes it their dynamic that much better.

    But if Joker isn't really insane, but instead possessed by some sort of evil spirit it - like you said - cheapens character and their relationship, IMO.

    But again, the arc hasn't finished yet. I suspect Snyder will do something similar to the ending of #24 and leave it up to the reader's interpretation. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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    Gravim3tric

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