Warning: SPOILERS for Batman Incorporated #7The Joker is expanding his network of apprentices and "allies" with Joker Incorporated, and the first look at new member Dusty Bronco proves this group will be just as twisted as the Joker himself. With one extra design concept, Dusty Bronco is already just as iconic as the Clown Prince of Crime.
The first appearance of Joker Inc.'s first new member takes place on the final page of Batman Incorporated #7 by Ed Brisson, Michele Bandini, Rex Lokus, and Clayton Cowles. After killing the father of one of Batman Inc.'s young members, readers are treated to a full splash page of the culprit: Dusty Bronco, a Rodeo Clown with a Wild West pistol to boot.
The new character's design is clearly meant to evoke the cowboys familiar to readers from Westerns, as well as rodeo clowns who distract the animals at bullriding events. Between the large black hat, the baggy pants with suspenders, and the bandana tied around his neck, Dusty Bronco would be perfectly at home in some abandoned Gold Rush movie set. But what makes him terrifying is the Joker-like clown make up and red hair, which makes the cowboy get-up all the more nightmarish. Reader can get an even closer look at the design in a variant cover by John Timms.
Joker Incorporated Is Coming For Batman Incorporated
As teased at the bottom of this issue's final splash page, Dusty Bronco's introduction is the first hint of what's to come in the Batman Incorporated title: Joker Incorporated. Batman Incorporated, a recently revived group, is an initiative spearheaded by Batman, who organized a group of internationally-based Batman-like heroes to fight crime around the world. This newest iteration of Batman Inc. was organized by Batman, but he handed it off to his ally Ghost-Maker, who (sometimes controversially) runs the team with an iron fist. Now the group is about to face its biggest (if strangest) threat yet: Joker Incorporated, a group of Joker-like villains gathered by the Clown Prince of Crime.
It was only a matter of time before a group like Batman Incorporated faced off with a similar Joker-themed group; the Joker is typically known as Batman's arch-enemy and even mirror, so of course he would want to mimic and corrupt even Batman's most ambitious ideas. Dusty Bronco's introduction and design is the perfect encapsulation of what Joker Incorporated should be: a little funny (cowboy Joker!) and a lot terrifying (cowboy Joker!) The idea of a rodeo clown also hints that Joker's crew will each have their own gimmick, offering the chance to look at his clown/horror theme from many different cultural angles.
With just one additional concept of a Wild West theme, this new character has pushed what the Joker represents to its limits. If Dusty Bronco's design (and first on-page kill) is anything to go by, Joker Incorporated will be a nightmarish and truly threatening new enemy for Batman Incorporated.
Check out Batman Incorporated #7, available now from DC Comics!