The Joker is about to come face-to-face with his most dreaded fear. DC has revealed a look at a tie-in for its upcoming Knight Terrors event that reveals what truly scares the Clown Prince of Crime.
With Knight Terrors on the horizon, DC has begun revealing new books that will tie into the event. As the DC Universe's heroes are taken into a Nightmare Realm, the Joker is going to have to confront his peculiar fears and anxieties. Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 sees the Harlequin of Hate transformed not into a monster or a demon, but into an average, boring office worker.
When you’re the Clown Prince of Crime, what kind of nightmare do you have? Working a nine-to-five office job! How will the Joker handle meetings that could have been emails?! Why did management cancel bring-your-child-to-work day?! Who will want to make small talk at the coffee machine?! What is Alexis going to pick for lunch?! And who is the masked madman terrorizing Gotham at night?!
Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 comes from Matthew Rosenberg, the writer for villain's main series, The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #1, and Stefano Raffaele (GCPD: The Blue Wall). The series comes with a main cover from Raffaele, which shows what the Joker would look like as an average Joe working a desk job. The Joker's unconventional transformation can also be seen in a slightly creepier manner in Francesco Mattina's variant. The tie-in book will also have variant covers from Simone Bianchi, Alan Quah, Ryan Brown, and Dustin Nguyen.
2 The Joker is Becoming an Average Guy (And It Terrifies Him)
Knight Terrors is an upcoming horror-inspired event that is going to transform the entire DC Universe. It follows the dramatic shift in status quo brought on by Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and Lazarus Planet. The Justice League is disbanded and the rules of DCU's magic have been completely flipped on its head. Knight Terrors is going to kick off with Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman discovering the body of one of their oldest enemies, which results in a new villain exposing the DC Universe to their biggest nightmares.
While it's a bit odd that the Joker's biggest fear is being a simple guy with a dull job, it's not unexpected. The villain expressed similar feelings recently in The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #7 while fighting Manhunter, saying "My worst nightmare is being boring.". Granted it's not the most terrifying concept, but it is in line with someone who thrives on chaos in the way that the Joker does. It may seem strange to average people, but for the Joker, being boring must be a living hell.
1 Joker is Afraid of Becoming Like Everyone Else
But why does the clown fear going normal? Well, his mind obviously doesn't operate like most other people's and hasn't since he became the Joker. It's been so long since the villain fractured his mind, he can't even comprehend an average life for himself anymore. His entire identity is wrapped up in being the most unpredictable force of chaos around, and if that's stripped away, then the Joker has no idea who he is. The Joker may be crazy, but he's just as capable of feeling fear like anyone else. And losing one's sense of self would be a scary thought for anyone. Readers can see Joker experience his biggest fear in Knight Terrors: The Joker #1, on sale July 4th.