Category: The Week in Villainy

Taking stock of super-villains

Jokester: The Earth-3 doppleganger of Batman arch-nemesis, Joker, actually made for excellent reading in DC’s Countdown. Despite his good-guy status, the Jokester character has been a marked highpoint in the Countdown series.

From the DC Database Project:

One of the many victims of Owlman I, Jackie rose up after personally witnessing his friends slaughtered and himself scarred to become Owlman’s greatest adversary, the Jokester! After a long career of fighting and resisting the original Owlman and Talon, Jokester found his place with the Riddler family discovering his former wife and daughter Duela Dent.

Unfortunately, DC seems to be perfectly content to introduce a fascinating character and then kill him off in the space of a couple appearances. That was a shame.

TWiV has to grudgingly rate the Jokester at a “one.” After all, he wasn’t ever really a villain in the first place.

(If you have a suggestion for “TWiV,” please let me know.)