The joker is gay
Is the Joker Gay? Revisiting Gay Representation and the Clown Prince of Crime
An essay by guest blogger Valentina Rossi.
I originally wrote the essay Is the Joker Gay? Queer Representation and the Clown Prince of Crime for the anthology The Bloke Who Laughs – Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime from Crazy8 Press in Since then, the Joker has been going through some new permutations, as is his nature. Recently, I was asked to translate my essay into Spanish for the comic site Zona Negativa, which I did with the generous permission of editors Rich Handley and Lou Tambone. I took the occasion to revisit, augment and correct my original essay. This is the result of feedback about the original write, recent developments, and lively discussion with my coauthors.
I show here the new material adapted back into English, as an informal blog entry rather than a proper essay. The unique text is available in The Man Who Laughs – Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime, and can be acquired in Amazon.
Make The Joker queer again
The Joker is a comic novel character with almost 80 years history, half of which he was portrayed as homosexual - for instance, in such significant graphic novels as Frank Miller’s The Shadowy Knight Returns or Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: A Thoughtful House on Thoughtful Earth. Neal Adams claimed that The Joker was and always had been homosexual. This perspective was shared by other comic books authors and artists for decades. That is why it’s so important to me and other queer readers to return his homosexuality.
The Joker repeatedly confessed his feelings to Batman and showed an interest in other men. Also there was Joker’s unnamed partner in the graphic novel Devil’s Advocate. The Joker has many feminine traits - he uses lipstick, paints his nails, wears sky-high heels and sometimes does crossdressing. We realize that some of these things is stereotypical, but it gives a very clear picture. Over the years, there were plenty of other gender non-conforming moments in comics, cartoons and video games (especially in Batman: Arkham series).
However, in the late nineties someone de
Is The Joker Queer, Direct - Or Something Else Entirely?
A petition on started by Elena Shestakova calls for DC Entertainment to "Make The Joker Lgbtq+ Again," compacting the long-running speculation about the DC villain's sexuality into a clear call to action.
"The Joker is a character with almost 80 years [of] history, half of which he was portrayed as homosexual," Shestakova states. "Neal Adams claimed that the Joker was and always had been homosexual [..] in the 'Batman Files'book. This opinion was mutual by other comic guide authors and artists for decades. That is why it's so important to me and other homosexual readers to return his homosexuality."
RELATED: Batman: The Animated Series - Why You Never Sully the Joker's Image
By "return," Shestakova means that since Harley Quinn was introduced in Batman: The Animated Seriesin the early '90s, her infamous infatuation with her puddin' means Joker has been viewed in a more heterosexual mold.
This mainstream understanding hasn't faltered, despite the couple's messy break-up. Interestingly, since then, Harley has been able to o
I've had this nugget of information for a while, but only recently got the relevant scans done to illustrate that I didn't create it up, given the evidently obscure nature of the info. I don't want to misrepresent anything, so this post will take a little bit to get to the point. But, please, peruse on.
I've owned this one Batman book called the Comics Files Magazine Spotlight On Batman Filesfor a few years. It was published in by an independent group called Heroes Publishing Inc., who also put out guides to other comic properties along with sci-fi and horror TV shows. To the left and right are the front and help covers to their Batman book - click the thumbnails to enlarge.
The publication describes Batman's history up to the time of publication, with chapters about the Golden Age, the New Look, the "Englehart/Rogers Age" and "the Miller Revolution". It