News

There are few characters more terrifying and horrific than the Joker, which is why it's so surprising that so many women have fallen in love with him over the years - including one Justice League member. While it might be understandable that criminals like Harley Quinn or Punchline could fall for the Clown Prince of Crime, it's a lot more shocking that Black Canary almost seemed interested.

The Joker has done a lot of crazy things, but flirting with Green Arrow's long-time lover is certainly an insane feat. During the events of The Joker #4 by Elliot S. Maggin and José Luis García-López, the Joker admits that since the moment he met Dinah Lance, he hasn't been able to think about anything except her. He outright says that he loves her, and he must either marry her or kill her.

While the Joker becoming obsessed with someone isn't exactly new -...

It seems that almost every week the Joker is returned to Arkham Asylum by Batman or the police, and yet he always escapes. Fans have often wondered how the Clown Prince of Crime keeps escaping Arkham so easily, but DC gave the reason decades ago, and it just shows how the Joker truly is Batman's perfect equal.

The Joker's brilliant strategy to escape Arkham Asylum was revealed decades ago in 1976's The Joker #7 by Elliot S. Maggin and Irv Novick. In this story, it's revealed that the Joker has a mini-Ha-Hacienda hideout under his Arkham Asylum cell that he can access at any time. While Batman and the police think that the Joker is locked up safe and sound in his cell, he actually has the option to leave anytime he wants.

It's long been known that the Joker often treats Arkham Asylum like a vacation from Gotham City, but...

Outsiders #7 cleverly critiques Superboy Prime's reality-altering punch from Infinite Crisis in a meta-textual exploration of the DC Universe. Jakita Wagner from the new Outsiders series shares similarities with Superboy Prime in their desire to return to their original universe. DC uses Outsiders #7 to reflect on Superboy Prime's controversial role in shaping the DC Universe through reality-altering punches.

Warning: contains spoilers for Outsiders #7!

Superboy has performed some truly astonishing feats of power in his day, but now DC is throwing shade at his most hated. DCs new Outsiders series is a meta-textual joyride through their universe, peeling back the layers of reality to find what makes it tick. Now, in issue seven, DC slyly calls out Superboy Primes controversial Infinite Crisis feat, in which he altered reality by punching it.

Outsiders #7 is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Robert Carey. After being ripped from her universe and deposited onto the New 52 Earth,...

Duela Dent, known as the Joker's Daughter, goes from a villain with a confusing backstory to a hero as Harlequin, proving herself invaluable to the Teen Titans. Despite her redemption and heroism, Duela slips back into her criminal tendencies, bouncing between hero and villain until her tragic end. The New 52 reboot gives Duela Dent a darker, scarier backstory, but writers have struggled with her character, causing her to fade out in comics.

Characters with complicated backstories aren't anything new for comic books, but the Joker's Daughter is a prime example of just how absurd character backgrounds can really get. Sometimes, writers will play around by giving a character an intentionally confusing backstory that leaves characters just as confused as the readers. This was definitely the case with Duela Dent aka the Joker's Daughter, who left everyone confused about just who exactly she was.

The first appearance of the Joker's Daughter...

Batman's earliest major losses helped shape him into the character he is today, in addition to contributing to the shift in superhero narratives, as heroes now more frequently face sustained adversity. Ra's al Ghul, Bronze Tiger, and the Reaper were among the earliest villains to defeat Batman, teaching him valuable lessons and pushing him to his limits. Bane's defeat of Batman during the "Knightfall" story arc is considered his most decisive defeat, as Bane outsmarted and brutally beat Batman in a fight that changed the Dark Knight forever.

Batman's earliest adventures saw him rarely on the losing side of a fight – but then again, the same could be said about most superheroes during the early days of the comic book industry. The earliest comic stories rarely saw the hero with their back against the wall, at least for too long. Golden Age era comics sought to satisfy their readers by giving them a positive,...

Welcome to the latest instalment of a brand-new feature here on Nerdly, where one of our comic gurus, Ian Wells, delves into comics history and dissects Comics Interview, the long-running journal of interviews and criticism from David Anthony Kraft.

Up Front

Dak uses the Up Front space in this issue to plug upcoming releases from Fictioneer Books. Both in fact have had adverts run in every issue of Comics Interview so far. The first is Omniverse #3 by Mark Gruenwald (work on Ohotmu has held him up). Second, is a Don McGregor-penned James Bond series. From now on I won’t be dedicating a space to any new additions to the credits page. I will just mention any newcomers as and when the articles they contributed to come up. Also, I will not be calling out the letters pages every issue. Of course, if they get lively I will reconsider this decision,...

The characters of Superman and Green Lantern are two of the longest-tenured superheroes in the DC Universe. Both have existed in comics canon for about the same amount of time, with Superman pre-dating the 1940 debut of the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern only by two years. For that reason, these two almost always have been intrinsically linked together in one of the more overlooked, yet fascinating relationships of the DC Universe.

They are so connected that it's often forgotten that Superman is directly linked to Hal Jordan's origin story, as seen in a story titled "The Decision" from Action Comics #642, written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by Gil Kane. Here, it is revealed that Abin Sur initially chooses Superman to be his next Green Lantern, but upon discovering that this Clark Kent character is no human, he instead puts the decision for the next Green Lantern in his hands.

The Justice League was the premiere team-up book of the Silver Age until later eclipsed by the rise of Marvel. Coming into the '70s, new blood was being brought in as the older writers retired or were pushed aside. The decade would bring several new writers to the Jla, some of DC's best like Denny O'Neil, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Cary Bates, and Elliot S. Maggin. The art for the decade would be handled by Dick Dillin and various inkers. Dillin would stay on the book for 12 years until his death in 1980.

Related: The 10 Most Powerful Versions Of DC's Justice League, Ranked

In the '70s, the Jla became a book where the heroes of defunct comic book companies were revived and placed other Earths in epic tales that spanned worlds and dimensions.

It’s that time again… okay, it’s a little past that normal time, thanks to the Mix March Madness wrapup, but here are the preview materials for DC Comics releases for July 2012.

What’s on tap this month? More of the Before Watchmen books, with the debut of Ozymandias from Len Wein and Jae Lee, the conclusion of the Court of Owls storyline and crossover in all the Bat-books, and the debut of the done-in-one book, National Comics, featuring the New 52 Debut (coming right at you) of Eternity.

And in the white elephant of desire category, there’s the $300 statue showing the climactic scene from The Dark Knight Returns.

Once more, into the breach? Banzai!

As always, spoilers may lurk beyond this point.

Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #1

Written by Len Wein

Art and cover by Jae Lee

Backup story art by John Higgins

1:25 Variant cover by Phil Jimenez...

Okay, let me see if I have this straight. From Rich Johnston:

Rob Liefeld will be putting out a "Smash! Extreme!" #0 re-printing of Smash's previous appearances by Jeph Loeb and Liefeld from Image in April.

Rob says, "This will contain a new story which frees Smash! from his bonds and lead into the multi-part Smash! storyline told in a series of specials pitting Smash! against the Extreme universe. Then in May, we get ‘Smash! Brigade’ from Marat Mychaels and ‘Smash! Youngblood,’ ‘Smash! Prophet’ and ‘Smash! Supreme’ to follow through the year." Smash! apparently is this big, shall we say, hulking individual pictured to the right who has been in exile for a good long time after stealing Elliot S. Maggin's exclamation point, but he returns to wreak havoc on the entire universe in a company-wide crossover-- waging war on the world, as it were.

Psst. Rob. The pants are what's supposed to be purple,...