It has only been about two weeks since the Joker was revealed to be returning to the Bat-books, and even though it seems longer, it is still fresh in the minds of everyone. That includes Batman artist, Greg Capullo, who will begin drawing the first issue the Joker appears in shortly. Newsarama talked with Capullo about bringing the Joker back and Capullo warns fans at what to expect.
Newsarama: Let's talk about what's coming up in October. When you heard you were drawing The Joker for your next storyline in Batman, what was your gut reaction?
Greg Capullo: Well, as soon as I heard, my pants got very tight and my nipples stiffened. It was just a fabulous reaction. And I just said, "I have to do this." This is, like, super-exciting. Super-thrilling. I mean, what artist doesn't want to touch The Joker? He's just the coolest and the most badass, the most evil, the most insane, and so there's so much to play with. And the fact that so much has happened to the Joker prior to where we're picking him up, with the severed face, we're going to be able to run with that now.
Newsarama: So did you and Scott talk about the best way to handle that severed face? We've only seen the cover, which is kind of a tease that his face is different now.
Greg Capullo: Yeah, Scott and I are working on the details now of how we want to handle that. We're putting together some visuals for the story now. It's going to be very different than what people have seen with The Joker prior.
Newsarama: Are you at all disappointed that he looks different? Or are you still able to portray enough of that Joker look that it's still the character we know and love?
Greg Capullo: You know, I'm happy to be doing this because I look at it as an opportunity to have fun. So no, this is going to be a blast. Let's put it this way. I would have put my own slant on the way the Joker looks traditionally anyway. Now I can go down the road of, like, Texas Chainsaw Massacre stuff. And I'm a heavy metal guy, so stuff like Slipknot pops in my head, you know? So I'm going, "Yeah! Something really, really dark and creepy!" It amplifies it. We're turning the Joker up a notch, you know? If you can turn the Joker up any higher.
Newsarama: It sounds like you don't have the exact look ironed out yet and I'm sure it's early in the process of you drawing the story, but what can you tell us about the ideas you two have for The Joker storyline overall?
Greg Capullo: Well, you know, Scott takes everything to 11, as do I. So it's going to be over-the-top, over-the-edge Joker stuff. I mean, everybody saw what we were able to do in the first Batman story. And this will be even more dark, more twisted, more violent. I guess after so many years of doing that kind of stuff, I guess, in a way, I enjoy it a bit. So it's going to be great to get my hooks into that stuff.
For the entire interview, including talk about the zero issue, head over to Newsarama. Batman #11 is in stores now.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
