Legendary filmmaker John Carpenter wants to tackle Batman after writing the Joker: Year of the Villain one-shot.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Carpenter discussed his reasoning for writing the comic. "I’m a Batman fan," he said. "Of all the superheroes, he’s the best, represents more stuff, he’s more serious as a character. And the Joker’s just brilliant. He’s the greatest villain. This is DC comics. This is the Joker. The Joker’s the greatest! Who wouldn’t want to write this? So, here we are!"
When asked whether the comic is just a one-off or will he return to DC, Carpenter -- along with co-writer Anthony Burch -- hinted at the possibility of more. "Well, it’s not about what we like, it’s what DC wants to do," Carpenter explained. "Maybe we’ll be so successful that they say to us, 'Guys, take [Batman] on an adventure!' Which we would love to do."
Burch adds, "Absolutely." Adding to the idea, Carpenter states, "But maybe not. We’re happy either way."
Despite being a one-off, The Joker has a place within the continuity of current Batman storylines. More specifically, Burch says Tom King's run affects comic. "If you’re reading the main Batman comic right now, Tom King’s “City of Bane” run, the main thing that’s changed in Gotham is that Bane is in charge and there’s basically no law anymore to speak of," he said. "The inmates are running the asylum, except the asylum is now the entirety of Gotham City. So what we wanted to play with is the idea of, 'Well, Joker exists to create chaos and throw a wrench in the works. What does that look like in a city where chaos is already reigning?' How do you be the crazy guy that’s surprising everyone when the world has already gone insane? He basically decides, 'Well, maybe I’ll try to be a vigilante,' and he does a very, very Joker-centric version of that."
Carpenter backed up Burch's sentiment, adding, "You’re going to read some disturbing material."
Written by John Carpenter and Anthony Burch and illustrated by Philip Tan and Marc Deering, Joker: Year of the Villain #1 goes on sale Oct. 9 from DC Comics.