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The teaser art for the monstrous Joker has been around for a little while but despite this, seeing Nick Dragotta’s design on the cover of Absolute Batman #15 still has such a terrifying impact. Bane was a horrific, yet fantastic, villain for Batman but the series long build-up to Joker has made people desperate for him and Bruce to finally meet.

Spoilers ahead for Absolute Batman 15

That wish will have to wait another issue, but Scott Snyder’s Absolute Batman #15 (illustrated by Jock and colours from Frank Martin) is almost entirely focused on the Joker.

Pennyworth finally relents and tells Batman what he knows about Joker. Despite spending years gathering intel, Pennyworth knows little about him, as Joker has kept his life a secret. Pennyworth is reduced to retelling the story of the mysterious man, but using rumours and then what he thinks. Each expansion of the origin of Absolute Joker is more shocking than the preceding one.

Tip of the iceberg

Above sea-level is the tip of the origin story iceberg; the image that Joker wants the world to see of him. The beginning of Joker’s wealth and power began in the 19th century, with his great-grandfather, Joseph Grimm I AKA ‘Jack’.

An orphan, Jack survived on Gotham’s streets by performing as a clown. Despite himself never laughing, Jack’s reputation and fame grew until he amassed enough wealth to buy a theatre, before investing in silent films. He became an incredibly rich and powerful man, hanging around the likes of Carnegie and Rockefeller. Jack was also a philanthropist and gave money to children’s causes, no doubt swung by his own experiences.

“Live like a clown” – Jack Grim

His son, Jack Grim II, continued his father’s legacy, becoming an early investor in television and grew the family’s fortune. Jack Grim II also continued his father’s philanthropic endeavours, opening orphanages across the country.

In turn, Jack Grim III would found one of the first cable networks and Jack Grim IV would move the family’s business into early gaming and consoles in the 1970s. The latest Jack Grim, the fifth version, continued with the focus on gaming, both the software and hardware, and moving into the online world. All of them continued to grow not only the family businesses, but also the charitable work. Through work in the entertainment world they continued the legacy of the clown, by making people laugh and smile.

Pennyworth does know one strange thing about Jack Grim V though. Despite the charitable work and money giving Joker a high level of positive public perception, Pennyworth learns that he buys up small uninabitable islands. Possibly to hunt game.

“What’s so scary about this guy?” – Batman

Batman does not understand why, after hearing this version of events, Jack Grim V is considered so dangerous.

Below the surface

Batman presses Pennyworth to tell him more as he feels he is holding back. Pennyworth tells Batman that he believes that the original Jack Grim was not all he seemed. His street performances took place outside a dentist, where he would leak nitrous oxide, laughing gas, into the streets making people giddy, suggestible, and easy targets.

Pennyworth’s research leads him to the conclusion that this trickery continues in the sons, who were adept at okaying both sides in conflicts. This meant funding the American war effort in the Second World War, but also the Nazis’. Such tactics showed their lack of morals but also meant they always came out on top.

That was the version of events that Pennyworth reported back to MI6.

In the depths

Batman still is not convinced that this is what Pennyworth actually believes and presses again. Pennyworth found out that those entertained by the original Jack Grim died shortly after encountering him; faces contorting into a grin through a strychnine poison.

Pennyworth discovered that there were a lot of instances of bad things happening to people around the Grims, such as deaths and accidents. Pennyworth believed that the Grims were actually hiding these people on the islands for years, only returning to kill them at their leisure.

Pennyworth goes on, saying that the orphanages were not for the protection or welfare of the children. Instead Joker was harvesting them, before creating some other compound at Ark-M to create some elixir that grants him a terrible form and powers.

That is not all. Pennyworth was convinced that there never were five Jack Grims and there has only ever been one. Using these terrible experiments, Joker has been able to keep himself youthful and alive for many years longer than possible.

” A nightmare thing that stalks the Earth, not a man who never laughs at anything, but a beast that’s always laughing at us!” – Pennyworth

Whether it was the goal or an unintended side effect, Jack Grim can turn into a huge demonic beast. We see Joker rip apart what was likely Pennyworth’s friend Harvey Harris, using twisted talons and rows of shark like teeth. The scariest part of it is how Joker only laughs when engaging in violence or in this form.

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