New Suicide Squad Prequel Comic Reveals Violent Joker

Just as Warner Bros. has done for past films like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Man of Steel, the studio is releasing some comic prequels for Suicide Squad.

One of those prequel comics comes in the form of a promotion through SPLAT hair dye, which contains a mini comic called Suicide Blonde, written by Tony Bedard and drawn by Tom Derenick. The issue (via Mad Love’s Tumblr) focuses on the previous exploits of Joker (played by Jared Leto) and Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie) and shows this Joker to be much more of a traditional gangster than other iterations. For example, when dealing with a mob boss who tried to retake his territory from Joker, he says: “Well, I’m sure he thought it was his turf. After all, Don Leo’s family has operated in Gotham for years. Sometimes it’s hard for the poor old lion to accept he’s been dethroned by a younger stronger cat.”

This Joker is less humorous, and is more crazed, constantly walking that line between eccentric and full blown violent, with Harley seemingly the only thing remotely keeping him in check. Even in situations of admiration, the villain is two seconds away from killing someone just for having the same hair color. That seems to be a theme with him, as earlier on Harley makes a joke about the mob boss and Joker gets agitated, saying: What have I told you about stealing my punchlines, Harley?”

While Harley is the yin to his yang so to speak, she can be just as ruthless as him, which we see a glimpse of in her concluding statement to Amanda Waller.

Suicide Squad hits theatres on August 8th, and you can see the comic in the gallery.