Between releasing his second album of 2022, Entering Heaven Alive, and launching a thorough investigation into Snoop Dogg's breakfast cereal via Instagram, Jack White's been keeping pretty busy these days.
Ever the savvy cultural connoisseur, he was still sure not to miss the big news from DC Comics yesterday (September 7): the comic book publisher and flagship of DC Entertainment finally revealed the real name of the character that has only ever been known (and memed) as the Joker in the pages of new comic Flashpoint Beyond — and it's, uh, Jack White?
Here's your spoiler alert if these words mean anything to you: A sequel to 2011's Flashpoint, the comic follows Thomas Wayne of an alternate timeline's hunt for the Clockwork Killer, a serial murderer later revealed as Martha Wayne, who becomes the Joker of this new reality after her son Bruce's murder [as per IGN].
Are you still following? In the comic's fifth issue, Thomas apparently confronts his estranged wife while she's detained at Arkham Asylum, and she reveals that she forced Psycho-Pirate — a villain with extensive knowledge of the multiverse — to tell her everything about the regular DC Universe timeline. Psycho-Pirate shared with her the identity of that reality's Joker: Jack Oswald White.
Naturally, the other Jack White responded by posting a link to the article in a post on his beloved IG account. "I'd love to thank DC comics for giving The Joker the name of 'Jack White' after me," the musician wrote. "Though his hair is usually not as blue as mine, I still take it as a flattering gesture on their part and consider it an honour. It was a lonely journey through my life being the only person with that name until now."
He meditated on his twin namesake in another post to follow, sharing some portraits of himself in the style of the Joker he'd had commissioned for his album, Fear of the Dawn.
An interesting note; during the process of putting together the artwork for my album Fear of the Dawn last year, I asked artist Rob Jones to communicate with the amazing DC comic artist Mikel Janin to see if he would be interested in a commission: illustrating me in the range of the style that he draws his version of The Joker for DC comics. I had seen his version and I found his lines to be very inspiring. I sent the drawings he had done of the Joker that I loved, but I didn't want him to make me look like the Joker, only using some of the intensity of the face and bone structure style that he used, just less maniacal haha! (This was on his own, not as part of his work for DC in any way). This was included in the album artwork along with other illustrators. Bizarre patterns and coincidences emerge in the universe that we only see glimpses of at times, some meaningful, some meaningless. A large thank you to Mr. Janin for contributing this wonderful work to the record.
The only natural follow-up to this revelation is for the former White Stripes bandleader to be cast alongside Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux. Hello, Todd Phillips? He's something of a Jack White himself!
See White's pair of Instagram posts below.
Ever the savvy cultural connoisseur, he was still sure not to miss the big news from DC Comics yesterday (September 7): the comic book publisher and flagship of DC Entertainment finally revealed the real name of the character that has only ever been known (and memed) as the Joker in the pages of new comic Flashpoint Beyond — and it's, uh, Jack White?
Here's your spoiler alert if these words mean anything to you: A sequel to 2011's Flashpoint, the comic follows Thomas Wayne of an alternate timeline's hunt for the Clockwork Killer, a serial murderer later revealed as Martha Wayne, who becomes the Joker of this new reality after her son Bruce's murder [as per IGN].
Are you still following? In the comic's fifth issue, Thomas apparently confronts his estranged wife while she's detained at Arkham Asylum, and she reveals that she forced Psycho-Pirate — a villain with extensive knowledge of the multiverse — to tell her everything about the regular DC Universe timeline. Psycho-Pirate shared with her the identity of that reality's Joker: Jack Oswald White.
Naturally, the other Jack White responded by posting a link to the article in a post on his beloved IG account. "I'd love to thank DC comics for giving The Joker the name of 'Jack White' after me," the musician wrote. "Though his hair is usually not as blue as mine, I still take it as a flattering gesture on their part and consider it an honour. It was a lonely journey through my life being the only person with that name until now."
He meditated on his twin namesake in another post to follow, sharing some portraits of himself in the style of the Joker he'd had commissioned for his album, Fear of the Dawn.
An interesting note; during the process of putting together the artwork for my album Fear of the Dawn last year, I asked artist Rob Jones to communicate with the amazing DC comic artist Mikel Janin to see if he would be interested in a commission: illustrating me in the range of the style that he draws his version of The Joker for DC comics. I had seen his version and I found his lines to be very inspiring. I sent the drawings he had done of the Joker that I loved, but I didn't want him to make me look like the Joker, only using some of the intensity of the face and bone structure style that he used, just less maniacal haha! (This was on his own, not as part of his work for DC in any way). This was included in the album artwork along with other illustrators. Bizarre patterns and coincidences emerge in the universe that we only see glimpses of at times, some meaningful, some meaningless. A large thank you to Mr. Janin for contributing this wonderful work to the record.
The only natural follow-up to this revelation is for the former White Stripes bandleader to be cast alongside Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux. Hello, Todd Phillips? He's something of a Jack White himself!
See White's pair of Instagram posts below.
