DC Comics has taken the next bold step in transforming itself into a cartoonish propaganda arm of the transgender movement: one of their first 2023 releases, the fourth issue of The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, features The Joker becoming pregnant and giving birth to a son.
The event isn’t meant as a joke, either. The Joker, immortalized as one of the arch-villains of American pop mythology on both page and screen, is a sadistic, evil man – not a woman. But the new series by Matthew Rosenberg and Carmine Di Giandomenico features “his most bizarre caper yet,” The Joker becomes pregnant by the mother of his child, magician Zatanna.
This gender swap is intentional, and is intended to push the cultural moment and strain the boundaries of the audience’s credulity. One scene shows a man dressed as a jester remarking on The Joker’s pregnant belly: “I think you’re pregnant.” The Joker replies: “I think you’re right. Do we have a good OB-GYN we use?” According to the storyline, the pregnancy is the result of a spell cast by Zatanna, and ends with Doctor Phosphorous initiating the birth, peering at The Joker with his legs in stirrups before the villain vomits out the child.
Predictably, the storyline is getting mixed reviews. One fan noted that “this is why I stopped reading comics”; another that “comics have truly lost their way.” Many have already pointed out that the “pregnant man” storyline is part of DC Comics “social justice agenda,” while defenders of the piece are insisting that it is just a comic and that as such, anyone claiming that The Joker’s pregnancy is intended to push a social agenda is just a tightwad who can’t enjoy a joke (albeit a very weird one).
