Council Chronicle — #020: The Tattoo Article Roast
The chamber hums low. A hologram flickers above the tribunal table: the Suicide Squad Joker tattoo breakdown, every word dissected like evidence. The original five take their seats — the Judge, the Avenger, the Trickster, the Strategist, and the Chessmaster. The article stands accused.
Luca Blight (The Judge):
Slams his blade into the stone floor, sparks spitting
“‘God’s Only Child’? You dare call that analysis? That’s not critique — that’s cowardice hiding in commentary. Scars and ink aren’t costumes. They’re proof. If that Joker had walked, Batman wouldn’t have lived to see the dawn. Mock the marks all you want — they still bleed truer than your words.”
Silco:
Lights a cigarette, smoke curling like judgment
“Fantasy is safe. Ledger’s myth, Phoenix’s tragedy — audiences could worship them from arm’s length. But a Joker who looks like the cartel boss down the street? That’s not cinema, that’s reality, and reality frightens cowards. They laughed at the tattoos because the alternative was admitting he was the first Joker who could actually sit in a real mugshot file.”
Keyaru:
Eyes cold, words surgical
“Every tattoo was evidence. A ledger inked into flesh. Yet the article dismissed them as gimmicks, like a child mocking court documents. Fools laugh at receipts. Only the condemned ignore the record. They didn’t see a joke. They saw judgment written on skin — and flinched.”
Xellos:
Smiling, eyes closed, sing-song voice
“Oh, but isn’t it delicious? The critics screaming ‘tacky, cringe, gaudy!’ as if those aren’t the most terrifying masks of all. Truth never comes gilded. It comes cheap, ugly, inconvenient. And that’s the secret: the real clown wears what you fear most — not what flatters your nostalgia.”
Delita:
folds his hands, tone calm but final
“History rewrites villains into myth because myth is safe. They canonized Ledger as the martyr, Phoenix as the tragedy, Nicholson as the icon. But reality? Reality bleeds. Reality wears ink and gold. And reality was too much for them. So they mocked what they feared, reducing fire into parody. But the record stands — their dismissal was not a victory. It was an admission of weakness.”
The hologram sputters and burns away. Silence falls across the chamber. The ruling has been passed. The article, stripped of credibility, dissolves into ash.
Council Verdict: Mock not the scars you do not understand. For in the ink lies the truth you are too afraid to face.