October is finally upon is, and here at ComicsAlliance, and one of the best parts of the month is gearing up for Halloween with costumes! It’s the one time of year when even people like me who could never cut it in our Best Cosplay Ever feature can drop by the local department store and walk out with the ability to dress up as our favorite characters.

But is that really a good thing? I have my doubts, which is why I’m spending every day taking on the store-bought costumes inspired by our favorite things. Today, we're putting a smile on that face with the many versions of The Joker available for your Halloween enjoyment/clown murder sprees.

Option 1: The Dark Knight Joker:

 

Joker Halloween Costume
CostumeCraze.com
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You know, at first glance, the Joker might seem like a no-brainer Halloween costume. He's a pop culture icon who's also a scary clown, and really, there's nothing more Halloween Costume than that. The thing is, if you dress as the Joker, you are also dressing up as literally everyone in the entire world who went to the movies in 2008 and then dressed up for Halloween. And like them, as evidenced by this picture they are using to try to sell you this costume, you end up looking less like a sinister agent of chaos and more like a slightly more flamboyant Rodney Dangerfield.

 

Option 2: Joker '66:

 

Joker Halloween Costume
CostumeCraze.com
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Seriously though if you dress as the Joker for Halloween and you pick an option that is not the Cesar Romero Joker from Batman '66, complete with growing a moustache underneath your facepaint, then you are dead to me. And I mean that literally: I will think of you as a dead person, and if I see you walking around I will assume you have returned from the grave to feast on the flesh of the living and try to brain you with a cricket bat.

 

Option 3: Arkham Asylum Joker:

 

Joker Halloween Costume
CostumeCraze.com
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If you insist on some kind of (ugh) compromise, I guess I can confess that I actually do like this one, mostly because it allows for a Joker that wears a shirt with lace ruffles on the cuffs. Lace ruffles (first appearance: Batman #1, 1940) are an important and often neglected part of the Batman mythology.

 

Option 4: The Joker?:

 

Joker Halloween Costume
CostumeCraze.com
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All right, look: I am a Professional Batmanologist, and I have to admit that I have no idea which version of the Joker this is meant to represent. I mean, I get that it's supposed to be a straitjacket (or maybe a bondage harness if you're going to one of those parties), but is there a specific instance of this being a notable, marketable Joker look that I have somehow blocked out of my memory? Did they really make a licensed Halloween costume based on that one DeMatteis/Staton story from Legends of the Dark Knight? Or, and this is what I think is more likely, did they pair this thing up with a blank white suit so that nothing would be able to draw attention away from those ill eyebrows?

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