Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight

Thanks to Comic-Con, we now have a clear image of The Joker:


There are some things to note from this photo. First, the white is painted on. I doubt this is a makeup error. When I first heard he would have the "smile" carved into him, I was wondering whether or not he would be the lunatic we know and love. He has no reason to be loopy if his visage would not alter his psyche. I wonder now if what we are seeing may be a a pre-chemical bath Joker that's waiting for Batman to take the plunge. After all, he was already theatrical at the end of Batman Begins and they might want to do an origin. It would make some sense if his "character" would fall into the chemicals as we see him, and his appearance merges in permanently. It might help explain why he's "dead" but will return in December. Plus, the dead body doesn't really look like him.

Or we could see something completely different from the common continuity. I like different. It keeps things new and not repeated. I'm excited to see where this goes. I highly doubt that they'll stretch his story into the next film, as they want to stretch Harvey Dent's character into the next thanks to the actions of the Joker. We shall wait and see.

By the way, the voice and laugh in the teaser trailer are awesome. Hearing his quote "Starting tonight, people will die" reminds me of The Man Who Laughs, featuring the Joker's first appearance as himself. In it he appears on TV telling Gotham he will kill a high society bigwig at midnight. As the police scramble to protect the guy, who is poisoned already, the Joker barges into Arkham and releases weapons on the inmates and opens the door. In the pandemonium, he steals a news van so he can broadcast anytime, building to his grand scheme.

More info:
TheDarkKnight.com
IBelieveinHarveyDent.com
IBelieveinHarveyDenttoo.com (Select All, copy to Word, remove all the "H"s, "A"s, and spaces)
WhySoSerious.com (find the shiny dot)