Valiant Comics Editor Heather Antos Falsely Claims James Holmes Was Inspired by Joker

Valiant Comics Editor Heather Antos took to Twitter to endorse a controversial-month-old take on the upcoming Joker movie that has left many scratching their heads. The Tweet was a screengrab of Rachel Miller who went on to break down the many reasons they see the yet to be released movie as “problematic.”

Antos fully supported Miller’s take writing, “Why the Joker movie is problematic. Rachel Miller nails it.”

I addressed Miller’s take and Antos’ endorsement on the Bounding Into Comics livestream last night.

However, what we did not address was Antos’ follow-up Tweet. She would write, “It was not that long ago when a socially isolated disgruntled white man who felt “wronged” by society quite literally dressed up as the Joker and shot up a movie theater in Colorado.”

This tweet is a complete load of horse crap. It’s completely false.

The Denver Post outs the fallacy and myth surrounding the Aurora, Colorado shooter, James Holmes. Writer Jeremy P. Meyer explains the myth started with a quote from NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who stated Holmes had called himself the Joker. This would be repeated by a number of news outlets including ABC News and The Washington Post. The New York Times also reported “witnesses told the police that Mr. Holmes said something to the effect of ‘I am the Joker,’ according to a federal law enforcement official.”

However, the 18th Judicial District attorney George Brauchler, the man who prosecuted James Holmes definitively states, “It is not true.”

Brauchler would elaborate, “It is ridiculous. Completely unfounded. Some of this stuff. …It gets repeated by so many sources by people doing their research that it just becomes real.”

In fact Brauchler notes that The Dark Knight Rises just happened to be the film screening in the theater. He says, ‘If if had been ‘The Avengers,’ he would have been there. If it were ‘Jurassic World’, he would have been there. It had nothing to do that we can find with Batman.”

Meyer reports, “Investigators heard no witness talking about the Joker, he said. And no police officer claimed Holmes called himself the Joker.”

As for Holmes’ red hair he told a psychiatrist “red suggests bravery.” In fact, Holmes told a court-appointed psychiatrist, “They kind of turned me into a super villain. At least I’m remembered for doing something.”

Meyer reports, “Holmes later told a court-appointed psychiatrist he was surprised inmates were calling him the Joker.”

The Joker also has green hair and he’s had green hair since his first appearance in Batman #1 back in 1940.

Antos is perpetuating a long-debunked myth about a shooting to prop up her point of view and use it to attack a film she more than likely hasn’t even seen yet.

Interestingly enough Antos actually wished she was the Joker back in 2013.

What do you make of Antos’ statement?