David Rubin talks about setting Joker: The World in "the Gotham City of Spain"

Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime; this is how we have always known Batman's greatest archnemesis, the Joker. But this changed somewhat recently when the comic book Joker: The World made its arrival and featured a story that took the famed psychopath to different cities and countries around the world.

As part of our recent appearance at San Diego Comic Con Malaga, we had the luxury to chat with co-author David Rubin, where being in Spain for this convention, we had to ask about why Rubin wanted to ensure the Spanish capital of Madrid was featured in the story.

"When DC commissioned me to do the story of Joker: The World, they gave me the choice of where I wanted to set it. Spain is where I wanted. I thought about it several times and in the end I chose Madrid. One, because I've been living in that city for a few years now and I'm getting along with it. And two, because just at that moment... well, the truth is that it always happens in Madrid. It's like the Gotham City of Spain, you know? Full of corruption and crazy shit."

Rubin then talked about some current affairs that have been rocking the city, including elections and newly formed governments, and corruption that is flooding the streets. We then inquired if these situations inspired Joker: The World, to which Rubin told us the following, including how he received death threats for his commentary on world events in the story.

"I said, well, this looks to me like it can be turned around and talk a little bit about the big problem we have now, not only in Madrid, not only in Spain, but globally what is happening. You can see what is happening in the United States, in Argentina, in a lot of countries, in half of Europe, which is the rise of the far right. The Nazis are gaining more and more power, they are even taking over expression.

"The other day, when Jimmy Kimmel was fired, on the one hand they say, no, no... because he talks about something I'm not interested in. It can't be like that. It's freedom for everyone. It's like an excuse that is used a lot by fascists and people of that ilk, which is, respect my freedom of speech. But my friend, freedom of speech is a two-way street, you know? For the side you don't like, it also has to be exercised. I thought it was something important and necessary to use a spotlight, with a character like the Joker, in a comic book that was going to be published in so many countries, to talk about these problems that are not only in Spain, as I was saying. I think it worked out well for me because they got pretty pissed off, the far-right people, they sent me death threats, and here I am, you know?"

You can see the full and locally subtitled interview with Rubin below, where we also talk about Eisner awards and how he was involved in the creation of the poster for San Diego Comic Con Malaga.