If you’ve ever wondered what the name is of the DC Comics character The Joker, it has been revealed to be Jack Oswald White. This probably brings your mind to the White Stripes leader of the same name, who has spoken up about the “flattering gesture.” (It doesn’t appear the character was directly named after the musician, but the folks at DC had to be aware of him, right?)
“An interesting note,” he wrote on Instagram, “during the process of putting together the artwork for my album Fear of the Dawn last year, I asked artist Rob Jones to communicate with the amazing DC comic artist Mikel Janin to see if he would be interested in a commission: illustrating me in the range of the style that he draws his version of The Joker for DC comics.”
White continued: “Bizarre patterns and coincidences emerge in the universe that we only see glimpses of at times, some meaningful, some meaningless. A large thank you to Mr. Janin for contributing this wonderful work to the record.”
In another post, he wrote: “I’d love to thank DC comics for giving The Joker the name of ‘Jack White’ after me. Though his hair is usually not as blue as mine, I still take it as a flattering gesture on their part and consider it an honor. It was a lonely journey through my life being the only person with that name until now.”