One of the greatest directors in the history of cinema? Handling one of the greatest villains in the history of comics? Yes please!

As part of the Year of the Villain showcase, DC Comics has announced that John Carpenter will be co-writing a new one-shot story for The Joker. Borderlands 2’s Anthony Burch will be on writing duties alongside Carpenter, with the pair having previously worked together on the all-kinds-of-fun Big Trouble in Little Trouble: Old Man Jack miniseries. Philip Tan and Marc Deering are handling the art for this new tale.

On this news, Carpenter enthused, “The Joker is the greatest villain in comics. I’m proud to be reunited with Anthony on this project.”

This story will begin after Lex Luthor turns himself into the human-alien hybrid known as Apex Lex. In this landscape where Lex is encouraging mankind to succumb to its most evil of thoughts, the Clown Prince of Crime is “on a mission to get his swagger back in a world gone bad by out-badding everyone else, proving that the greatest evil is always the one that leaves them laughing”.

Joker: Year of the Villain will be released this October.