DC Comics completely rebooted their entire comic book line up last year in a stunt called “The New 52”, launching 52 new titles at Issue #1 and changing a bunch of the history of their characters in the process.

One of the more shocking events in those first issues was when Joker, locked in prison, asked a villain named Doll Maker to cut off his face.  Yes, his entire face.  It was left pinned to the wall after Joker escaped.

We’ve never seen what Joker looks like now, we’ve never gotten a reason (beyond he’s insane) for why he did it, and we don’t know what he’s been up to since escaping… but we will be finding out this October!

“Joker is my favorite villain of all time. Not just in comics. In everything — film, books, TV. He’s the greatest, hands down. So this story is something extremely important and personal to me — something I’ve been building in my head ever since I started working in Gotham. Basically, this is my big exploration of the Joker, my Arkham Asylum or The Killing Joke, only bigger in scope. Bottom line: it’s the biggest, baddest, most shocking Joker story I could tell,” said Snyder. “This is Joker completely unleashed. He has been away for a full year planning this revenge, watching, plotting, setting things up. And now he’s back. He has his traps set, his knives sharpened… And wait ’til you see him. Greg’s sketches literally gave me chills. Point blank: This is Joker like you’ve never seen him before. He has a mission. He has a secret. And he has a serious axe to grind with Batman. It isn’t going to be pretty, but it’s going to be a wild ride. Thanks for taking it with us.”

Capullo added, “When Scott told me that he’d written a Joker story for our next arc, I couldn’t contain my excitement. Talk about a dream come true! For me, the Joker is the ultimate rogue and the villain I most wanted to draw. I gotta tell you, after hearing what the story is about, this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare! A macabre and bloody, flesh crawling nightmare. We hope you’ll have the nerve to face what’s coming. Warning: It ain’t for the faint of heart!”

Batman #13 goes on sale in October.

Thanks to IGN for the heads up!