Lonnie was finally happy. He was married to some woman who loved him for who he is.
Unfortunately, she was a gambler.
She and her husband would play at the casinos whenever possible until she blew the entire rent on accident.
To pay the bills, Mrs. Machin borrowed money from a loan shark.
Months later, she can repay the man because Lonnie never got hired at any job he'd apply for because of his hideous scars.
The only reason the two were still alive was because he would make money doing things for the neighbors like painting houses, mowing lawns and other ridiculous jobs he could get from people.
The loan shark comes back for his money and when he sees Mrs. Machin, he makes his men take her face and cut her mouth.
Lonnie managed to kill the two men that came with the loan shark, but the wife was still carved, so what difference did it make?
The loan shark threatened Machin's life and left, setting the house on fire with his cigar.
Quickly, Lonnie got the fire-extinguisher and put the cigar out.
Mrs. Machin cried out in pain as blood ran down her chin.
Lonnie tried to comfort her after getting a wet towel and an ice-pack, but she wouldn't stop yelling about how she was now a 'freak for the rest of her life' and how she wished she were dead.
A few minutes of this and Lonnie snaps.
He wanted to let her know that he still loved her no matter what her face looked like, as he took a kitchen knife out.
"Look honey, I don't care about your scars! Watch, I'll prove it to you by reopening mine!" That's all he said as he quickly reopens his scars as the sharp blade slashes through the sides of his mouth and he cries out in self-inflicted agony.
Mrs. Machin screamed louder at the sight of her husband cutting his own mouth, fainting at such a vision.
Angrily growling loudly, Lonnie hits the table and punches a hole into the wall. "I WISH YOU WERE DEAD, FATHER! I WILL BE THE DEATH OF YOU!"
His cries of aggression turned to laughs of mania.
Not realizing what was happening to him, he went into an insane fit of uncontrollable laughter.
Turning his attention to his unconscious wife, Lonnie messes up his long, greasy hair as the blood runs down his own chin.
"Baby, I've got ONE question for you," The laughing man began. "...Why so SERIOUS?!"
He coughed heavily from his stress, clearing his throat and spitting some blood from his face out.
"THAT'S RIGHT, FATHER! I'M NOT SERIOUS LIKE YOU WERE! WHEREVER YOU ARE!"
A news-broadcast came on the television and the first face Lonnie sees belongs to Vicki Vale.
"This just in! The Joker is DEAD after a brawl with The Dark Knight himself; Batman!"
"WHAT?!" Lonnie screeched. "HE'S DEAD?!"
After a long life of wanting to stick the blade into his gangster father, he fell to his OWN death.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Not in Lonnie's world, at least.
"He's dead..." He thought to himself. "...Because of The BATMAN..."
A sick smile crept across his face as he has an epiphany.
"I will be a better Joker than you EVER could be, father... I'll PROVE it to you... THE PEOPLE WILL KNOW TRUE ANARCHY AND THE BATMAN WILL PAY FOR KILLING YOU! I will be the VOICE OF THE PEOPLE! LONNIE MACHIN IS NO MORE! I AM NOW - THE JOKER!" He laughed maniacally as his heart became the darkest it could ever be.
And now... Lonnie's fate is sealed and a brand new generation of evil begins in Gotham City.
You're probably thinking whatever happened to Mark Napier...
Well... I hear he's dating his psychologist...