The Joker is returning to cause psychological and violent turmoil in Batman's life, with a more twisted grin than ever.

He's coming back in October for a five-issue story arc in DC Comics' Batman series by writer Scott Snyder, who's currently hounding Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne with the Court of Owls in the "Night of the Owls" story line.

There's no rest for the weary or the Dark Knight, so much so that Batman artist Greg Capullo often pokes fun at Snyder about his Bat-abuse.

"He's just like, 'You hate Batman, don't you? You're just punishing him,' " Snyder says, laughing. "Batman is the greatest hero of all time. He's human and he's flawed, he stands next to these gods and giants in the Justice League, yet the challenges he faces are a hundred times scarier than the ones they do most of the time because of what Gotham City is.

"I'm sorry Bruce, there's a lot of punishment coming."

As for the Joker, no one's punished him as much as he has himself lately. He was last seen in Tony Daniel's Detective Comics series last fall — or, more accurately, his ripped-off face was shown gruesomely nailed to a wall, with the rest of him MIA.

The DC Comics brass wanted to take the infamous villain off the playing board when it relaunched in 2011 to put more emphasis on new and less familiar villains. At the same time, Snyder was beginning his Batman series and had a great psychological story involving the Joker, which fit well in keeping him away for a year.

Batman Issue 13 kicks off the Halloween-themed story, and fans will learn what the Joker has been up to the whole time. (Hint: It's more tricks than treats.) He's been setting traps, sharpening his knives, watching Batman and his Gotham City friends and waiting to strike at the right moment, according to Snyder.

There's also a reason why he allowed his face to be torn off. "It's part of a point he's trying to make and an ax he has to grind," the writer says. "It's something that he will explain and will be built on in a very frightening way, too."

In addition, the Joker has a surprising secret about Batman that he's itching to tell people, and in the meantime he's out to destroy, burn, shred and mutilate any Bat-pal that gets in the way of him making his point.

"This is the Joker completely unleashed and unhinged, and it's really my love letter to the character," Snyder says. "If I never get to write him again, this is everything I love and admire and am terrified of about the Joker in one place."

Alan Moore's The Killing Joke ranks at the top of Snyder's list of favorite Joker tales, as well as "Return of the Joker" in Batman Beyond and the Grant Morrison graphic novel Arkham Asylum.

The first time he saw the Joker in a way that shocked him, though, was The Dark Knight Returns and Frank Miller's "mind-blowingly dark, psychologically layered portrait" of the character, Snyder says.

"Sometimes the Joker's used as someone who has a social purpose, who's out to prove to the world something about the nature of humanity. That's not our Joker — our Joker really is this terrifyingly macabre, almost demon that's brought to life by Batman. He's there to prove to you that these dark things in your heart exist all the time and laugh about them."

Snyder's take on the Joker is heavy on the psychology and delves into the history of the court jester and his relationship to a king, which is symbolic of how he sees himself serving Batman by bringing his worst nightmares to life.

He's viciously trying to tear down everything around Batman, and his terrifying raison d'être is reflected in the way he looks now, Snyder says. "He looks different, he doesn't have his face, but the way he appears will be really iconic and also resonate for fans who loved the iconic Joker look, too, with the purple suit and everything."

The writer also enjoys exploring the more visceral exploits of the psychopathic madman.

"It's basically a question of what you lop off of whom," Snyder says with a laugh. "It's shocking. But you slip into it shockingly quickly, too. It's like, oh, I'll just cut this off. No, maybe I'll blow that up. No, maybe I'll throw acid on this person. It's frightening how fun it is to write him."

There will be backup Joker stories in each issue of Batman that dig into his brain and his relationship with other Gotham villains, which will flesh out what's happening in the main feature. Plus, Snyder teases that Harley Quinn will be playing a role in the story arc as well, since she's been searching for her old flame — and his face — in Suicide Squad.

Batman may bear the brunt of his vengeance, but because of the scope of his all-out attack, the Joker will also be appearing in the pages of Nightwing, Batman and Robin, Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Batgirl, where there's a lot of history between the villain and the book's star. (The Joker shot Barbara Gordon in the spine in The Killing Joke while going after her cop father, and she was in a wheelchair and out of action as Batgirl for three years in DC's relaunched continuity.)

"He's looking all the Bat characters in the face for the first time saying, 'You've never faced me. You want to see what Batman deals with? Let me show you,' " Snyder says.

He's discovered there's nothing off limits when it comes to writing the anarchic bad guy and the demon on Batman's shoulder celebrating the darkest corners of a hero's heart.

"It underscores the things about yourself you don't want to look at, and that's what I love about him," Snyder says. "He really is this twisted mirror to Bruce in that way, and to anyone he faces."