I admit, I initially
despised the Ledger Joker look - though that was primarily from that first photograph - I'm sorry, that looked more like an extra from one of Romero's
Livinig Dead films rather than the Clown Prince of Crime - and the image presented by the photo were not appealing
at all 
, but I am a bit of a purist, as they say...
...the Joker I grew up with - in the books - though an extreme homicidal sociopath - was also quite vain and dapper, this guy looks like a slob.
Then a few of the other photos were released as time went on and I cooled off a bit...these were a bit more in line with what I had hoped for.
Then I caught the first trailer this past December...
...well, I will say this - the
performance makes the look work...although, I will readily admit, I was none to keen on the choice of Ledger initially.
At the time, it looked like they were trying to nab an Oscar nominee and all that political claptrap - I had no register of Ledger prior to
Brokeback Mountain - not that it made much of a blip on my radar, to be truthful - in the end, despite all the hooplah, it's just another story of love gone array...woop-dee-friggin-doo.
After Ledger's passing, I did manage to see a few of his other films, and although
The Brother's Grimm was torture to sit through, I saw that "certain edginess" that Nolan had praised him for...his work in the the semi-biographical film on Bob Dylan was wonderful as well.
Jack Nicholson's performance, while greatly entertaining, wasn't too much more than Jack playing an amped up version of his own personality...Jack made the Joker hip and fun to hang out with on a good day, it seemed....I mean, his Joker was - as someone else put it - like a distant hip uncle you had...with homicidal tendencies...this was one of the reasons the '89
Batman was such a hit...trust me, I lived through the hype, too, and nearly peed myself in anticipation for it's June release that year.
I'm still not 100% happy with the look of this interpretation - I am one of those who prefers his Ace of Knaves to be perma-white and will someone
please teach this guy how to use a COMB!

- BUT, performance wise, judging from the bits we
have seen, Ledger nailed it, and I must say, the costume itself is brilliant - all the decadence of the Joker without the day-glo colors

...and it's sad, too, 'cos it would have been interesting to see where he went with it in a few years' time...