Sunday, July 26, 2009

Comic Book Character of the Week: The Joker

Aight, cuzzo. I'm starting this new thing on the blog where I shout out a Comic Book Character of the Week every week. This honor only goes to the toughest of characters so stay up. This week's character is the Joker.

The greatest comic book villain ever, and as versatile a character as his nemesis, the Batman. The Joker has been a merry prankster of crime (poisoning all the fish in Gotham Bay so they sport his literally trademarked grin, then suing fishmongers for copyright infringement) and a gleefully sadistic bastard (responsible for permanently crippling Batgirl and temporarily killing at least one Robin), and always done his best to get under the ultra-grim Batman’s skin by taunting him with sick jokes.


There’s a sense that Joker is the only one of the rogues’ gallery Bruce Wayne really hates –many comics (eg: Frank Miller Jr’s The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s Arkham Asylum, Michael Green and Denys Cowan’s Lovers & Madmen) revolve around Batman and the Joker as opposites or mirror images.


Heath Ledger's portrayal was phenomenal, but it is a shame we may never see a movie adaptation as good. RIP Heath Ledger. The Joker first appeared in Batman #1 in 1940 and was created by Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson. Props to Empire Online

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