The thing to remember about Scott Snyder is that he is not a superhero writer. For all of the Batman comics that he writes, he’s a horror writer, applying his trade more obviously to Wytches and American Vampire. Those titles are built on their dark mood and atmosphere. Rafael Albuquerque and Jock are two artists …
Heath Ledger was known for putting every bit of himself into a role. It’s hard to forget a performance like the one he gave as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, where he did just that. While giving the world so much of himself in all of his work, his life ended too soon, right before The …
It was rumored last week and now it has been confirmed by Variety that David Ayer’s Suicide Squad will start shooting in Toronto in early 2015 and cast has been officially announced and it includes: Jared Leto – The Joker Will Smith – Deadshot Tom Hardy – Rick Flag Margot Robbie – Harley Quinn Jai …
Disclaimer: Before we get started, if you haven’t read The Killing Joke, stop reading this and run down to your local comic shop and pick it up. You won’t be disappointed. Ok, all caught up? If not *SPOILERS* for a 26 year old book… Ever since it’s release in 1988, people have been debating the end …
In the pantheon of Batman stories there’s a handful that come up every time someone ranks the best. The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One, and The Long Halloween usually all make the list. And then there’s the Killing Joke. The Killing Joke stands out from the crowd for a couple of reasons. For one thing, unlike the above mentioned stories, The Killing Joke is a graphic novel and not a collection of previously individual issues. For another, The Killing Joke isn’t really a Batman story. Sure Batman is in it, he even plays an important part;but The Killing Joke is above all else, a Joker story.
Is there a Joker curse? Beyond The Joker:The Man Who Laughs attempts to answer this question by examining the clown as an archetype throughout history. The story starts out by detailing Heath Ledger’s experience during the shooting of The Dark Knight up to his tragic death after the film wrapped. The book then jumps to 1802 the year that Joseph Grimaldi created the familiar white-face look that we still associate with clowns today.
Here the focus will be on the Joker and the argument will be we have yet to see a proper rendition on the big screen (I’m not counting certain interesting videogame versions). Before beginning, one has to concede the Cesar Romero interpretation, whatever its genuine brilliance, was too tame by half to truly merit the top spot yet an argument can be made this is the closest to seeing the Joker in the flesh.