DC's attempt to give the Joker an "official" origin continues. Once again that guy who wrote a couple of Heroes scripts takes us back to year 1.5 of Batman's career.
The Man Who Will Become the Joker has started his initial crime wave in earnest, doing such diabolical things as killing Gotham Zoo's only male panda. We all know only the most evil of villains would kill a panda!
But that doesn't matter. Most of the issue focuses on the following:
1. The building of the BatCave Computer.
2. Bruce Wayne's first true love.
Apparently, Alfred Pennyworth not only built the Bat Computer, but he's a scientific genius on the same level as Tony Stark or Brainiac 5. We know he's smart, because every word balloon from his mouth this issue adds up to more technobabble than an entire season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lots of stuff about "Quantum Circuits" and "Quantum Crystals" and "Quantum Programs" and "Quantum Tea" to drink with "Quantum Sugar Lumps" in the "Quantum Sitting Room". Quantum!
Seriously, I'm fine with Alfred being actively involved in Batman's mission. I'm fine with him being smart. But this was overkill.
The Bat Computer design is yet another gratuitous reference to the 1989 Bat-film. I'm starting to think the writer was a major fan.
It's become a cliche in these "Batman Year 1.5" stories to give Bruce a "first true love".
However, this may be the first such story in which it's seriously and straight-faced suggested that a lack of sex is what gives Batman the drive he needs to fight crime.
No, really. After sleeping with his girlfriend, Bruce finds he suddenly feels relaxed and at peace, not quite as motivated and driven to "the mission" as he was before.
Obviously, his lover's going to be killed by the Joker in an issue or so, thus "explaining" why the Clown Prince of Crime is Batman's arch-nemesis.
Ho hum...
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Everything sounds cooler when you stick "quantum" in front of it.
-Quantum pH
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Doesn't it though? Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
This whole series is merely a hallucination experienced by the Joker under the effects of an experimental drug tested on him by an overzealous Arkham psychiatrist.
It looks as if this may be worse than the origin of Wolverine. And that's saying something.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Weak. The Killing Joke's retelling of the Red Hood origin is the closest to an actual origin that the Joker needs. I loved how he said that sometimes he remembers his own past differently at different times. (I don't recall the exact line, unfortunately.)
--Enigmatic
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
"If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: The Man Who Will Become the Joker has started his initial crime wave in earnest, doing such diabolical things as killing Gotham Zoo's only male panda. We all know only the most evil of villains would kill a panda!
The Forehead: Wait a second—something smells fishy here. I don't think you guys are villains!
The Tick: Oh no, we're—we're bad.
Arthur: Oh yeah, the worst!
The Forehead: OK, if you guys are so evil, why don't you just . . . EAT THIS KITTEN!
Kitten: Mew.
The Tick: What? No way, Mister! That's just wrong!
The Tick: We'll take that kitten, you wretch! How dare you! I knew evil was bad, but eating kitten is just plain . . . plain wrong! And NO ONE should do it, EVER!
[ August 09, 2007, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: Jon Boy ]
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Enigmatic: Weak. The Killing Joke's retelling of the Red Hood origin is the closest to an actual origin that the Joker needs. I loved how he said that sometimes he remembers his own past differently at different times. (I don't recall the exact line, unfortunately.)
--Enigmatic
Exact line:
quote:Something like that happened to me, you know. I... I'm not exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another...
If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice! Ha, ha, ha!
I don't think that was meant to imply that the story told in The Killing Joke wasn't canon. Just that the Joker is a wackadoo.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Puffy -- considering the vast quantities of media you consume, I am baffled that you have enough time to post on Hatrack. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
My days are too full of free time.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I understand. Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Lisa, my point is more that it is short on details, doesn't provide him a "real name", and leaves room for creative interpretation. The Joker was without ANY origin for years (until the original Red Hood story) and IMO the lack of a pat explaination added to his appeal.
--Enigmatic
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
I'm telling you, Puffy, you could make a career out of it!
Have you read Green Arrow Year One? Fantastic.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Soon after The Killing Joke was published, DC had an updated Who's Who entry for the Joker that made clear the flashbacks seen in that graphic novel were what might have been the truth.
This was, as Enigmatic said, to allow room for different writers to interpret him however they wished. Some, like J.M. DeMattis embraced the notion that the Joker is more tragic and broken than evil.
Others (like Paul Dini in a rather chilling Alex Ross-drawn Harley Quinn story) called the flashbacks a smokescreen used to keep a very sane, completely evil man from getting the electric chair.
This current "official" take isn't shaping up to be as compelling as either.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy:
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: The Man Who Will Become the Joker has started his initial crime wave in earnest, doing such diabolical things as killing Gotham Zoo's only male panda. We all know only the most evil of villains would kill a panda!
The Forehead: Wait a second—something smells fishy here. I don't think you guys are villains!
The Tick: Oh no, we're—we're bad.
Arthur: Oh yeah, the worst!
The Forehead: OK, if you guys are so evil, why don't you just . . . EAT THIS KITTEN!
Kitten: Mew.
The Tick: What? No way, Mister! That's just wrong!
The Tick: We'll take that kitten, you wretch! Hosw dare you! I knew evil was bad, but eating kitten is just plain . . . plain wrong! And NO ONE should do it, EVER!
You are the man.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
I liked the Animated Series view of Alfred as a former WW2 Intelligence officer.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I was starting to wonder if anyone would ever pick up on the reference.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:Everything sounds cooler when you stick "quantum" in front of it.
Quantum underpants.
Quantum armpits.
Quantum belch.
I think you're on to something here.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Quantum right on!
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
John Bryne did a story called "The Many Deaths of The Batman" that ran for a few issues. Spoilers follow.
It was most notable for doing one issue entirely silent, the way Larry Hama used to do sometimes in the G.I.Joe comics.
But in that, they had somebody going through and killing everyone who'd helped train the Batman by sending them Batman suits that had a toxin that killed you if you touched it.
The last suit was sent to Bruce Wayne.
Batman was terrified his identity was out there, but when he asked the guy, when catching him, why Bruce Wayne was sent a suit, the guy said, "What, are you kidding? I've seen the purchase orders. I know Bruce Wayne is your supplier."
I mean, seriously. Do they really need to make Alfred into a cyberguy, when Bruce's fortune always served as a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he'd have high technology?
Why can't people quit retconning for attention and just tell good stories?
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