Finally back from the complications of the big move and on to another installment in my studies of the Joker...
You guys were probably expecting me to blog about the stellar film The Dark Knight... That will come in the next post about the Joker...
As for this one...
BEWARE: SPOILERS FOR THE COMICS EPIC "BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY" FOLLOW...
Okay...
So we've been reading and reading. The Joker's gotten more and more disturbing, more and more crazy, more and more developed as the character that he's come to be known as...
Until now...
Batman: A Death in the Family seems for the most part to just be a step backward for the Joker's development if we're viewing it as a progression up until now. The Joker has become concerned with politics in this series of books. Most of his evil doings take place in foreign countries, some with cruise missiles!!! The Joker we've come to see and come to love watching and reading through all these magnificent stories up until now isn't going to care about politics or war... HE'S TOO CRAZY!!!
Maybe this was just the story-telling (or simply the story) of the day back in 1989... It just doesn't seem like the same Joker that we've just seen in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns or Batman: The Killing Joke, though... These were madmen, these Jokers... They had deep personal reasons for killing and pranking...
Maybe this was the next logical step for the Joker, as he seemed bent on world-domination...
The moment that saves this story (if any does) and the evolution of our Clown Prince is where the Joker beats and beats... and beats... and beats on Robin with a crow bar... As some of you may know, this is the story where DC Comics editors and writers opened up a phone poll to the public, posing the question, "Kill Jason Todd (Robin) or let him live?" The public gave him a thumbs-down... The Joker's brutal beating of Jason Todd is disturbing and detonating a bomb that blows young master Todd up just as he finds his real mother is heartbreaking...
All in all, though, reading this (especially after seeing The Dark Knight this past weekend) just seems like a step that's out of place in the Joker's evolution...
FINAL VERDICT: Though it appears on many lists as a must-read Joker story, the tale is really driven by Jason Todd's search for truth and independence. I guess where this falls in as a Joker story is that the Harlequin of Hate ends that search... brutally...
You knew I HAD to include a visual... Below is part of the cover to Batman #429 which was part of the series, art by Jim Aparo, Mike Decarlo, and Adrienne Roy
6 comments:
I haven't had the chance to read this post, but I wanted to ask if the move went well and you two are getting settled in...
Me too.....tell us about the move!
Anyway, about the post: I would have to agree with you...written in 1989, the state of the world would make it seem like the writers were just trying to make the Joker relevant in current times.
I seemed like cruise missiles were the big topic in the late 80s and early 90s.
The only thing, though, is that if the Joker truly believed as Ledger said in the end of the current movie (that he is just trying to disrupt everyone who thinks they have the world by the balls), then maybe the "world domination" bit in this story isn't too far out into left field. The US, which I'm assuming Gotham is a part of, has always thought (in our lifetime) that it has a plan, that that plan is the correct plan, and that we have the entire world under control. That could use a little disruption by someone like the Joker.
Dabbling in world affairs, though, still doesn't seem to be the Joker's style, like you said. I don't know; I've made a bunch of rambling comments having never read the book, but it all seems fishy.
Hey you two,
The move is going well... But still going...
Jeff: Don't worry about not having read the book... I love all the feedback on all this stuff... Still having a ball!!!
Back on the blog again, after a bout of bronchitis. Loving these Joker studies. How bout more of these focussing on different characters? I'd love to read "Studies of the Wolverine" for example. Just a thought.
Oh boy...
Studies of the Wolverine, huh? I'd definitely have to do some research...
I've gotta say that it's funny that you should say that... I was actually thinking, "Who's another favorite character of mine that I could do this with?"
Wolverine immediately sprang to mind. I don't think anyone who's read X-Men for a really long time could have another favorite character... I mean, I guess they could, but Wolverine's just been done so much farther in depth...
Maybe I can jump on this before the rumored Wolverine movie comes out so I can not feel like the movie caused me to do it...
Well see what happens...
Glad to hear the move is going well. Believe me, the move will go, and go, and go...lol. :)
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