See, when you start to hear things like Joker’s return will be influencing all this titles (Catwoman, Batgirl, Nightwing, Batman and Robin, Suicide Squad) makes the little girl in me squeal with joy. Are they really going to show that Joker is indeed a “FORCE OF NATURE” and is able to turn the schemes of heroes and villains alike upside down and become a true “AGENT OF CHAOS”?
Yes, I know I’m quoting DARK KNIGHT Joker here, but though I have to admit I loved late Ledger’s portrayal of my favorite villain, what I like most is what Nolan did with the character. He brought the villain from the flat pages of a comic book to the dimensions of a world that closely resemble ours, making Joker into a more realistic menace than we have been used to. And that just terrified us.
For too long, Joker has just annoyed the hell out of Batman, then back to the asylum he has gone, only to repeat this vicious cycle over and over again through the ages with no real trascendence in HIS REAL WORLD. Just count how many Jokercentric stories DC has made in the last 20-30 years.
But the Clown refuses to stay in the bleachers and watch, he is not the type that likes routines. Joker says: No more Mr. Nice Psycho Clown, Gotham…This is the new me and Joker is ready for his closeup now and he’s doing it by causing a megaquake within the Batman (and some of DC’s) universe.
This rebirth has been promised as the worst nightmare for the Batman family and Gotham, and though promises are just promises until we see the facts, the real issue here is that Joker is going to demonstrate his real prowess, what he does best. Turn world’s order upside down and twist good and evil together in one tight knot.
The question that rises is…would DC fulfill his promise and bring us a Joker that is worthy of the name?
In the past we have seen many editorial decisions been taken on the view of how profitable it is or not, and if it is…how can it be make it even more profitable forgtting about the content of the story. Don’t take me wrong. I don’t mind DC making profit on his creations..after all it is the base of a healthy economy, but changing characters’ core in a way that they become almost irrecognizable from the ones we have loved for decades, well…that is just unforgivable and unfortunately, that is what I am seeing hapenning to villains and markedly, to Joker himself.
We are promised a Joker that will rock our world, but look at the advertising of the event all around and what do we see? We do not want to see Freddy Krueger, nor another Leatherface, even less a mindless murderer who just adds victims to his body count for a space in the Guinness books of records. (We have enough of those in the comic books, like Victor Zsazs–well pointed out by a friend in this very forum). We don’t need a murderer for the sake of murder or gore, we want a new and improved Joker worthy of the new 52 generation.
My friends Laughing Fish and Antonia have expressed their worries too as to where DC is taking the Joker reboot, and I share those worries too, but why worry now and not just wait till the story is done? Well, because by then it might be to late to mend errors. After all this is the Joker we will have to deal with for the next 100 years and we’re scared of what is going to be like….
My passion for villains comes not from the fact that I like to do evil (PLEASE! nothing could not be farther from the truth), and that is not what this site is for either. This site stands to honor the very embodiment of what heroes and common folks need to defeat. Fear, anger, rage, hate, chaos…and before you all go around and call the guys with the white coats and straitjackets to pick me up let me explain why.
You cannot enjoy the ability to see if you don’t know what it feels like to be blind. You cannot praise light, if you didn’t have darkness to compare it to. How could you tell if something is sweet if you did not know what sour taste in your mouth? You cannot appreciate goodness and kindness if you do not know evil and selfishness. We cannot understand Batman’s triumphs and perils without a Joker to compare him to. But Joker is much more than just the Dark Knight’s antithesis… right?
Joker (like most successful villains) is the very embodiment of our own faults, mishaps, defects and our darkest selves and desires. Joker is the cake that you know looks scrumptious but you know will give you a heart attack.
That is why his character has endured the trials of time for close to a century now.
And yes, I am saying there are “Jokers” living inside us and I mean…all of us. We fight with those little Jokers every day, hoping to win and be better people than we were the day before. That is why characters like Joker, Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, Severus Snape or Loki endure so much on the literature and arealso enjoyed in the big screen. They are us…up there, clashing with with the other part of us….(the hero) for a common goal, make a change, and if they can be defeated, so can our inner “jokers”. Life might look simpler without the evils of the world, but let’s face it…life would be EXTREMELY boring if we did not have a challenge or two to confront. As contradictory as it sounds…it is the villain who brings the best in the hero At least that’s how I see it. Fighting the bad (both inside and outside) should make us better, give meaning to our lives and makes us value what we believe, have and do. We need villains as much as we need heroes to defeat them and the closer these villains resemble us, the more terrifying they are.
That said, in a kind of tangent discourse, just means that in entertainment (comics, movies, books) we enjoy villains that are a lot like us. We are not midless cattle pasturing in a grassy plain. The same way we are capable of good deeds, we also manipulate, we lie, we confuse, we take adventage of others, we break the norm, we jump over the obstacles to get to our goals, we want to see those we blame for our circumstances to pay accordingly. That is why we can empathasize with a villain that in some many ways like us. Take away those similarities, turn him into an automaton with a machine gun and endless rounds of ammo and he becomes flatten, insipid, distant and unfortunately untrascendent in his media. (continues next page)
