First of all I apologize for being derelict in my duties. I was busy having a long overdue Up the Lake stay and I missed the Ant Man premier. I did see Minions twice because it was hysterical. We finally caught Ant Man and, since Marvel Studios is really good at this, it was awesome - go see it. It showed they can make smaller films and still set them within, and add to, the grand universe the Avengers franchise has established. It was action packed, funny, had some good father-daughter stuff, and highlighted powers (shrinking and ant control) that haven't been done dynamically on the big screen before that was perfect for 3D scenes.
That's all the review there will be for this outing. It isn't less deserving than other movies, its just a timing issue. Marvel may be light years ahead of DC in film quality, and have even been leading them in comic store offerings for quite a while up until a few new launches.
However, deep down in my soul, I'm still more of a DC guy, and there's an important anniversary for one of their icons that I can't overlook.
Writers get called out
for overusing the Clown Prince of Crime, but I find it completely understandable.
I’ve said (repeatedly) that there is no comic better than a good Batman
comic. With that as the starting point
his all-time greatest adversary to create those stories is, hands down, the
Joker.
There are other villains
who are compelling, those who are classy, and those who are sympathetic. But
the Joker’s appeal comes from the fact that…as deadly, terrifying and
completely evil as he can be…he’s also a ridiculous amount of fun! Amazingly, though clowns are inherently
horrifying, his clown aspect isn’t where the scary part of the character comes
from. For him, that’s usually the fun
part!
With Batman as possibly even a more perfect straight man than Mr. Spock, their interactions were destined to be earth shaking. Let’s face it, as much as Batman drips awesome all over everywhere he goes and everyone he meets, sometimes he needs a smack in the patoot to bring him down a couple of notches.
With Batman as possibly even a more perfect straight man than Mr. Spock, their interactions were destined to be earth shaking. Let’s face it, as much as Batman drips awesome all over everywhere he goes and everyone he meets, sometimes he needs a smack in the patoot to bring him down a couple of notches.
Grant
Morrison and Dave McKean’s
1989
original graphic novel
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on
Serious Earth
Caesar Romero made his
mark as the Joker in the 1966 Adam West series, but the character had another
impact on that show. Frank Gorshin’s
Riddler was a high point of any episode he appeared in, and was their de facto
leader in the movie. His performances
turned a character with less than a handful of comic book appearances into one
of the main members of old Batsy’s rogues’ gallery. At that point, there wasn’t much to define the
Riddler from the three issues he showed up in.
Gorshin’s portrayal was much more like the classic, instantly switching
from deadly serious to maniacally cackling, version of the Joker, and it’s
likely he influenced both villains after the show aired.
Now that I shop for
comics almost exclusively by author, the Joker is one of the few characters
that a guest shot will lead to a purchase on my regular visits to Funnybooks. (Not
counting Nu52 continuity of course.) With the large collection of super hero
t-shirts I’ve amassed, the Joker is the only villain shirt I have. (Though I’ve
been informed I need to procure another by a certain Latveriean despot.)
Whenever I submit my choices
for the CBR lists, I go by pure first impressions. In other words, it’s the tales that jump to
mind without looking anything up on-line or digging into my (probably too
copious for comfort) back issue boxes.
The problem with this is I never remember to save the list to use for
blog material or even to compare my picks to the final list. Luckily, the folks at CBR are talented enough
to know which exact issue or storyline is meant by generic “the one with” type
descriptions.
Since I haven’t done a
good comic book post in a while (or possibly ever if you don’t enjoy extended
rants about the greatness of olden times compared to current offerings) I made
sure to save my votes. The overall appeal of the character was also a major
factor in this decision. There’s a much better chance of being a successful
shameless self-promotion whore while talking about one of the best known and
most popular bad guys of the last century than taking a deep, insightful look
into the life and times of the Martian Manhunter. (That doesn’t make J’onn any less cool or
awesome, as we’ll see later.)
I did look up all the
issues before writing this, as I’m betting my readers don’t operate from the
same knowledge base as those who work at a comic book website. It’s also a big
deal for me that many of my picks ranked highly this time around. My tastes and “random memory” voting method
normally means the ones I suggest don’t show up on the website list at all.
My choices were driven
by how I was introduced to comics. Before I started collecting regularly, I
read compilations and oversize reprints of old Gold, Silver and Bronze Age
stories, exposing me to many of the classics before I read what I’d consider
“My Comics.” I started collecting Batman
regularly in the late Eighties before my first (of many) comic buying style
switches from Marvel to DC.
I didn’t consider any
Animated Universe comics, because in spite of the fact that I DO read all Joker
dialogue in Mark Hamill’s voice, seeing that version of the character without
specifically hearing it loses too much.
Yup, I’m complicated…
Or strange…
Or off on a pointless
tangent once again.
Any-hoo - since this is
me running this blog, there are a couple honorable mentions before the top ten
list proper begins.
I was surprised when I
reviewed my picks and didn’t see any Grant Morrison stories on it, for example:
the patoot smacking one above.
(Yes, I don’t even pay
attention when I start rambling on about comic books sometimes.)
Considering he’s one of
my all-time favorite comic writers, and he’s made illustrious contributions to
the Bat-mythos it would seem to be an oversight. However, what I love about his takes on
Batman is that he avoids the pitfall of having the colorful, over the top villains
overshadow the Dark Knight. Though he’s
provided outstanding portrayals of the Joker, I think of his work as great
Batman stories.
(This is also why CBR#5 Dark
Knight Returns didn’t make my list. Of course the Joker would be part of
Batman’s last story, but it was still Batman’s story.) The same is true for Joker’s appearances in
Morrison’s famous JLA run. He was used
expertly, as was everyone else, making me remember them more as ensemble outings
than “Joker Stories.”
I kept seeing these
Bizarro world titles under the banner of “Superman Arkham” every week on the
shelf. (Now the trades give away the surprise of who’s behind it in the title.)
They looked interesting and I figured I’d pick up a trade eventually. When the Joker was revealed to be behind it I
grabbed the whole stack at once, and drove Up the Lake to read it during a late
night thunderstorm. (I’m all about
atmosphere when it comes to comics.)
It was an intriguing
look into how the Joker would reshape the entire world in his image if he had
the power. (Power accidentally provided by another favorite of mine, Mr.
Mxyzptlk.) More importantly, it was a look at how Superman could defeat the
Joker by outthinking him. The Joker
looked good because of how much he accomplished before falling, and Superman
looked good because he was able to pull it off, and also rescue Batman for a
change. In spite of being rescued,
Batman still showed his awesomeness by enduring everything he did, and
providing inspiration to Superman.
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