Farewell, Mistah J

[filkertom]

Sadness. Artist Jerry Robinson has passed away at the age of 89. He worked extensively on the Batman comics in the 1940s, and was either the creator or co-creator of Robin the Boy Wonder and one of comics' most enduring and vibrant villains, The Joker. He also had a hand in the creation of Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's butler, and Two-Face, which makes him as central to the mythology as anybody.

What's your favorite Joker story? Surprisingly, at least to me, mine is neither "The Laughing Fish" nor "The Killing Joke", but the Batman Beyond animated movie, "Return of the Joker". Mark Hamill is of course perfect as Mistah J, and his hatred of (and determination to gain his long-term vengeance against) his truest foe simply reeks from every frame.

Comments

[hms42]

That makes two artists this week. :(

The other being Darrell K. Sweet.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/12/darrell-k-sweet-1934-2011

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Sad news all around.

(Not to add to it, but I didn't get that job. I didn't do well enough on their test, but everything else in the interview was good. I'm hoping I may be able to get a lesser position and work my way up from there.)

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

My own favorite is "Mad Love." Of course, I'm a big Harley Quinn fan, and the fanservice she offers doesn't hurt a bit. Even so, Mistah J's reaction to the news that Harley has the Bat all tied up and is about to kill him is hilarious.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

There are three stories that leap out to me- two comic stories (which I've only read once each, so forgive my misremebering) and one cartoon.

"The Killing Joke" is one, of course. It portrays the Joker (and to a lesser extent Batman) as a prisoner of fate. His entire life was completely destroyed by a series of circumstances over which he had marginal control at best, ending with the canonical acid bath that disfigured him. Without a center that could hold through all that, he sought (and seeks) relief in the only way he knows- by adding to the chaos, by lashing out at random, in effect embracing the forces which destroyed him and defining himself as such. At the end we see, in a calm, lucid moment, the man the Joker once was, alone, helpless, and resigned to personal torment... and, at the same time, see his reflection in Batman, likewise a prisoner of his own past.

"Going Sane" is, I feel, a bit underrated. The Joker's insanity requires a target, something to push against, something which gives a sense of feedback and leverage. Without Batman around, the lashing out provides no challenge, and thereby no conflict, and we get to see the Joker questioning himself... for a time, at least. I think this story best illustrates that the Joker, for his chaotic and murderous insanity, is also a very intelligent man- and, in almost every respect, Batman's equal and opposite.

Finally, there's an episode from the first season of The Brave and the Bold in which Batman is thrown into an alternate dimension where DC-prime's heroes are villains and vice-versa. Here we get to see him team up with the Red Hood- Jack Napier, in this world, was a crimefighter or resistance fighter against the evil and corrupt supers of his world. We get to see the vital difference which the Joker lacked- a strong sense of self that allows the Red Hood to continue where the Joker cracked up.

Not being much of a DC reader even when I gave a damn at all about superheroes, that's all I can say or suggest, and likely half of it is wrong anyway. But you asked.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

*Google*

Yep. I've confused "Going Sane" with something else for which I can't remember the derivation. Ah well. Still looks intriguing.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I remember an early episode in TAS where a developer created a joker (but not Joker) themed casino in order to goad the Joker into destroying it as part of an insurance scheme. So Joker was played as a patzy and when Batman told him Joker said, "I HATE it when you make sense." Later he told the developer, "It was a scheme worthy of me." It reveals that Joker is more deranged than insane. He knows what's right and wrong and intentionally does what's wrong because he feels like it. It shows Joker isn't some mere villain, he's to be used with care by the writer. Woe be it anyone who underestimates him.

I also liked the episode where the whole city thinks some low level wannabe killed Batman and Joker did his "I was suppose to kill him!" monologue and he leaves a jewelry store robbery in progress when Batman didn't show up.

I agree about the Batman Beyond movie and both his movie appearances.

[sdelmonte]

All good choices so far, so I will add "The Devil's Advocate," where the Joker is convicted of murder and sentenced to die at last. Only...he didn't do it. Probably the best thing Chuck Dixon ever wrote, and a great and chilling view of the Joker facing his own death.

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's another good one. I love Alfred's line, referring to Batman: "Like any great detective, he hates a mystery." Not to mention Joker blowing up on the witness stand, bragging about his supreme skill at crime and sneering at what they've accused him of as being completely beneath his talents.

[wingus.livejournal.com]

I'd say my favorites are a toss up between "Joker's Favor" and "Almost Got 'Im", myself.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I think my favorite Joker story is from TAS and it would be Joker Fish. Though if I were to be honest I think his appearence in Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker showed him at his most evil and most intelligent.

I think that's something that people sometimes forget. The Joker isn't just insane, he's also evil with a capital E. He's also very intelligent and has gotten the drop on Batman on more than one occasion.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. "The Laughing Fish" episode was taken from the classic story of the same name by Steve Englehart and the late Marshall Rogers. Even had a lot of the same dialogue.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Another episode taken from a comic story, "Joker's Millions", has probably my favorite Joker line of all time:

After discovering that the "fortune" he's inherited from an underworld associate is mostly Monopoly money, and getting a bill from the IRS, the Joker starts plotting a crime spree to pay it off. One of his stooges asks why they don't just run.

"Look, Bunky, I may be crazy enough to fight Batman, but the IRS? Nooooo, thank you!"

[djonn]

I am not sure I have a favorite Joker story.

No, wait -- yes, I do...but it's one you may well have never heard of. It appeared in the paperback tie-in anthology The Further Adventures of the Joker, edited by Martin Greenberg and published back in 1990 (in the era of the Tim Burton Batfilms). It's called "Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard", and was written by Edward Bryant and Dan Simmons.

I give you a moment from the climax (not to worry, I'm absolutely not spoiling the key twist):

While we stood there waiting for summary execution, the Joker giggled, then chortled, finally whooped with merriment. Tears, or at least something viscous, dripped from his eyes. I thought the ends of his grin would meet around the back of his head.

When he finally could speak, he said, "Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Better than I'd ever hoped." He burst into laughter again.

And then he let us go.

What you need to understand is that I grew up on syndicated reruns of the Adam West Bat-series, and so my first Joker was Cesar Romero. And as cheesy as that show was, I've always thought that Romero's incarnation of the character got one thing absolutely right: namely, that what makes the Joker unique are the jokes. Mark Hamill and the B:TAS writers generally understood this, too -- but by contrast, a lot of influential comics canon has (to my mind) gotten far too carried away with the Joker as elemental psychopath and Chaotic Evil Incarnate. (Nolan and Ledger in The Dark Knight are guilty of this, too. As brilliant as Ledger is in the movie -- and it's an amazing performance -- I disagree violently with that interpretation of the character.)

Anyhow. I highly recommend the Bryant/Simmons story (and the rest of the anthology is pretty decent, too).

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

Not sure of the title or the issue -- or even whether it was in Batman or Detective - but there was a Done In One story back in the 1970s that I remember fondly. In it, the Joker exposes Batman to some ... gas? serum? not sure which ... that makes him laugh, uproariously, cripplingly, at the most inappropriate times (and not just the usual laugh-to-death of Joker venom -- it made him find unfunny stuff funny: Bruce Wayne has to run from a funeral of a scientist killed by the Joker because the sight of the body in the coffin was, at that moment, the funniest thing ever. When Batman catches up to Joker and a fight ensues, Joker presses the advantage by hitting him with a steady barrage of Henny Youngman-type jokes. Batman finally counters it by concentrating on something genuinely funny -- so he runs through Marx Brothers movies in his mind. Sobers him right up.

Not necessarily the best Joker story ever; maybe not even in the top 10 -- but one I remember fondly.

[batyatoon]

"Return of the Joker" is solid quality all the way through, and has what I still think is one of the best Joker moments ever -- and it's Hamill's delivery that makes it: "You're not Batman!"

Also: does anyone remember the Emperor Joker storyline some years back?

[alverant.livejournal.com]

The final fight between Joker and (the new) Batman is hilarious once Terry is told Joker likes to talk, Terry realizes that he does too and begins taunting the Joker. "So you fell in a vat of acid and it bleached your face white. What's the matter, couldn't get a job as a rodeo clown?"

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

I recall Emperor Joker, yes. And frankly, I preferred the Brave and the Bold episode. It makes so much more SENSE for Joker to get the better of Bat-Mite than Mr. Mxyzptlk.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

I have to mention Pendant Audio's series Batman: The Ace of Detectives. Adam Bell has played The Joker since Episode 2, "Breakout." From then to Episode 10, "The Punchline," he runs a seemingly-random scheme of violence and death, death for friends and foes alike. And then, he admits to Batman that it didn't involve The Bat at all.

If you like what you hear in those nine episodes, you might listen all the way up to Episode 42, "Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard." Through various machinations and time/space travel, Joker has gained near-godlike powers, has captured nearly all of the Batman family, and intends to kill them, resurrect them, and kill them again for eternity. Until one of Batman's team (a previous villain, now converted) pulls a spectacular joke on Joker.

Through all this, Bell's Joker sounds a little like Mark Hamill's, but smarter, more off-handed and more willing to ad-lib. In Episode 19, "Opening Act," he insults an army of thugs about to beat him to death. "Their trials weren't on Court TV, they were on Mystery Science Theater 3000!" You have to hear Bell's delivery of the line. It's precious.

[marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com]

Mark Hamill will ALWAYS be the Joker to me, as much love as I had for Romero and Nicholson. And I agree, the best thing in the world is "Return of the Joker." Terry HANNIBAL LECTURES the Joker! You can find the clip on Youtube, and it's just... one of the greatest bits EVER.