The Joker, continued

And here’s the second half of my Joker essay from the Batman column over at Sourcerer. Give it a look!

Sourcerer

by Jeremy DeFatta

Happy new book day, everyone! Building off last last week’s post, I want to lay down a few more of my thoughts on, and interpretations of, the Joker. These may seem a bit more convoluted than the last batch, but dedicating critical thought to the Joker is a deep, dark rabbit hole indeed. Let’s jump right in!

The white-skinned Joker can be seen as a ghost of his opposite number—Bruce Wayne. Though the connection is tenuous, I see it as a source of the animosity between the Joker and Batman. The Joker is the walking death of young Bruce Wayne grown to adulthood and spreading its pain across Gotham. After all, it is a fairly common idea that whatever was Bruce Wayne effectively died in that alleyway with his parents, leaving behind only a shell that wandered the world in search of answers until it finally…

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What is it about the Joker?

And here is my first post (more an essay) on the Joker for my Batman column at Sourcerer. Give it a look!

Sourcerer

by Jeremy DeFatta

Happy new book day, everyone! Today, I want to take a little break from Batman himself and begin discussing some of his supporting cast and rogues gallery. I believe the appropriate first choice for this will be the Joker.

The Joker first appeared in Batman #1 back in 1940. Appropriately enough, given that so little is known about the character, his exact creator is disputed to this day—creator credit is generally spread out across Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson. Originally meant to be a one-off character, the Joker seemingly returned from the dead due to an unexpected upsurge in his popularity among fans after (what was intended to be) his single appearance. Indeed, the Joker has never not been popular, and is likely as well known as his heroic nemesis. Why is this? What makes this character as immortal and (arguably)…

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Injustice: Year Two – A Review

A review of Tom Taylor’s Injustice I did awhile back over at Sourcerer.

Sourcerer

by Jeremy DeFatta

My review for this week is Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Injustice: Year Two #2 digital-first edition (released on Jan. 21), which is the middle third of the print copy of Injustice: Year Two #1, which was released in full on Jan. 15 if my sources are correct. Confused yet? Good!

This is a story meant to upset the status quo and send you reeling. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Injustice in its entirety is a tie-in to a video game by the creators of Mortal Kombat. The comic is intended to be a prequel of sorts to set up the world in which the game is set, and it is a terrifically unfamiliar version of the DC Universe. The basic premise is this: the Joker comes to Metropolis on a murder spree and pulls off his greatest atrocities ever. Superman, who is eternally at war within…

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