tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post5459683358739829305..comments2024-03-27T11:32:34.392-07:00Comments on NOT A HOAX! NOT A DREAM!: DETECTIVE COMICS #475 & #476Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-22404955264366928672021-06-03T10:57:33.786-07:002021-06-03T10:57:33.786-07:00Years ago, I typically kept to a pretty big cushio...Years ago, I typically kept to a pretty big cushion for posts, but that all stopped around the time my son was born. I used to have Monday and Friday posts scheduled to go up many months in advance (and, once upon a time, Wednesdays too!) -- I think I had actually read and written posts for <b>all</b> of Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL before I even posted a single issue -- but nowadays I struggle to maintain a more-or-less two-month cushion for just one post a week!Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-9171709800596892182021-06-02T17:57:49.870-07:002021-06-02T17:57:49.870-07:00// I did mention the Joker's radio broadcast f...<br><i>// I did mention the Joker's radio broadcast from his first appearance up there //</i> <br /><br />So you did! Oops…<br /><br />I picked up another copy of Brennert’s <i>Tales of the Batman</i> as a gift recently and realized that I’d never formally reviewed it myself as I wanted to, so I’ve slotted that in for this fall as part of my hoped-for return to regular blogging. Unfortunately, I never got in the habit of stockpiling posts for publication down the line, which seems all but an absolute necessity to maintain any kind of regular schedule. That wasn’t much of a priority in the past, really, but what I’m planning suggests I adopt such a strategy.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-56053408078432314252021-06-01T10:59:43.173-07:002021-06-01T10:59:43.173-07:00Thanks, Blam. I did mention the Joker's radio ...Thanks, Blam. I did mention the Joker's radio broadcast from his first appearance up there, but kind of in passing and I didn't cite BATMAN #1.<br /><br />I remember when I read both the first apperance and this story in GREATEST JOKER STORIES EVER TOLD as a kid, thinking it was really cool that a writer revisited that M.O. forty years later.<br /><br />Still need to read that Brennert book...! I bought it years ago on your recommendation (and because I recalled a couple of his stories from GREATEST BATMAN STORIES), but I've just never gotten around to opening it up!Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-24644527269513761262021-05-28T15:24:31.527-07:002021-05-28T15:24:31.527-07:00I know this’ll sound like a funny thing to get hun...<br>I know this’ll sound like a funny thing to get hung up on but, apart from all the other illogic of Joker’s plan, the “laughing fish” would be a trademark, not a copyright, and it really makes me itch when folks mix those up.<br /><br />The advance notice of death at the stroke of midnight for Joker’s victims is a callback to his debut in <i>Batman</i> #1, by the way, surely intentional on Englehart’s part given how this run was in conversation with history.<br /><br />Alan Brennert nodded to the Earth-One Hugo Strange’s apparition cleverly when he teamed up the Earth-One Batman with the Earth-Two Robin and Batwoman in the extremely moving <i>The Brave and the Bold</i> #182.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-16928160748460934852019-08-05T09:25:21.779-07:002019-08-05T09:25:21.779-07:00I liked Heath Ledger's Joker as well... he was...I liked Heath Ledger's Joker as well... he was more like the Denny O'Neil version, being cunning and mostly rational, rather than the later over-the-top insane maniac we've come to see. His whole deal was about uncertainty and chaos for it's own sake, but I don't recall him murdering indiscriminately. His chaos was directed, to prove a point and accomplish a goal. (Right? I haven't watched the movie in like ten years...)<br /><br />I've never read any of the later stuff, though I could see how Morrison would have handled Joker well. I'm not a big fan of him in general, but he does seem to understand the characters. My aversion to him is mainly due to all the weirdness he injects into his stories.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-69129527578418332432019-08-05T09:20:48.672-07:002019-08-05T09:20:48.672-07:00Thanks, David -- I agree, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS ...Thanks, David -- I agree, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS gives us a major leap in the evolution of the mass-murderer version of Joker, but as you note there, it's an "imaginary story" and he doesn't go back to jail in the end, where we know he'll break out again soon.<br /><br />"Death in the Family" is another major point in this evolution. It was one of the few DC stories I read as a kid, because of all the publicity around it, and I remember being extremely uncomfortable and disturbed by Joker's manic glee as he beat Robin with that crowbar. That was the sort of thing that kept me from reading much DC as a kid. It was just too much for me at that age (and I don't particularly care for it today, either).Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-69678180840856688612019-08-05T09:16:12.576-07:002019-08-05T09:16:12.576-07:00I did first read this in GREATEST JOKER STORIES EV...I did first read this in GREATEST JOKER STORIES EVER TOLD, way back in 1989 or whatever, when it was first published. It's an odd thing, but I remember being pretty excited when I realized that between "The Deadshot Ricochet" in GREATEST BATMAN STORIES, these two in GREATEST JOKER STORIES, and then, in 1992, "The Malay Penguin" in GREATEST BATMAN STORIES vol. 2, you had four sequential issues!<br /><br />I was unaware of the rule from Schwartz about no overlapping villains in a month, but it does make sense. I've always thought editor should police how often their villains are used, not just at the same time, but in general throughout the year. Too much Joker or Penguin or whoever can lead to overexposure.<br /><br />I've read that what eventually became Tim Burton's BATMAN was based in part on Englehart's run... I think Englehart was even hired to write a script or a treatment at one point, when the movie was in development in the early 80s. There are similarities in the finished product, but it's not as easy to draw a straight line as it probably was when the adaptation was first proposed.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-40819391078049687882019-08-02T19:19:41.679-07:002019-08-02T19:19:41.679-07:00Interesting take on the Joker. I think the charact...Interesting take on the Joker. I think the character has become ridiculous in the comics, maybe starting with the death of Jason Todd or even the Killing Joke, where his acts get more cruel and vicious, such that I think were they done by any other villain would've resulted in death.<br /><br />Then you add in what I sometimes feel is the weird Harley/Joker fandom and the character has become overpowered and grating in my opinion. So it's interesting to read your opinion on when the character became more randomly vicious.<br /><br />I agree with david p in that the character has become off putting and dull though apparently, not for most people. <br /><br />I should point out all that's different from Heath Ledger's take, which I thought was quite good.<br /><br />But in the comics people complain about Batman being overpowered but the same could be said for the Joker and it's the nature of serialized corporate owned comics that any true justice in the stories is overruled.<br /><br />I liked Grant Morrison's take on the character for the most part and same with Scott Synder, and while the latter definitely went for the over-the-top horror element with the character in Death of the Family and Endgame he at least had some significant comeuppance, perhaps as much as one could for a popular corporately owned character.<br /><br />cheersAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-15978706436569843382019-07-29T07:27:41.292-07:002019-07-29T07:27:41.292-07:00Just wanted to drop a line to say I really like th...Just wanted to drop a line to say I really like the insight into the panel when you suspect the "modern" Joker was born. It's hard to imagine a time when Joker's evil was intense but somehow less depressing, as opposed to now when he's pretty much the "gets-away-with-murder" poster child. <br /><br />My first big encounter with murderous Joker was his slaughter of a TV audience in Dark Knight Returns, and I'll admit my teenage self became a big fan of the enormity of his villainy. Maybe in hindsight it was more palatable because he was able to face some sort of justice at the end of that Elseworlds-type story. But it was not long (I think around "Death in the Family") when his unpunished cruelty became cliche and off-putting, and even a bit dull.<br /><br />Of the two iconic 70s Joker stories, Laughing Fish and Five-Way Revenge, I've only ever read the latter, but I'm sure I'll find a way to add the Fish tale to the list someday, and the added significance your review has added to the story has made me look forward to it just that much more.<br /><br />Best,<br />-david p.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-9694346777642725922019-07-24T03:51:44.104-07:002019-07-24T03:51:44.104-07:00Let me guess, you first read this story from THE G...Let me guess, you first read this story from THE GREATEST JOKER STORIES EVER TOLD? Ditto, back in 1999. Any interest in the Englehart-Rogers sequel DARK DETECTIVE? <br />This story was to directly occur after the Penguin story, but the Joker was already appearing in BATMAN, and Editor Schwartz said that both Bat-titles can't have the same villain separately, so Englehart quickly did the Deadshot story.<br />Marshall Rogers wanted Silver to be in the nude in her apartment confrontation with Batman.<br />Englehart based the Ghost on a DICK TRACY story (Flattop Jr. getting haunted by a girl he killed, leading to his death).<br />Evidently BATMAN (1989) was influenced by several pieces of this run: the Joker's chemical mixing, the heroine being based more on Silver St. Cloud (despite the character being named Vicki Vale), the Batman-Joker fight in a high place, Boss Grissom based on Thorne.angmc43@hotmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379700547226493861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105844689832543332.post-8248112516731605932019-07-22T21:35:49.780-07:002019-07-22T21:35:49.780-07:00I had a blast as always with these kind of reviews...I had a blast as always with these kind of reviews. :)Philip Gipsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10230732112594635093noreply@blogger.com