WordPress.com



NAMEENGL 101Dr. Jonathan EvansDATEEssay 2 Super-Reporting InformationIntroductionThe comic book world consists of both superheroes and villains. Regardless of this fact, every DC comic book seems to focus predominantly on the superheroes, apprising the audience of their personality, past and the circumstances that bore them. Often comic books do not give much consideration to the villain’s side of the story or state the reasons why they became evil. As a result of the view given by comic books, the audience tend to show cruelty towards the villains. The villain in propose is the Batman antagonist, the Joker. It is important one gets to understand the story behind who the Joker is because of his central importance to Batman.Defining a Supervillain:To attain a better understanding of the subject matter at hand, one must first understand the concept of who a supervillain is. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a supervillain as “a character in a story or play who opposes the hero” (“Supervillain”). However, the Urban dictionary which describes a supervillain as a fictional character with superhuman powers and an antithesis of a superhero, gives a more in-depth denotation that states;Supervillains are often used as foils and could present a daunting challenge to the superhero. In instances where the supervillain does not have superhuman, mystical, or alien powers, the supervillain may possess a genius intellect or a skill set that allows them to draft?complex schemes or commit crimes in a way normal humans cannot. Other traits may include a megalomaniac streak and possession of considerable resources to help further their aims.?Many?supervillains share some typical characteristics of real world dictators, gangsters, and terrorists, with aspirations of world domination or universal leadership. (“Supervillain”) In other words, a Supervillain may not necessarily possess super abilities to be referred to as a villain, likewise for a Superhero. What sets them apart from regular humans is the tenacious ability to exploit whatever means available to fulfill a hidden agenda best known to them. Who is the JOKER really?The Joker who is also known as the “Crown Prince of Crime” and the infamous criminal mastermind of Gotham city is one of the most recognizable character in comic book history. This 192 lbs. 6’5” tall DC comic villain is characterized by his stark-white skin, an elongated smile, and his often slicked back, green hair and eyes. This infamous criminal mastermind of Gotham city is an expert chemist, and violent sociopath that can best be described as a “sadistic, fiendishly intelligent lunatic with a warped sense of humor, deriving pleasure from inflicting twisted, morbid death and terror upon innocent people” (“The Joker”). Need to frame and explain this before moving on. Always do this with all quotations.The Joker has ambiguous origin that has not been officially confirmed. Even his real name is unknown. However, the most famous story about the Joker’s origin is in the comic book The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore in 1988. In this comic book, Joker is depicted as an engineer at a chemical plant who quit his job to pursue his dream of being a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, Jeannie, the man agrees to help two criminals break into the plant where he was formerly employed for a robbery. During the planning process of the robbery, he is informed by the police about the death of his wife and unborn child in a household accident. Grief-stricken, the engineer tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his commitment. At the plant, the criminals make him don a special mask to become the infamous Red Hood. Unknown to the engineer, this disguise is simply a scheme of the criminals to implicate him as the mastermind to divert attention from themselves. However, as soon as they enter the plant, they are immediately caught by security and a fatal shoot-out ensues, in which the two criminals are killed. The pre-Joker in this story tries to escape but is confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance. Terrified, the engineer leaps over a rail and plummets into a vat of chemicals. When he surfaces in the nearby reservoir, he removes the hood and sees his reflection: bleached chalk-white skin, ruby-red lips, and emerald green hair. These events, coupled with his other misfortunes that day, drive the engineer through a massive personality shift that resulted in the birth of the Joker (“The Joker”).Possessing no super abilities, the Joker makes use of his adroit knowledge as a former lab assistant from his past life to utilize weaponized props and toxins to torment the people of Gotham and the Batman. Although from the point of view of a civilized and rational person, Joker portrays the image of a detrimental character whose criminal acts have no motif because it differs greatly from most villains in comic books who are known to have hidden agenda’s that usually border between taking over the world, avenging someone or destroying their reverse counterpart(s). The Joker on the other hand torments and kills everyone including other allied villains, except from his archenemy Batman. Who he seems to be obsessed with and have a love and hate relationship with. The Joker on the surface represents an aimless anarchist but with a closer analysis, he does have a purpose. He aims to show the world the reality of life from his own point of view. This can be demonstrated the comic book The Killing Joke, where he addresses the Batman saying:But my point is... I went crazy. When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was, I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! So why can't you? You're not unintelligent, you must see the reality of the situation. (“The Joker”)In his own detrimental way, the Joker has intended to make the Batman see reason and to understand his philosophy that in a moment, it can all change.What is Joker really:To demonstrate his psychotic agenda, The Joker has committed a lot of atrocities. In the Killer Joke comic book, he crippled Bat Girl (Barbara Gordon) paralyzed her below the waist and kidnaps her father Commissioner Gordon, who he taunts with photographs of what he had done to his daughter in an attempt to drive him insane just to prove that any man can have one bad day and become just like him. Also, he murdered Jason Todd, the second Robin, with a crow bar in the story A Death in the Family (“The Joker”). He murdered Sarah Essen the second wife of commissioner Gordon by shooting her in the face and in the comic book Endgame he infected the members of the Justice league with a powerful strain of the Joker toxin, turning them against the Batman and released an incurable airborne pathogen throughout Gotham. This powerful airborne pathogen was transmitted through laughter which made its victims look like the Joker, and turned feelings of love into violent hatred, triggering mass chaos (“The Joker”). The Joker is affiliated with a long list of criminals, some of which include; Razor, Victor Zsasz and Clayface. These notorious criminals have all helped the Joker in different ways to achieve his outrageous agenda’s.The Joker has been a very interesting character from his moment of indictment into the comic world. His unpredictable psychopathic tendencies keep his audience on their toes because one could never know what detrimental trick he could come up with next. The Joker is truly just a broken man and might appeal to anyone interested in seeing Batman meet his ultimate challenge and being taking on a crazy merry go round involving death and chaos.When is Joker really:The?Joker was created by?Bill Finger,?Bob Kane, and?Jerry Robinson and his first debut was in the comic book issue Batman #1 published by DC Comics in the Spring of 1940. At the inception of Joker, he was originally conceived as an evil "court-jester" type and was initially rejected for being too clownish by studio writer Bill Finger. However, the image of the Joker was later modified and modeled after the photograph of actor Conrad Veidt wearing make-up for the silent film?The Man Who Laughs. From his initial dozen or more characters, the Joker has since been portrayed as a mass murderer, with a bizarre appearance modeled after the symbol of the Joker known from playing cards. It is noted that in his second appearance he was supposed to be killed off, with the final page detailing the villain accidentally stabbing himself, lying dead as Batman and Robin run off into the night. Nevertheless, DC editor Whitney. Ellsworth thought the Joker was too good a character to kill off, suggesting that he be spared (“The Joker”).The character Joker has been a successful one. A minor character that has evolved into a major persona in the comic book world. The Joker was given his own nine-issue comic book series where he faced a variety of foes, both superheroes and supervillains. This was a major change as he was now the protagonist. In every issue, he was always apprehended and never killed anyone, however, due to writers telling series creator Dennis O'Neil to make changes to the comic book, the development of the Joker as a sociopath continued with the issues A Death in the Family and The Killing Joke in 1988 (“The Joker”).Where is Joker really:Nowadays the Joker has appeared in a great number of Batman comic books, cartoons, films, video games and a park attraction theme. The fictitious character has been a great success and has been performed by several people, some of which include Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. Also, the “Wizard magazine listed him the #1 villain of all time in 2006. He was also ranked 8th on the Greatest Comic Book Character of All Time list, which was released by?Empire?(notably being the highest ranked villain character on the list), as well as being the fifth Greatest Comic Book Character Ever in Wizard Magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of all Time list” (“The Joker”, Batman Wik). Explain quotation.The Joker symbolizes the detrimental effect of social injustice and has helped uphold the Batman as a superhero by being his archenemy. Batman impacts his audience with the message every Superhero conveys; he is an embodiment of a courageous, good and tenacious aspect of human kind we should all aspire to become. Conclusion The Joker is truly an interesting character who had a traumatic past that led him to committing evil acts such as killing innocent people. The Joker is also mentally unstable and as a result of this he tends to be very unpredictable. In the DC comic book, the Jokers arch nemesis is the Batman, however the Joker’s story is not given much credit and as such, he is often misunderstood by his audience. Works CitedAlbert, Aaron. “The Joker Profile.”?ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, Mar. 2017, profile-of-the-joker-804218. “The Joker.” BatmanWikia, Wikia, n.d., “Supervillain” DATE OF ACCESS NEEDED FOR ALL ONLINE SOURCESMerriam-Webster Dictionary. . Accessed 26 Mar.2018“Supervillain” The Urban Dictionary. . Accessed 28 Aug. 2016 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download