A look with a magnifying glass: Brian Azzarello’s Joker. (Written by guest columnist Drazar)

Brian Azzarello’s and Bermejo Lee’s Graphic novel Joker has been regarded as a deep, disturbing take on the Joker that even rivals Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke. Now, some people do believe due to the similiar Joker look that this is based off of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Joker... That's false. The book actually was originally suppose to be called Joker: The Dark Knight (similiar to Azzarello’s + Lee’s Lex Luthor: Man of Steel), but due to DC being worried of angry phonecalls from worried parents (due to the mature story of the book) they simplified the name to simply: Joker.

I’ve seen a lot of people not seeing all the little tibits and even Joker’s jokes on the book, and as a big comic book nerd, there's nothing more lovely than taking a gold look with a magnifying glass and sharing all of this information to people. So the next time they read it, they can say, “Oh, so that's what it means!” But before I begin, I am in no way saying I found all these little tidbits by myself. The great Internet community helped find all these great little details! Now let's dig into Joker!

PS. If you haven't read this comic, the story is told by one of The Joker's thug named Jonny Frost. So, when you see me talk about Jonny you now know who the hell he is.

Joker leaving the Asylum, page 5: Looking at the second panel, you see gargoyles on the Arkham Asylum rooftops, but if you look closely, you can also see Batman sitting on there, how do we know? Look two panels below and you'll see after the lightning that Batman is gone, and Joker is giving the finger to Batman, not the asylum.

How 'bout a rabbit joke: I have to admit I never truly got this until someone told me what it is. So, we see Joker spreading his pockets (white, long) infront of Croc and saying, "How 'bout some rabbit?" Now the joke here essantually is that the pockets are the bunny ears and Joker is the rabbit!

Pedophilia in Joker?: All credits to this great find goes to frakkingoff of Superherohype.com forums. This is a scene where Joker robbed a bank without triggering the alarm or killing people. Now take a look at these:





See how even the Joker is trying to avoid touching the picture? We all see loads of red but look at the leg/skirt area of the little girl. It's white... is that really sperm? Now, this book got heavily edited due to it being even more disgusting than it already is, but could the blood there literally be red herring?! I mean, even the Joker is disgusted to touch the picture... You know something's wrong. Johnny throws the picture away in disgust and says, "Are you kidding me?" Which Joker replies with, "Birds and Bees, Honey?" Now we all know bees are used as a sexual term, but are birds also? Maybe so. This whole sperm thing comes even more evident when Joker says, "I dig driving people, Jonny" So, did Joker really robb a bank by either masturbating to the bank owner's daughter or worse (as the text implies) he made the bank owner masturbate to his own daughter?!

Why does Joker call Penquin as Abner?!: This one is either really far fetched, or too simply to be noticed. The simple answer may just be that Joker simply calls Oswald as Abner because he knows he doesn't like being called "Penguin." So he mocks him with another nickname. Now, I don't think there are any fat people known with the name Abner, but in the very old USA newsletter comic strips, there was Lil' abner who had a pig pet... Yeah, far fetched, I guess, but i'd say it's just Joker being himself.

Joker's & Batman's relationship with each other: So, now we know Batman was at the asylum, and the great mystery lies how Joker was allowed to leave the asylum just like that. We see in the comic how Joker claims Batman is watching him from the city rooftops, seeing how Joker is doing his dirty work for him, and this is essantually true because most people Joker kills in the comic are infact mere thugs and criminals. Now, is Batman using the Joker to takedown the small fishes of Gotham's underworld so he can take them down alltogether when Joker has gathered them up? This is a big thing implied on the book since Batman does appear at the very end when he becomes aware of Joker killing off civillians and planning to murder Harvey Two-Face. Now this may seem, "Woah! This isn't my Batman, at all," but we do have to remind ourselves that this is an elseworld story, so things can be taken to the very extreme.

Hope you all enjoyed this little extra look on the Joker graphical novel, and I hope you can have extra enjoyment out of reading it after this! Please leave any questions or even more inside looks if you spotted any.

- Drazar

Batman Forever Review

Batman Forever is the first film in the Schumacher film series.

Story: Batman Forever deals with many things: Dick's family dying, Bruce having nightmares about his parents' death, Two-Face teaming up with The Riddler, and more. It would have made a wonderful addition to the Batman film-family, but the mediocre acting, horrendous characterization, and cheesy one-lines make this one of the worst in the Batman film series.

The movie starts out with Two-Face robbing a bank. Batman meets up with Dr. Chase Meridian (a psychiatrist with a thing for Bats). After some small talk, The Dark Knight makes his way to the action. He takes out a group of machine-gun wielding thugs as he rescues a guard. To his surprise, he fell into a trap! Acid fills up the vault he and the guard are inside of it... what will Batman do? Well, he not only gets out, he smoothly slides the vault back into place.

We are later introduced to Edward Nygma (a researcher at Wayne Enterprises with a thing for Bruce Wayne). Edward tells Bruce about his new invention. A machine that manipulates brain activity, thus making images on screen look 3D. Bruce turns Edward down, and so begins The Riddler. After going through a list of possible villain names, he chooses the one that best fits his persona.

The whole film is about Two-Face and Riddler trying to figure out what Batman's true identity is, and causing him pain by killing his loved ones?

Cast: Val Kilmer isn't a bad Batman/Bruce Wayne, he's just not the best. Kilmer at least made an effort to change his voice between characters, unlike George Clooney. Chris O'Donnell takes on the role of the Boy Wonder, Robin. Personally, I thought he looked WAY too old, and acted WAY too bratty.

The Riddler is played by funny-man Jim Carrey. He does a good job with the role for the most part, but he's a bit too excited at times. Two-Face is completely wrong, Tommy Lee Jones is a talented actor, but he played Two-Face all wrong in this film. The supporting cast was decent, with Pat Hingle reprising his role as Jim Gordon, and Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian.

Style: Much like Batman & Robin, there are a lot of comical elements to Batman Forever's style... and a lot of unnecessary ones, too. For example, why do the guns have neon circles around them? Why are there multi-coloured spot-lights all around Gotham? And why don't bad guys wear shirts?

Much of that could have been avoided, but again, it isn't entirely Joel's fault. Warner didn't want this film to be as dark as Tim Burton's Batman ('89) or Batman Returns.

Gadgets: There were the usual Batarangs and grapnel hooks, but nothing radically new. Bruce test drove a sonar-enhanced suit during the end of the film. But what was the point of it? All he used it for was to throw a Batarang...

Overall: Batman Forever isn't terrible, but it's not great either. It's decent. I recommend this film if you're a big Batfan, otherwise, stay away.

Batman Forever's metric score is a 7/10.

-EliteF50

Batman & Robin Review!

Batman & Robin is the second entry in the Schumacher film series.

Story: Batman & Robin is all about Mr. Freeze and his revenge. It starts out with him wanting to restore Nora Fries (his wife) back to life. But later when Poison Ivy and Bane are introduced into the story, things change. Meanwhile, over in South America, Dr. Pamela Isley witnesses the creation of Bane. A super-human soldier fueled with "Venom." Dr. Jason Woodrue for some reason shifts his interest from the Bane presentation to Dr. Isley. In an attempt to join forces, he gets rejected. So he felt he needed to kill Dr. Isley. Too bad for him she comes back from the dead as, "Poison Ivy."  

Ivy and Bane become a team and they decide to travel to Gotham. Why Gotham specifically? I have no idea. I wouldn't mind this, but why did they have to mess up Bane so badly? Since when was Bane a scrawny little man, turned into a muscle pumped idiot? Joel, you have failed yet again.  

As usual, I won't spoil the rest of the story for you, but that's pretty much a summary of the intro.

Cast: Oh Lawdy, what did we do to deserve this horrendous cast? Was it the pollution, the crime, or the war? I feel George Clooney was robbed in this film. He is usually a terrific actor. He plays a fantastic Bruce Wayne... You know, a rich playboy -- oh wait, George IS a rich playboy! No wonder he played it so well... he was playing himself. As bad as his Batman was, it was no where near as bad as Mr. Freeze or Bane.  

It's amazing how wrong the characters in this film are. Freeze is supposed to be a depressed, angry man full of hatred. Not a body builder in a neon suit with more cheesy puns than a 70s sitcom. 

Bane was portrayed the worst. He's not supposed to be a dumb drone, let's remember: he was smart enough to tire Batman, then do what no body else has done before... he broke Batman in two. Poison Ivy wasn't bad, she was probably the best actor in the movie... sad, eh?

Style: Neon lights, half naked men, huge statues, and Batnipples. That's pretty much Batman & Robin's style. We can't blame Joel entirely for this, Warner wanted a lighter incarnation of Gotham. But there was a lot of unnecessary stuff.

Gadgets: In the beginning of the film, we're treated a wonderful view of Batman's gadgets. But what gadgets were relevant to the film? Well, there were the Ice-skates, the laser used to thaw Robin, Batarangs, and a whole bunch of grapnel guns. The gadgets are mediocre at best.

Overall: Batman & Robin is not a good Batman film, but a great comedy. I laughed more than I should have, and I'm sure most of you have, too. As an action film, Batman & Robin earns a 2/10, but as a comedy, it earns a solid 9.5/10. If you're in a bad mood, watch some Batman & Robin!

-Elite

Batman: Lovers and Madmen Review

Hey guys, welcome back to Batmania Reviews, Jason Todd here with our third installment of Graphic Novel Mondays. Today’s review is an arc from the ongoing Batman Confidential series, which establishes some of the big first moments in Batman Mythos. The issue arc for those interested are issues #7 to 12, but this is also available in hardcover format, which I’ll be reviewing today. This story was written by Michael Green and features artwork by Dennis Cowan. So without further adieu, I present Batman: Lovers and Madmen.

Over time people have always debated the Joker’s origin, whether it was failed comedian, petty crook, or as shown in Alan Moore’s “ “The Killing Joke” (one of my personal favorites) a simple family man who had a bad day. Lovers and Madmen revamps the creation of the Joker as a simple man named Jack. A master criminal and thief, a man so good even The Batman himself can’t seem to track him. But Jack’s grown bored with his profession and his life, and is ready to give them both up, until he catches glimpse of The Caped Crusader. Seeing this man dressed like a Bat, is somewhat funny to our guy Jack. And he can’t wait to play with our hero.

Without giving away too much, this is one of the best Joker stories I’ve read in a while. Things are put into perspective, and loyal Bat-fans will notice a lot homage’s to future Batman stories, including how Joker got his Glasgow smile, what makes the Clown Prince of Crime tick, we see a young Dr. Crane, and even a certain blonde waitress named “Leeny” that’s currently attending college with hopes of becoming a psychiatrist.

This is without a doubt my favorite Joker origin. No disrespect to Alan Moore but in my eyes this is the Joker’s past. I’d always wondered why Joker was portrayed as such a frail, weak guy. If that’s possible would he really have caused Batman so much drama over the years? Here Joker is shown as a guy at the top of his skills, a guy who always has a plan and may even be smarter than Batman himself. And lets not forget Batman, the debut along with hatred of The Joker causes The Dark Knight to do something so out of character you won’t believe your eyes.

The artwork is very gritty, yet it adds to the story and compliments it nicely. So with that said I label this a must-read for all Batman fans and a definite must-read for all fans of the Harlequin of Hate, The Joker. I give Batman: Lovers and Madmen a solid 10/10

-Jason Todd

Villainous Friday! Calender Man invades Batmania!

I held off on Villainous Friday for this special day for a specific reason. It's a holiday for the US and what better way to celebrate it than doing a summary on the man of the dates? Calender Man.

Calender Man has a special lore to striking on holidays and usually the crimes related to those holidays. He also usually has a special costume for each holiday that he strikes but has a special generic costume seen above that he just wears when he is associated without a holiday to strike on.

Calender Man is usually described as a third-grade villain, which isn't a shocker. This dude isn't a Lex Luthor. He just attempts at first-grade crimes and usually fails. Although he has helped Batman in The Long Halloween catching a villain named 'Holiday' who uses the same patterns as him. But I wouldn't call it helping. He did know who Holiday was, but he wanted to mess with Batman so he left clues for Batman to solve this spree. I don't know how it ends thougth, maybe Jason will do a review of that for you guys soon. Now I see Holiday as a rip-off of Calender Man seeing as he came first, but people want the stronger, but I want the best, which is the man in orange.

Now Joker would be hard to put everything you know about him into a summary (see Villainous Fridays Begin!), he has been in a lot of groups, lots of crimes, and lots of danger. Now Calender Man I can go into more detail with. Calender Man was associated with one group of villains names "The Misfits". That was consisting of Calender Man, Catman, and the founder Killer Moth. Well, these guys wanted to earn there stripes, but I remember them failing a lot. Now we all know that Killer Moth became Charaxes, and Catman became well...better. But sadly Calender Man is left as being the saddest villains compared to the rest.

This villain fails a lot, but he wants you to know about him, that's part of his invasion. Someday Calender Man will earn his stripes...hopefully. But until then all we can do is treasure him as a classic Batman villain.

-KillerCroc

Batman & Robin #2 Review

Hey there guys, Jason Todd here with a review of Batman & Robin #2. This is my first weekly comic review and what better way to start than with Morrison and Quitely's reintroduction of the Dynamic Duo. Well, you could call this the Disaster Duo because that's where Batman and Robin seem to be headed. Robin's constantly undermining Batman and frankly believes he could do a better job, and sets out to do so.

We start the issue with Dick telling Alfred of his latest mission, how he and Robin went to stop a supposed break out at the Gotham City Police Department. One of Gordon's men comments "Didn't they used to be taller? And didn't Batman's voice sound different?" Batman and Robin proceed to stop the havoc in the police department, but not without casualties. Something Dick believes Bruce would have been able to prevent.

"I hate the cape, Alfred -- the cape was the first thing I ditched when I got out on my own." That quote sums up the entire issue. Dick comments that no one believes he's Batman, and that Gordon and everyone else looks as him as some imposter, playing Batman. His own Robin comments that he's not Batman and he never will be. Alfred convinces Dick that as a circus performer he should pretend that Batman is a part to play, and perform everynight. Encouraging words for sure... now if only Batman knew where to find Robin, because Damian could sure use some help.

Without giving away anything that could ruin the story I will say that this issue was definitely more informative than the last. The Dynamic between Dick and Damien is still bratty kid meets forced-to-grow-up-too-soon adult. I'm getting tired of Damien's persona but what can you do? All in all I'd have to say that Batman & Robin seems to be on the right path to establishing this new Dynamic Duo. I'll give it a 8/10

- Jason Todd

I can hear the sirens oh no!

Killer Croc is back in action, sorry for the delay, hectic week and thensome. Anyways I am reviewing Gotham Sirens by Paul Dini and Guillem March. I am a huge fan or March's artisery or whatever. He's an awesome artist. He got this gig because DC comics was impressed on how well he drew women in Joker's Asylum: Posion Ivy, so they made him the artist on this. Now I go on to the review...

The star of the first issue more or less is Catwoman. We all know she's a hero because she switched sides after Bruce died. But, Catwoman has tried before and we don't know what she will do. First minute into reading this I was hooked. So it starts out with Catwoman coming to the aid of a innocent in distress, by some loser villain who wantd a title. This guy has some cool gauntlets that blasts you bones with a shockwave. Talk about a punch. This comic as well catches you up to speed on what happened with Catwoman and her rivalry with Hush. Very well done. I haven't been reading comics frequently until two years ago so it was a nice catch up. Now, Catwoman looks like she will die while this dreamer thinks he can kill her and gain a title, as we know...legends don't die.

Posion Ivy comes in and saves our heroine, and gets some questions running through her head. Now in BftC: Underground we saw that Harley Quinn was searching for Posion Ivy because of Black Mask kidnapping her...in a way. So apparently Edward Nigman aka Riddler switched sides as well and helped our green friend out. I won't give any more detail than that for it. Except I can say that our three bad girls of Gotham, Catwoman, Posion Ivy, and Harley Quinn form an alliance in the end.

The art and story for this comic book was astounding. Most first issues are about introductions and no action but this comic book has it all. I was not disappointed in the least. I am eager for the next issue so much. As I said before I am a fan of March's art and this was like reading a bible for me. Excellent story, excellent art, and the best characters in Gotham, what more do you want? Best comic for the new Batman series.

On a readers note: There was a little something leading to this comic in Streets of Gotham, not much to effect the story, but it leads to the starting point.

Haven't read a comic this great since Hush #1

10/10

-Killer Croc