JohnLees
Monday, June 08, 2009, 02:18 PM
Greetings clubbers! My opening post for this meeting will be shorter than usual, as more than ever, the focus is on all of you for this meeting. This is Open Forum, and you are the guys setting the reading list. I asked you to pick one comic book or graphic novel that you would give to a non-fanboy friend to best introduce them into the world of comics. I have chosen mine, and I’ll talk a little about it to get things rolling, but I’m more interested in hearing from all of you, including the folks who joined Comic Book Club early on, but have been quiet in recent weeks, or even the silent lurkers who have yet to actively participate in discussion. Knowing a bit more about your favorite comics, about the books you think best define what the medium is all about, could prove useful in shaping the topics for future weeks.
Anyway, for me, the choice was pretty simple. It is a graphic novel I have given to friends who don’t read comics, and some have liked it enough to want to read more. It was one of two graphic novels that got me back into regularly buying comics again. The second was Batman: The Long Halloween. This is retreading ground I’ve discussed elsewhere, but after watching and loving Batman Begins, I bought The Long Halloween and loved it. Before that my comic buying was highly sporadic, and I certainly wasn’t one to splash out on a graphic novel. The Long Halloween changed all that for me. But it was the graphic novel I purchased on my next visit to the comic store which had an even bigger impact on me, which still stands as my all-time favorite comic. It is the graphic novel I have chosen to discuss here on Open Forum:
Batman: The Killing Joke.
I must say, I’m rather distressed. I’ve searched for days, but I just can’t find my copy of The Killing Joke anywhere. While I’m sad that I can’t seem to remember where I’ve placed my most treasured comic, it’s telling that I don’t even need it at hand to talk about it for this column, I’ve read it that many times. So the one thing I may be missing this time round is quotes from the text – apologies in advance for that - but given the nature of this meeting, I might not need quotes anyway.
For my first reason, I'll get the personal bias part out of the way. The Joker is my all-time favourite comic book character, and The Killing Joke remains the definitive Joker story. The plot is simple enough - The Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and attempts to drive him insane, in order to prove that "one bad day" is enough to drive anyone crazy, and Batman sets out to stop him - but this is interwoven with a story which may or may not be The Joker's origin, about a failed comedian who suffers his own "one bad day", and is driven into the abyss of madness. It is a fascinating character study of The Joker, as well as a compelling exploration into the relationship he has with Batman. I'm passionate about this story because I'm passionate about The Joker, and so obviously my fondness for the character will inform what I view as essential comic book reading.
I’ll tell you something I saw lately that really annoyed me. A few weeks back, IGN ran a feature on their site: The Top 100 Comic Book Villains. Their list was fair enough, that wasn’t what annoyed me. What annoyed me were the posts left in the comments section. This may sound weird, seeing that I am one, but sometimes… I really hate fanboys. We got all the expected insult-throwing obnoxiousness over Carnage not making #1 that you’d expect, but what really grinded my gears was the backlash against The Joker. Though Magneto eventually won, all through the countdown people were saying “The Joker better not win this!” I don’t know if it was blind Marvel zombies, or just people who don’t know their comics, but this one comment kept on popping up, making me want to give the people saying it a virtual happy-slap: “The Joker’s only popular because of The Dark Knight, there was nothing memorable about him before that.” Umm…what!? For 70 years now, The Joker has been the most iconic supervillain in comics. Many of the all-time greatest Batman stories involve him in some capacity. Even if The Dark Knight had never been made, The Joker would have done enough to be worthy of the title of greatest comic book villain ever. But more relevantly, even setting aside The Joker’s tenured history, The Killing Joke alone could cement The Joker’s status as one of the classic monsters of literature.
But while we’re on the subject of The Dark Knight - The Killing Joke is an ideal companion piece to the film. As we all know, The Dark Knight made a bajillion-dillion dollars at the box office, which means it was seen by a whole lot of people, its popularity extending far beyond the realm of comic book fandom. And Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning portrayal of The Joker was arguably the most popular part of the film, meaning there are legions of filmgoers out there – many up until now not comic book readers - eager for another Joker fix. For these people, The Killing Joke is the perfect next step. The Dark Knight shares many of its themes and even some story beats with the book. Furthermore, The Killing Joke manages to simultaneously showcase The Joker at both his most tragically human and his most detestably monstrous, allowing newcomers to see that, while Heath Ledger’s brilliant portrayal showed the world that The Joker could be both nuanced and terrifying, this was not an innovation exclusive to Christopher Nolan’s film.
Another thing that makes The Killing Joke the perfect gift to someone unfamiliar with comics is its accessibility. You don’t need to know anything about the Multiverse or convoluted comic book continuity to enjoy this standalone story. Just about everyone in our culture knows about Batman and The Joker, and that eternal struggle is what the book is ultimately boiled down to. You could hand a friend a copy without having to explain anything to them – everything they need can be found within its pages. Another thing that helps with accessibility is how short it is! For someone who’s never read a comic book before, handing them a hefty tome they could beat someone to death with could prove daunting. The Killing Joke – while by no means a breezy read – is concise enough to be enjoyed in a single sitting.
Familiarity can be a real benefit when being introduced to the world of comics. Start with a more obscure title, and new readers may feel hopelessly lost. But with Batman, odds are they’ve seen the films, or the TV show, or one of the cartoons at some point, so that familiarity helps ease the transition into a different medium. But while embracing familiarity, The Killing Joke also challenges preconceptions. Even now, there are many out there who think comics are for kids. But The Killing Joke is very much an adult tale, not simply in its violence and disturbing content, but in the moral complexity presented, making this a mature, intelligent story by any standards, rather than simply being “good for a comic book”. It helps that it is written by Alan Moore, one of the great comic book “auteurs”. If you want to show a comic book novice that there are great writers in this medium every bit as skilled as those working in the field of prose, the work of Alan Moore is a good place to start.
Of course, if I want to convert someone to comic geekdom, it’s not enough for me to simply show them the writing can be on par with the writing in a good book. I need to show them what makes comics unique, how they can do things prose novels can’t, that a graphic novel isn’t just a watered down version of a “real” book, but a worthy form of entertainment in its own right. When it comes to making an impression on a comic book skeptic, the art in my chosen book is every bit as important as the writing, if not moreso. After all, they could get good writing anywhere, the point is to show them that adding pictures to the words doesn’t water the words down, but rather it adds to them.
In the case of The Killing Joke, Brian Bolland’s art adds so much to the power of the story, providing some unforgettable images. In a novel, a writer could scrawl for paragraphs about the grief, the agony the unnamed comedian (who would go on to become The Joker) feels when he is told about his wife’s death, and it would still fail to match the impact of Bolland’s single image: the comedian hunched over, hands clutching his head, as other patrons of the bar thoughtlessly laugh all around him. Similarly, The Joker saying “You’re going mad” to Commissioner Gordon packs much more punch when placed alongside this eerie image:
But in the most potent example of all for me, a writer could devote a whole chapter to the moment where the comedian succumbs to madness and becomes The Joker, and their prose would pale in comparison to this single, unforgettable image:
With this one drawing of The Joker, Brian Bolland gets to the dark heart of everything Moore has to say about the arch-villain in The Killing Joke: the pain, the terror, and of course, the madness. In truth, Brian Bolland is as much an “auteur” of The Killing Joke as Alan Moore is. And that’s my final reason why The Killing Joke is the graphic novel I’d give to a friend who has never read a comic before: more than any other comic, it demonstrates the synergy between writer and artist, shows how the two creators bring their respective crafts together into one cohesive whole, creating something greater than the sum of their parts. In short, Batman: The Killing Joke is the perfect showcase for what makes comic books great.
Okay… now it’s your turn. I want to hear from all of you guys about what comic or graphic novel you would use to introduce a friend to the medium. Think of it as a pitch – you need to sell everyone reading on your chosen book. If I haven’t read it already, I should want to read it after you’re done! I look forward to seeing what comics you guys choose to highlight.
Meeting #8
For the next meeting, you’ll notice that all the graphic novels on the reading list have something in common. They all take the familiar superheroes of Marvel or DC, and relocate them to a different time in history for the purposes of their story. I’d like you to read these books, and think about what a different historical setting changes about these characters. Perhaps more importantly, I want you to think about what remains constant, what remains recognizable even when the surroundings are drastically different. Are these characters only relevant to our modern culture, or is the superhero myth timeless?
RECOMMENDED READING:
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight
Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola
DC: The New Frontier, Volumes 1 & 2
Darwyn Cooke
Marvel 1602
Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert
Meeting #9
Green Lantern: No Fear
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Volumes 1 & 2
Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Anyway, for me, the choice was pretty simple. It is a graphic novel I have given to friends who don’t read comics, and some have liked it enough to want to read more. It was one of two graphic novels that got me back into regularly buying comics again. The second was Batman: The Long Halloween. This is retreading ground I’ve discussed elsewhere, but after watching and loving Batman Begins, I bought The Long Halloween and loved it. Before that my comic buying was highly sporadic, and I certainly wasn’t one to splash out on a graphic novel. The Long Halloween changed all that for me. But it was the graphic novel I purchased on my next visit to the comic store which had an even bigger impact on me, which still stands as my all-time favorite comic. It is the graphic novel I have chosen to discuss here on Open Forum:
Batman: The Killing Joke.
I must say, I’m rather distressed. I’ve searched for days, but I just can’t find my copy of The Killing Joke anywhere. While I’m sad that I can’t seem to remember where I’ve placed my most treasured comic, it’s telling that I don’t even need it at hand to talk about it for this column, I’ve read it that many times. So the one thing I may be missing this time round is quotes from the text – apologies in advance for that - but given the nature of this meeting, I might not need quotes anyway.
For my first reason, I'll get the personal bias part out of the way. The Joker is my all-time favourite comic book character, and The Killing Joke remains the definitive Joker story. The plot is simple enough - The Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and attempts to drive him insane, in order to prove that "one bad day" is enough to drive anyone crazy, and Batman sets out to stop him - but this is interwoven with a story which may or may not be The Joker's origin, about a failed comedian who suffers his own "one bad day", and is driven into the abyss of madness. It is a fascinating character study of The Joker, as well as a compelling exploration into the relationship he has with Batman. I'm passionate about this story because I'm passionate about The Joker, and so obviously my fondness for the character will inform what I view as essential comic book reading.
I’ll tell you something I saw lately that really annoyed me. A few weeks back, IGN ran a feature on their site: The Top 100 Comic Book Villains. Their list was fair enough, that wasn’t what annoyed me. What annoyed me were the posts left in the comments section. This may sound weird, seeing that I am one, but sometimes… I really hate fanboys. We got all the expected insult-throwing obnoxiousness over Carnage not making #1 that you’d expect, but what really grinded my gears was the backlash against The Joker. Though Magneto eventually won, all through the countdown people were saying “The Joker better not win this!” I don’t know if it was blind Marvel zombies, or just people who don’t know their comics, but this one comment kept on popping up, making me want to give the people saying it a virtual happy-slap: “The Joker’s only popular because of The Dark Knight, there was nothing memorable about him before that.” Umm…what!? For 70 years now, The Joker has been the most iconic supervillain in comics. Many of the all-time greatest Batman stories involve him in some capacity. Even if The Dark Knight had never been made, The Joker would have done enough to be worthy of the title of greatest comic book villain ever. But more relevantly, even setting aside The Joker’s tenured history, The Killing Joke alone could cement The Joker’s status as one of the classic monsters of literature.
But while we’re on the subject of The Dark Knight - The Killing Joke is an ideal companion piece to the film. As we all know, The Dark Knight made a bajillion-dillion dollars at the box office, which means it was seen by a whole lot of people, its popularity extending far beyond the realm of comic book fandom. And Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning portrayal of The Joker was arguably the most popular part of the film, meaning there are legions of filmgoers out there – many up until now not comic book readers - eager for another Joker fix. For these people, The Killing Joke is the perfect next step. The Dark Knight shares many of its themes and even some story beats with the book. Furthermore, The Killing Joke manages to simultaneously showcase The Joker at both his most tragically human and his most detestably monstrous, allowing newcomers to see that, while Heath Ledger’s brilliant portrayal showed the world that The Joker could be both nuanced and terrifying, this was not an innovation exclusive to Christopher Nolan’s film.
Another thing that makes The Killing Joke the perfect gift to someone unfamiliar with comics is its accessibility. You don’t need to know anything about the Multiverse or convoluted comic book continuity to enjoy this standalone story. Just about everyone in our culture knows about Batman and The Joker, and that eternal struggle is what the book is ultimately boiled down to. You could hand a friend a copy without having to explain anything to them – everything they need can be found within its pages. Another thing that helps with accessibility is how short it is! For someone who’s never read a comic book before, handing them a hefty tome they could beat someone to death with could prove daunting. The Killing Joke – while by no means a breezy read – is concise enough to be enjoyed in a single sitting.
Familiarity can be a real benefit when being introduced to the world of comics. Start with a more obscure title, and new readers may feel hopelessly lost. But with Batman, odds are they’ve seen the films, or the TV show, or one of the cartoons at some point, so that familiarity helps ease the transition into a different medium. But while embracing familiarity, The Killing Joke also challenges preconceptions. Even now, there are many out there who think comics are for kids. But The Killing Joke is very much an adult tale, not simply in its violence and disturbing content, but in the moral complexity presented, making this a mature, intelligent story by any standards, rather than simply being “good for a comic book”. It helps that it is written by Alan Moore, one of the great comic book “auteurs”. If you want to show a comic book novice that there are great writers in this medium every bit as skilled as those working in the field of prose, the work of Alan Moore is a good place to start.
Of course, if I want to convert someone to comic geekdom, it’s not enough for me to simply show them the writing can be on par with the writing in a good book. I need to show them what makes comics unique, how they can do things prose novels can’t, that a graphic novel isn’t just a watered down version of a “real” book, but a worthy form of entertainment in its own right. When it comes to making an impression on a comic book skeptic, the art in my chosen book is every bit as important as the writing, if not moreso. After all, they could get good writing anywhere, the point is to show them that adding pictures to the words doesn’t water the words down, but rather it adds to them.
In the case of The Killing Joke, Brian Bolland’s art adds so much to the power of the story, providing some unforgettable images. In a novel, a writer could scrawl for paragraphs about the grief, the agony the unnamed comedian (who would go on to become The Joker) feels when he is told about his wife’s death, and it would still fail to match the impact of Bolland’s single image: the comedian hunched over, hands clutching his head, as other patrons of the bar thoughtlessly laugh all around him. Similarly, The Joker saying “You’re going mad” to Commissioner Gordon packs much more punch when placed alongside this eerie image:
But in the most potent example of all for me, a writer could devote a whole chapter to the moment where the comedian succumbs to madness and becomes The Joker, and their prose would pale in comparison to this single, unforgettable image:
With this one drawing of The Joker, Brian Bolland gets to the dark heart of everything Moore has to say about the arch-villain in The Killing Joke: the pain, the terror, and of course, the madness. In truth, Brian Bolland is as much an “auteur” of The Killing Joke as Alan Moore is. And that’s my final reason why The Killing Joke is the graphic novel I’d give to a friend who has never read a comic before: more than any other comic, it demonstrates the synergy between writer and artist, shows how the two creators bring their respective crafts together into one cohesive whole, creating something greater than the sum of their parts. In short, Batman: The Killing Joke is the perfect showcase for what makes comic books great.
Okay… now it’s your turn. I want to hear from all of you guys about what comic or graphic novel you would use to introduce a friend to the medium. Think of it as a pitch – you need to sell everyone reading on your chosen book. If I haven’t read it already, I should want to read it after you’re done! I look forward to seeing what comics you guys choose to highlight.
Meeting #8
For the next meeting, you’ll notice that all the graphic novels on the reading list have something in common. They all take the familiar superheroes of Marvel or DC, and relocate them to a different time in history for the purposes of their story. I’d like you to read these books, and think about what a different historical setting changes about these characters. Perhaps more importantly, I want you to think about what remains constant, what remains recognizable even when the surroundings are drastically different. Are these characters only relevant to our modern culture, or is the superhero myth timeless?
RECOMMENDED READING:
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight
Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola
DC: The New Frontier, Volumes 1 & 2
Darwyn Cooke
Marvel 1602
Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert
Meeting #9
Green Lantern: No Fear
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Volumes 1 & 2
Green Lantern: Secret Origin