InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "DO THE MOO SHOO!!!"

benicio127 (benicio127) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-07-14 12:13:00

Entry tags:

char: batman/bruce wayne, char: joker, publisher: dc comics

The last time the Joker thought Batsy was dead....
This is a really, really great Joker story and sadly, underrated.

Going Sane was collected in Legends of the Dark Knight 65-68 (written in 1994 by J.M De Matteis) and can now be collected as a full trade paperback. The art is less than stellar, but the story more than makes up for it. (11 scans of a 100-page book)

I always thought this did an excellent job of showcasing the Batman & Joker relationship, perhaps IMO better than the Killing Joke. (There! I said it. Granted, if you can prove me otherwise, I'll gladly accept it.)

I can't imagine his breath would be nice.

So we start this little tale off with the Joker believing he's killed Batsy in a big explosion.

So, what's a clown left to do? Pack up his bag of tricks and head for some skin treatment centre.

Oh and become an average, mild-mannered Joe.

He begins a romance with his next-door neighbour, Rebecca.

But average Joe is having some problems. See, he keeps having nightmares. And won't play cards if there's a Joker in the deck. And keeps dreaming about bats and evil clown monsters coming to eat him....

And he's also potentially becoming more temperamental and abusive....

Creepy face is creepy.

Meanwhile, B-man's been recovering with a lady who's dubbed him Lazarus. (Anyone else getting images of romance novel covers right now? Fabio playing Batsy's role....)

He's considering quitting the vigilante life.

So Batsy comes back and average Joe/Joker reads this while walking along the river with Rebecca. (This is being told alongside the present story line in which the Joker has taken councilwoman Kenner hostage again)

Problem is, Batsy knows Joker is still out there.

The juxtaposition between the ultra-violence and the ultra-sweetness is interesting.

There's quite a tragic tinge to this because during the present fight with Batsy he's calling councilwoman Kenner "Rebecca" and for the briefest of moments sees Rebecca instead of her and spares Kenner's life.

So what do you think? Does it do the job it sets out to do?

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	thehefner 2009-07-14 05:45 pm UTC (link)
	I recently had a disagreement with a person who thought Morrison's Joker was the scariest he'd ever been precisely because he was an inhuman walking grinning embodiment of death. Me, I think the Joker you describe, the one in this story, is much scarier in a complex, subversive way, and far more compelling. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	benicio127 2009-07-14 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	Morrison's Joker.. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr................ The Hush Returns rage begins again.... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	captain_clown 2009-07-14 05:53 pm UTC (link)
	Now now, deep breaths. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	xammax 2009-07-14 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	To me, its always best to keep in mind the guy in this comic is the same guy who was in Morrison's run, and in the Arkham comic. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehefner 2009-07-14 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	Agreed. I enjoy it on it's own merits, but not as some be-all, end-all Ultimate Joker. Especially if he continues to show up in non-Morrison comics. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stig
2009-07-14 07:40 pm UTC (link)

Oh, definitely. I myself wouldn't dream of thinking that Morrison's iteration will last very long, or be the definitive version - I just generally enjoyed it more than others.

The above story is pretty good, but I think the art takes away from it a lot - I keep seeing stunted limbs, shifting skull structures, pupils pointing in different directions. But, for its time, it's still definitely above-average.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	benicio127 2009-07-14 07:42 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, the biggest flaw of the book is the art. Other than that, it's a truly, truly great story. (Reply to this) (Parent)

jlroberson
2009-07-15 01:28 am UTC (link)

There IS no definitive Joker OR Batman. They're what the people working on them make them, and some are better than others, and all are valid. And I say this knowing that will include Moldoff, whose Batman I hate.

Morrison himself said this; he was presenting more of a meta-Batman, that was all of them.

>>I can't imagine his breath would be nice.

Morrison described it. He said it was very noxiously chemical, because of his own abuse of the venoms he makes.(which has also given him a tolerance for them)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	benicio127 2009-07-15 01:47 am UTC (link)
	Morrison described it. He said it was very noxiously chemical, because of his own abuse of the venoms he makes.(which has also given him a tolerance for them) Hahahhahahaha yes, and then Harley proceeded to attempt to make out with him. ;-P (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-07-15 02:06 am UTC (link)
	He's her puddin'! She doesn't care how he smells! I'm also assuming she may be a bit used to them as well. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	benicio127 2009-07-15 02:08 am UTC (link)
	See and this is why I always tell people Harley is ~~probably~~ crazier than the Joker!!! (Reply to this) (Parent)

trelas
2009-07-14 07:00 pm UTC (link)

I've never really understood what supposedly made Morrison's Joker so scary. Not that it didn't have it's merits, but I've read so many comments about how people were just freaked out by that incarnation without any proper explanation why that Joker was scarier than this one here or the one in TKJ or any of the epic stories with the character. It just constant puzzles me.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stig
2009-07-14 07:50 pm UTC (link)

I think it's because of the efforts made to make the character completely unknowable. One element of RIP is that Batman first comes under psychological attack because he attempted to try and work out how the Joker's mind works, to understand him; as a contrast to that, the Joker's face is scarred so that you can't tell his real emotional expression, and his lips and tongues disfigured so that only extremely intelligent and/or insane people can understand him (Harley, Dr. Hurt, Batman of Zur-En-Arrh personality) - hence the green font/speech bubbles.

To that extent, he becomes more of a chaotic element, like a trickster god; his costume subverts male/female gender stereotypes, and even his hair has that symbolic wild strand that won't fit with the rest of the perfectly neat hair. Oh, and of course he metaphorically gives Satan the finger, which in any context, dependent on your own tastes, could be seen as pretty badass.

Additionally - but, again, reliant on personal interpretation - I recently re-read RIP, and I noticed that in many of the panels with the Joker when I focused on the eyes and teeth, the image seemed to represent a bloodied/muscled skull with a white grinning mask placed over it - e.g., in the tongue-slicing panel or the one in which he bets the Black Glove that Batman is going to come and hunt them down. In that area, he becomes an almost sympathetically horrifying figure - like Munch's The Scream, except with a horrible smile cut into his face to mask his true expression.

Which puts me in mind of a 'Joker' mini that came out some time ago, very trippy affair, where an issue culminated in his peeling his own face off, Garth-Ennis-style, in order to expose the purest smile beneath...familiar, anyone?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	benicio127 2009-07-14 07:53 pm UTC (link)
	Huh. Any scans of that?? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	smarmyimp 2009-07-14 08:18 pm UTC (link)
	So basically, more Grant Morrison wankery. Gotcha! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dreadedlurker 2009-07-14 11:07 pm UTC (link)
	+1 Friggin Morrison. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	halloweenjack 2009-07-14 08:49 pm UTC (link)
	Wasn't it Morrison who wrote the JLA story where Hal!Spectre takes the JLA on a tour through the Joker's mind... and finds an ordinary man living an ordinary life with his wife? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-07-14 09:00 pm UTC (link)
	No, that was a fill-in by . . . DeMatteis, I think? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	dreadedlurker 2009-07-14 11:09 pm UTC (link)
	Oh man, does someone have that and can repost it? I saw it on the defunct S_D site and had it saved in my memories and everything, and now it's gone. GONE! sob And yeah, it was DeMatteus (sp?) who also wrote Going Sane. I think the consensus was the woman sitting next to him was the girl in this story line, as opposed to Harley. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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