The Joker, as even non-geeks know, is Batman’s arch-foe. Dubbed the Clown Prince of Crime, and the Harlequin of Hate, Joker is the penultimate bad guy. Fans debate whether or not Batman should break his vow to never intentionally take a life in Joker’s case, but keeping this evil nutcase alive is in DC’s best interest, what with him being perhaps the most recognizable villain in their stable of bad guys.
Joker is one of my favorite Batman villians. You may ask why that is so. Ok, here it is…he is the perfect Batman villain because he represents, in his current form anyway, the polar opposite of Bats. Batman is most often portrayed as self-controlled, humorless, secretive, and controlling. He represents order. Joker, on the other hand, is, in the modern day especially, seen as out of control, sees (sick) humor in everything, loves the limelight, and leaves chaos in his wake. He is, in effect, an agent of chaos. He strives to bring chaos and disorder to everyone.
For instance, one of the most notable Joker stories is “The Killing Joke,” in which he tries to create so much chaos and pain in the life of Commissioner James Gordon, that Gordon would break his own personal ethics. We see this theme also in the hugely popular Dark Knight movie, in which the late Heath Ledger played the Joker.
While other major DC villains have changed significantly over the years (Lex Luthor in the Golden Age, Silver Age, and now the Modern Age are all quite different from each other), Joker has stayed more or less the same. The Golden Age Joker was written as not really insane, just evil and odd, but the basic character is the same. The latest Joker version in the movies will be Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, and we will have to wait and see what that version of Joker is like.
This should, happen: Kevin Smith, Uber-geek an media maker, is saying that DC may allow the movie superhero characters (like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) interact with the TV DC Superheroes (like Arrow, Flash, Supergirl).
Melissa Benoist as the new Supergirl
This needs to happen! In my humble, but correct opinion, DC has largely flubbed their movies, while hitting home runs with their television shows. Marvel has crushed DC in the theaters (Nolan’s Batman flicks notwithstanding), and, with the Netflix shows like Daredevil, is threatening to take over TV as well. DC needs to create a shared movie AND TV universe where there is ONE actor playing the Flash, not two, and we can see Supergirl really interacting with her cousin (i.e. the same guy we see duking it out with Batman in the movies).
Check out Kevin Smith’s thoughts at the link below:
Welcome to Rogers Galaxy! Enjoy your stay here, and please, feel free to check out the posts, articles, and other frippery found herein.
So, who exactly is Roger, and what is his Galaxy all about? Well, Roger would be me! Hi. And what, pray tell, is my Galaxy? Just my own little website where I can, and will, post my thoughts on comics, sci-fi, movies, life, and pretty much any geeky thing I come across. See, I am what is called a “Geek.” I like speculative fiction and things that go bump in the night, as it were. When I was just a wee lad, back in the day, there was no such thing as an “internet,” and growing up as a comic book fan got kind of lonely, as I really did not know anyone else into my particular hobby. Then, the mid-1990s happened and all of a sudden, the internet allowed me to discover a whole community of fellow comic book and sci-fi geeks. So there you have it.
I am also geeky when it comes to politics, history, current events, and pretty much anything I find of interest (including certain sports), and this is a place for me to post my musings on both the fictional world and the real world.
Have fun, and feel free to leave comments if you find my stuff interesting and shiny.
Today we look at She-Hulk #s 1-4, the recent series featuring our Jade Giantess by writer Charles Soule and artist Javier Pulido.
This series began in 2014 and is the third individual She-Hulk series put out by Marvel. The first four issues of this She-Hulk comic focus on our heroine’s attempts to blend her normal (such as it is) everyday life and career with her side-job and acquaintances as a super-hero.
Charles Soule is a superior writer, and he is able to take She-Hulk’s problems and make them seem real.
She-Hulk #2 Cover (2014)
Jennifer Walters has been publicly known as the real name of She-Hulk for quite some time, and this has both helped and hindered her career as a lawyer. As She-Hulk #1 opens, Jennifer (who spends most of her time as the green-skinned version of herself), is awaiting a large monetary bonus from the law firm for whom she works. However, her bosses do not give her the bonus because their (unspoken) expectation on hiring her was that she bring over clients from the superhero world, like Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Danny Rand. Incensed at her treatment by these law partners, Jennifer quits in a rather spectacular show of ire, and leaves. As she storms out, they remind her that the only thing she can take with her is “The Blue File.” As we shall see as the series progresses, the Blue File will remain a constant sub-plot in Jennifer’s life.
Without giving a blow-by-blow description of each of the four issues we cover here, a brief summary (with some spoilers thrown in), basically goes like this: Jennifer takes on a widowed client (her late hubby was a supervillain scientist-type), who is seeking to sue Tony Stark for stealing her husband’s invention. Jennifer takes on the job and expects a quick talk with Tony will fix it all, but instead she encounters the voicemail routine from hell and does (legal) brief battle with Stark’s 18th-Floor attorney. She then battles Stark’s lobby-guard robots (robots form a large part of her battle buddies in these issues as well), and then gets to have her nice talk with Tony, and at the end of the day, she gets a nice check from the widow and sets herself up in her own law office. This first issue is all about showing the reader what Jennifer’s life is like and how she is willing to help those in needs (in this case, widows and orphans), and how she strikes out on her own to be in charge of her life and her business.
The second issue is all about how She-Hulk acquires her posse, as it were. The building she sets her shingle up in is owned by a former mutant (remember M-Day?) who rents out office space to people with powers. So She-Hulk fits right in. Jennifer hires a para-legal who apparently can do Jedi mind tricks, and her monkey (Angie Huang and Hei Hei, respectively). And what is an aspiring superhero without a sidekick? After a night of partying and drunken AIM-smashing (the drunks are the superheroes, not the AIM bad guys), Jennifer offers her old buddy Patsy Walker (Hellcat), a job as her investigator.
Let’s see: she has an office, a para-legal, a mascot monkey, and an investigator/sidekick. All that is missing are clients. At the end of issue #2, Jennifer gets one of those as well. Kristoff Vernard, the son of Dr. Doom, hires Jennifer to secure political asylum for him in the United States. In a hilarious adventure that takes them from the New York courts to Doom’s kingdom of Latveria, She-Hulk battles Doombots and the arrogant presumptions of a father who believes he knows what is best for his son. The Vernard/Asylum storyline consumes the third and fourth issues, and again highlights the ridiculous situations that Jennifer finds herself in constantly.
A nice little side-trip that Jennifer makes before heading to Latveria features her relationship with the other main super-powered legal eagle, Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil. In a bit of (we assume) foreshadowing, they discuss the fact that they have never been on opposite sides in court. Gee, what do you think may happen in future issues?
The fourth issue ends with Jennifer and her legal team in her office, sans paying clients, contemplating the mysterious Blue File.
Several interesting points need to be examined about these first four issues. For a superhero book, it is striking that (except for the AIM guys that Jennifer and Patsy beat up and some street punks that Jen and Matt drop in on) there are no real villains in these stories. Well, maybe Tony Stark’s soulless attorney in issue #1, but even Doom comes off more as a misguided father than as an actual bad guy. This series is all about relationships. Jennifer’s relationships with Tony Stark, Patsy Walker, Matt Murdock and the relationship between Doom and his son, all are the real heart and soul of these She-Hulk books.
Charles Soule is a great story-teller, and he injects a great deal of humor in these books. The art by Javier Pulido is, in our opinion, perfect for a She-Hulk book. Pulido is clearly of the Kirbyesque school of Marvel art, and this style captures the emotions, moods, and humor of the characters that populate these early She-Hulk issues.
Who should read She-Hulk #s 1-4? Fans of She-Hulk and her history of humorous stories and situations and anyone who enjoys the writing of Soule and/or the art of Pulido. This reviewer thoroughly enjoyed reading these She-Hulk books.
