Brian Azzerello's "Joker" a future influence

[iwtv]

Just thinking about this graphic novel in terms of the "Individual films what about villans" thread.

Azzerello introduced us to "The Killing Joke's" version 2.0.: an even meaner, nastier Joker, rooted in reality and based off of Nolan's The Dark Knight. So what do you think about this version of Joker...is he able to hold his own in a film?

Would he be able to do so without a Batman?

 

[Hush]

No. Villains do not need individual films because DC can barely get new heroes off the ground, why would they try a damn villain?

 

[cloverfan98]

No. Villains do not need individual films because DC can barely get new heroes off the ground, why would they try a damn villain?

I'm inclined to agree with you. If any villian could hold his own film, its the Joker. However I do believe that the MASSIVE AND INSANE hype over the Joker from TDK was helped not only by the fact that Heath did a fantastic job playing anew and iconic version of the character but the fact that he sadly passed away while filming the movie. You can not buy that kind of publicity. I think thats why TDKR has SO much hype amonst comic book fans such as us, but not nearly as much hype as TDK got from the general press.

 

[Hush]

No I think you are wrong too. I think TDKR has more hype because the public realized that TDK was an overall good flick and that helped it have legs.

 

[The Morningstar]

Azzarello's Lex Luthor and Joker stories would be great as films. Doubt they will ever happen though.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Was the Joker GN actually based on the Dark Knight? I was under the impression that Azzerello and Bermejo had begun work much earlier than the film.

 

[The Morningstar]

Yea Bermejo first drew Joker with the glasgow smile back in 06 i think. The story was pushed back to coincide with TDK. It kinda pisses me off when i see people say Bermejo copied TDK, when if anything, TDK copied Bermejo.

 

[Blue Sugar]

Yea Bermejo first drew Joker with the glasgow smile back in 06 i think. The story was pushed back to coincide with TDK. It kinda pisses me off when i see people say Bermejo copied TDK, when if anything, TDK copied Bermejo.

I don't think anyone copied anyone really.

 

[The Morningstar]

Neither do i. But fact is Bermejo's Joker design had been around long before the TDK Joker, so it annoys me when people don't give him due credit.

 

[Cain]

I'd really rather not ever see something like that and not just because I didn't like that story.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Having finally gotten around to reading Azzarello's Joker just last week, I have to say I found it an incredibly frustrating experience.
There are plenty of great scenes and ideas in this book but also a lot of just incredibly stupid ones (The Joker raping a henchman's wife? Eeuchh, no thanks.)
The biggest problem with the book, especially if your turning it into a movie, is the end.
The story is paced very nicely up until the last maybe, ten pages, whenever Batman turns up. At which point it becomes just really stupidly rushed and incoherent. Like Azzarello couldn't think of an ending so instead just stopped typing...

 

[The Morningstar]

I thought the end was great. How Batman reveals why he keeps that little "window" on his mask, to mock Joker. I thought the way Batman was used was great. If you keep your eye out you can see him in different places in the story.

You have to view it as purely elseworlds though. Like, if it was set in the 100 Bullets universe. Because there is no way Batman and Gordon would let Joker out to clean up the mob in usual stories.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

I thought the end was great. How Batman reveals why he keeps that little "window" on his mask, to mock Joker. I thought the way Batman was used was great. If you keep your eye out you can see him in different places in the story.

You have to view it as purely elseworlds though. Like, if it was set in the 100 Bullets universe. Because there is no way Batman and Gordon would let Joker out to clean up the mob in usual stories.

But compared to the rest if the story, the ending just comes out of nowhere. It's like the story's going along rather nicely and all of a sudden Batman turns up and Boom! No more pages!
On my first reading, i honestly didnt realise Frost fell to his death. I read it on Wikipedia afterwards. And frost is the protagonist! The 'eye's of the audience' character! That's how incoherent the ending is!

But, yeah, the fact this is an elseworlds tale is the reason I can let myself enjoy a lot of this book too. I don't dislike it or anything, I just find it frustrating.

For me, Joker is the perfect example of a book I WANTED to like more than I actually did.

 

[Motown Marvel]

i think its pretty irresponsible to say azzarello's Joker GN is Killing Joke 2.0.....Killing Joke was amazing, Joker was just okay.

 

[CConn]

Yeah, I wasn't impressed with the Joker GN at all, myself.

Now the Luthor story...that was amazingly good. And I could see some kind of weird pseudo-superhero movie coming from it.

It'll never happen though, of course.

 

[cloverfan98]

No I think you are wrong too. I think TDKR has more hype because the public realized that TDK was an overall good flick and that helped it have legs.

Myabe I'm blind but TDKR has not seemed to be getting the same amount of hype in the general press like TDK but hey I could be wrong.

 

[CConn]

I think it has more, honestly.

Before it was released, TDK's big draw was Ledger's death. This time people are actually excited about the movie due to its presumed quality.

 

[iwtv]

The story is paced very nicely up until the last maybe, ten pages, whenever Batman turns up. At which point it becomes just really stupidly rushed and incoherent. Like Azzarello couldn't think of an ending so instead just stopped typing...

When I first read it, it did seem rushed, but on a second reading I paid more attention to detail and realized that Batman's influence is haunting Joker for most of the novel, especially towards the end when he keeps looking up and Joe thinks he's even nuttier than usual. Then I was fine with the ending.

i think its pretty irresponsible to say azzarello's Joker GN is Killing Joke 2.0.....Killing Joke was amazing, Joker was just okay.

I'm not denying that The Killing Joke is a much better story than Joker, I'm only drawing a comparison between the two and saying that Azzerello's Joker GN is similar to Killing Joke.