Joker

Joker saunters out of Arkham Asylum in Joker

As Printed in The Lumberjack on Jan. 22, 2009

by Gary Sundt

I don’t think I’m going to get too many hate letters if I say The Dark Knight changed the face of comic book cinema. If nothing else, the widely successful blockbuster changed the face of the Joker, Batman’s nemesis and one of the most important characters in comic book history. Readers will never again glance over a Joker story without thinking of the late Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime. It is only appropriate, then, that a new 128-page graphic novel, entitled Joker, has been released, where the camp has been left in the dust, and the Joker is a pill-popping, psychopathic, schizophrenic murderer.

The book, which was written by 100 Bullets author Brian Azzarello, chronicles the Joker’s most recent release from Arkham Asylum, where he has somehow convinced the doctors he is no longer insane. The narrator, a thug by the name of Johnny Frost, picks up the clown as he exits the gates of the nuthouse, with the scars and make-up we know so well from last summer’s film. The two make fast friends (he gives the Joker a gun), and they had back to Gotham City.

Upon re-entry, the Joker quickly finds out Harvey Two-Face has taken the reigns of Gotham’s criminal underworld. After learning this, he outlines his goals, to take back control of “his” city, and illustrates the means by which he plans to attain them (he skins one of his less-than-satisfactory lackeys alive). Joker details just how the psycho got his Gotham back, as told through the eyes of his second-in-command, Frost.

Artist Lee Bermejo has drawn Joker in the spirit of the recent Batman films, recreating the city of Gotham and its inhabitants with a sense of gritty realism. Gotham City is a bleak slum rather than the glorious city we have previously seen in comic books. While the concept art for this comic was prepared months before The Dark Knight had released a single production still, the redesigns of the Joker and Two-Face are strikingly similar. The other Batman rogues who show up in this book have gotten similar revamps. Killer Croc is now a large black man with scales. The Riddler looks less like a nerd and more like a pimp. Harley Quinn is a stripper.

This is not a Batman tale; the Caped Crusader doesn’t appear until the very end of the book. This is a story for people who loved Ledger’s Joker and are looking for the next chapter in that character’s book. However, understand there is a lot of brutality to behold when you let the clown out of the PG-13 box. There are moments in Joker that are vile, disgusting, disturbing and always violent, but Azzarello handles them in ways that offer the reader a glimpse into the psyche of the unapologetic madman. At one point, Johnny realizes how crazy he was to have wanted to be like the Joker. After this book, one understands just how insane that desire really is.

The story of Joker is not anything especially groundbreaking, but one should never discount a story well-told. What is actually gained from Azarello and Bermejo’s tale is the realization that, after Ledger’s performance, the Joker has become a character independent of the Batman legacy. Time will tell, but I would expect more original stories featuring this make-up clad monster in coming years. It would seem that the Joker was correct when he said it in The Dark Knight – “There is no going back.”

Comic-book mastermind Ed Brubaker to pen series for Crackle.com

 

AWARD-WINNING COMICS MASTERMIND ED BRUBAKER AND CRACKLE.COM TEAM UP FOR LIVE ACTION SERIES

Zoë Bell Cast As Ed Brubaker’s “Angel of Death”

San Diego, CA. – July 24, 2008

Comics mastermind and Eisner Award-winning writer Ed Brubaker (Criminal, The Death of Captain America) and White Rock Lake Productions have teamed up to produce Angel of Death, a new live-action series for Crackle.com, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s online video network, that will premiere in 2009.

Stuntwoman turned actress Zoë Bell (Death Proof, Double Dare) has been cast as the lead character in the series, which depicts a remorseless assassin (Bell) in the employ of a ruthless crime family. After suffering a severe head wound, she becomes so haunted by her victims that she decides to kill the people who ordered the hits, one by one. Angel of Death will premiere in 2009 on www.crackle.com/angelofdeath. Each 8-10 minute installment will be released over the course of 10 weeks.

“Besides the elation I feel about having a project I wrote actually being filmed, which is huge for any writer, I’m just as thrilled about having Zoë Bell signed on to star in Angel of Death,” said creator/writer Ed Brubaker. “And working with Crackle and Sony Pictures Television to give viewers instant access to the series online is completely overwhelming.”

“Angel of Death is exactly the kind of high-caliber original content our audience has come to expect from Crackle,” said Sean Carey, senior executive vice president, Sony Pictures Television. “The combination of Ed’s sensibility and Zoë’s talent is sure to keep loyalists and new viewers alike coming back for more.”

Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning writer best know for his work in comics, which includes such titles as The Death of Captain America, Batman, Criminal, The Authority, and others.

Brubaker’s work is credited for helping to revive the crime comics’ genre, and has also been translated into eleven languages around the world. Angel of Death was created and written by Ed Brubaker, and will be produced by John Norris and directed by Paul Etheredge.The series is produced by White Rock Lake Productions and will be distributed by Sony Pictures Television.

Press release courtesy of Sony Pictures Television.

Spider-Man: Reign (2007)

Spider-Man hugs a grave in Spider-Man: Reign

by Gary Sundt

As Printed in The Lumberjack

Comic books were a dying breed in the ‘80s. The old readers were moving on, and the new readers weren’t picking up the slack. Enter Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the book that redefined Batman and brought comics to adults. Today, comics are selling better than ever, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need a book strictly for adults. Spider-Man: Reign is one of those books.

The four-part miniseries is set in New York City, 35 years in the future. Spider-Man has hung up the costume, and Peter Parker struggles to make ends meet in a very different NYC. The Big Apple has become an independent state, and without Spider-Man, all the other superheroes and villains have mysteriously disappeared. The story is placed in a future similar to Miller’s Returns and Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta – one that shows what lengths governments will go to “keep us safe.”

The city is planning to activate a shield around the city that lets nobody in or out. But what good is it to keep everyone inside, you might ask? Retired newsman J. Jonah Jameson is asking the same question. He finds Parker and returns the old red and blues, thus Spider-Man is out for one last swing to save New York City from the unknown threat lurking in the shadows, just waiting for the shield to go up.

Kaare Andrews, the author and illustrator of Spider-Man: Reign, has not only tapped into an exciting world, but also one we all know very well. The book carries with it the definite post-9/11 presence, and features leaders using fear to keep us in our place. The tale has a dark tone to it, one that weaves itself through the writing and the art. And while the comparisons to Returns cannot be overlooked, Reign works exceptionally well as a look into Spider-Man’s potential future and as a book on its own.

It seems every generation has writers that will change comics forever. From Stan Lee to Brian Michael Bendis, there will always be storytellers who are considered the “best of the best.” It would appear Spider-Man: Reign has put Kaare Andrews up with the greats.

Captain America #25: The Death of a Dream

by Gary Sundt

As Printed in The Lumberjack

In 1941, America was about to be plunged into the second World War. At that point in American history, everyone was encouraged to “do their part.” And comic books were no different. Thus, in March of that year, nine months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Marvel Comics debuted Captain America, punching his way into comic book history, popular culture and Adolf Hitler’s face.

In March 2007, 66 years after his rousing first appearance, Captain America, also known as Steve Rogers, died on the steps of the Supreme Court Building after being gunned down by an unknown assassin in the book “Captain America #25: The Death of a Dream.”

The fictional character’s death was a backlash of “Marvel Civil War,” the miniseries that pit superhero against superhero in a war over the highly controversial Superhuman Registration Act. The document would require all masked crime fighters to reveal their identities to the government. Captain America stood against the act, and when he lost the war, he was taken into police custody, and would later be killed by a mysterious gunman on his way to be de-masked.

“Captain America #25: The Death of a Dream” is, quite simply, the perfect ending to the almost seven decade-long run of The Captain. Writer Ed Brubaker created an ending for the superhero that was as shocking as it was respectful. Captain America saw a decline in readership after the 60s, and it wasn’t until the shocking events of “Civil War” that the patriot was put back into the spotlight.

The fear in “Civil War” was that the writers would kill off characters for no apparent reason, and in Cap’s death they proved the readers half wrong. A character did die, but not without a purpose. His death humanizes not only himself but the rest of the heroes as well, and serves as an intense but indeed brilliant conclusion to not only Captain America, but the Civil War-era in the Marvel Universe as well.

The rhyme and reason for the assassination is unknown at the book’s conclusion, however, what is known is that a hero is dead, and that the impact of his death will be felt for a long time to come. Many readers used to feel that Captain America lost his stride after the Vietnam era, and his influence was no longer desired or necessary. However, when a staple of Americana is gunned down, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Marvel Civil War

by Gary Sundt

 As Printed in The Lumberjack

As a comic book reader, it makes me sad knowing I missed certain things, like the first time “Spider-Man” hit the shelves, or when Batman first met Robin, etc.

However, it all feels OK when I think about how I was there for the “Marvel Civil War.”

“Civil War” is a seven-part miniseries by Marvel Comics. This event has been covered by CNN, the BBC and several other news outlets, and has brought several individuals flocking back to the comic books they stopped reading when they were in the 8^th grade.

I know most of you are thinking “Comics? Those are for kids!”

Okay then. Here’s the setup.

The government wants to pass a bill called the Superhero Registration Act, which would require all crime-fighting heroes to register with the government, revealing their secret identities in the process. Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, has been fighting this in Congress for a long time. Until now, he has been all but successful in keeping the Registration Act on the government’s back burner.

A mutant named Nitro, using his ability is to turn himself into a nuclear strike, “sets himself off” next to an elementary school, subsequently killing 612 people.

And then all hell breaks loose.

Iron Man sided with the government, insisting that the law is the law, while Captain America, the American Patriot, decided to fight against the Act. Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and everybody else took sides. Now there is a civil war that is shaking the very foundation of the Marvel universe and will change the course of said universe forever.

While the mini-series itself is amazing, what sets “Civil War” apart from every other comic book event in the history of the art form is that it spreads to every major book in Marvel. What this means is that this is an event that really does affect the entire Marvel universe, with ramifications that cannot be ignored by a single character.

For example, in “Civil War” No. 2, Spider-Man, the guy who has protected his identity more than any other character in the history of comics, takes off his mask on live television in support of the Superhero Registration Act. Peter Parker has to deal with his secret identity being public for the rest of his life, and opens up his family and friends to danger from all of his major enemies.

This is just one of the moments in “Civil War” that will change the game for all Marvel superheroes forever.

While the event is a mere issue away from its climactic ending, there is no doubt it will be in graphic novel-form by May of this year, and for good reason. The stories and the art are some of the finest seen on bookshelves in a long time, comics or otherwise.

Some of you may have never read a comic book, and others may have forgotten about the art form a long time ago, but this one is worth it. It’s like watching a great movie or reading a great book: You want to know how it ends, but you have no interest in seeing that ending any time soon.

Note: “Civil War” did end, and it was an incredible finale. If you are interested in purchasing the graphic novel, or reading all “Civil War” related material, head over to “http://www.amazon.com/Civil-Marvel-Comics-Mark-Millar/dp/078512179X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206739294&sr=8-1″