Review #19: "The Killing Book" (The Batman Adventures #16 vol.1)
Writer: Kelley Puckett
Penciller: Mike Parobeck
Inker: Rick Burchett
Colourist: Rick Taylor
This is another cracktastic gem from the vaults of the animated titles; a classic Joker story that hearkens back to some of the whackier plots of the silver age whilst still retaining the noir-ish feel of the animated series.
Kelley Puckett seemed to have a flair for Joker and Harley stories - he had a wicked sense of fun and mischief and he didn’t shy away from giving them wonderfully theatrical stories, perfect for this crazy duo. I wish he had written more of them as a couple but sadly all we have is Batman Adventures #28 (vol 1).
His Joker ran the gumult of awesome Jokeriness: he could be whacky and wild, hilariously funny, playful - and deadly. Being a title aimed at a younger audience, TBA was not over the top in terms of violence and body count, but that isn’t necessarily critical to communicate the danger of a particular character. Intention can count for a great deal and Joker had plenty of very nasty intentions in the animated series, even if he didn’t get as high a body count as his mainstream counterpart.
The basic story of this issue is that Joker discovers, much to his outrage and indignation, that there’s a comic book based on Batman which shows him constantly defeating our Clown Prince. Joker acts on this immediately by kidnapping a poor schmoe of a comic artist and having the kid illustrate his crimes as he does them - all the while inserting messages for Batman in the panels.
Aw wow, just thinking of that, there’s so much to love about it. First of all, there’s the hilarious scenes with the comic book editor and his assistant ‘translating’ his brusque railings into more diplomatic discourse. There’s a beautiful exchange between Joker and a couple of children who misguidedly believe Batman always wins - so of course Joker declares it his mission to dissuade them of their delusions - he’s doing it for the children, which follows along the same path of crazy internal logic that all really awesome Joker schemes have. There’s also the fabulousness of setting up his crimes to deliver messages through the comic book pages to Batman (they’re not breaking the fourth wall, but they’re sure cracking a few others) - which permits the most simultaneously funny and creepy scene in the comic.
This scene is where Joker crashes a cryptographer’s convention and goes about bashing them about the heads with mallets, tipping them into a morse code formation. None of the cryptographers die, but the gleeful way Joker prances on the table, walloping the cryptographers without restraint is pure Joker - it’s theatrical and utterly sadistic, you can’t help but giggle but it really is awful. Also, using cryptographers to spell out an address in morse code - I just love it. It’s so nicely themed.
There’s also a fabulous big show-down in which Joker sets up an outrageous death-trap for Batsy, only for it to not quite work the way he wanted it to, which is hilarious in itself (sorry Mistah J!). There’s a sense of Joker going really over the top here for the benefit of the comic book medium, which is sort of adorably self-aware and mind-bendingly internalised.
And when the theatrical show-down doesn’t work, Joker gets nasty and brute, going for the hostage then getting into fisticuffs with Batman.
The animated universe, whilst not without its complexity and psychological exploration, didn’t feel the need to delve into convoluted, everything-at-stake ridden stories. In fact, in all its incarnations it was designed to be a book that anyone could pick up at any issue and not feel lost and bogged down in multi-issue spanning stories, they could engage with it immediately. Very few of the stories went beyond single-issue format. This combined with the younger target audience (although of course DC were well aware that many adults were picking up the title too and there was plenty of subtle undercurrents for the grown-ups to enjoy) meant that the stories were far simpler and didn’t beat people over the head with complex philosophical questions.
Nonetheless, even a seemingly straight-forward Joker story like this demonstrates the essential perversity of the Clown Prince of Crime. Only the Joker would bash in a few heads and terrorise a young artist for the sake of his pride (and the children) - and only he would use such an accessible and beloved medium as a comic book to do it. He habitually takes simple joys (his arsenal of modified gags for example) and twists and distorts them into something perverse and ugly. He doesn’t want you to be comfortable with anything.
I really love the art that Mike Parobeck does in this book, particularly on the Joker. Mistah J has a series of appropriate costume changes, but more than that he is rendered in such a fluid, evocative style that he seems almost to move on the page. The use of body language and subtle exaggeration of features and anatomy here is absolutely masterful. Mistah J looks utterly glorious, devious and delicious. He’s my favourite part of the whole book, but I guess that’s not unexpected… heh.
I also like that every panel is pretty detailed in this book. One thing I didn’t dig about the first TBA series was that backgrounds were often sparse with very flat colouring. I know some people love that style, it’s just not to my personal taste, and this comic is far richer in detail and colour which really lifts a story for me.
To finish: this is just a really great little Joker story, full of wit and style, fun, theatricality and the unmistakable creepiness that evokes the name ‘Joker’. Is it a must-have? You know, I think it is. It’s full of laughs and wicked glee.
Penciller: Mike Parobeck
Inker: Rick Burchett
Colourist: Rick Taylor
This is another cracktastic gem from the vaults of the animated titles; a classic Joker story that hearkens back to some of the whackier plots of the silver age whilst still retaining the noir-ish feel of the animated series.
Kelley Puckett seemed to have a flair for Joker and Harley stories - he had a wicked sense of fun and mischief and he didn’t shy away from giving them wonderfully theatrical stories, perfect for this crazy duo. I wish he had written more of them as a couple but sadly all we have is Batman Adventures #28 (vol 1).
His Joker ran the gumult of awesome Jokeriness: he could be whacky and wild, hilariously funny, playful - and deadly. Being a title aimed at a younger audience, TBA was not over the top in terms of violence and body count, but that isn’t necessarily critical to communicate the danger of a particular character. Intention can count for a great deal and Joker had plenty of very nasty intentions in the animated series, even if he didn’t get as high a body count as his mainstream counterpart.
The basic story of this issue is that Joker discovers, much to his outrage and indignation, that there’s a comic book based on Batman which shows him constantly defeating our Clown Prince. Joker acts on this immediately by kidnapping a poor schmoe of a comic artist and having the kid illustrate his crimes as he does them - all the while inserting messages for Batman in the panels.
Aw wow, just thinking of that, there’s so much to love about it. First of all, there’s the hilarious scenes with the comic book editor and his assistant ‘translating’ his brusque railings into more diplomatic discourse. There’s a beautiful exchange between Joker and a couple of children who misguidedly believe Batman always wins - so of course Joker declares it his mission to dissuade them of their delusions - he’s doing it for the children, which follows along the same path of crazy internal logic that all really awesome Joker schemes have. There’s also the fabulousness of setting up his crimes to deliver messages through the comic book pages to Batman (they’re not breaking the fourth wall, but they’re sure cracking a few others) - which permits the most simultaneously funny and creepy scene in the comic.
This scene is where Joker crashes a cryptographer’s convention and goes about bashing them about the heads with mallets, tipping them into a morse code formation. None of the cryptographers die, but the gleeful way Joker prances on the table, walloping the cryptographers without restraint is pure Joker - it’s theatrical and utterly sadistic, you can’t help but giggle but it really is awful. Also, using cryptographers to spell out an address in morse code - I just love it. It’s so nicely themed.
There’s also a fabulous big show-down in which Joker sets up an outrageous death-trap for Batsy, only for it to not quite work the way he wanted it to, which is hilarious in itself (sorry Mistah J!). There’s a sense of Joker going really over the top here for the benefit of the comic book medium, which is sort of adorably self-aware and mind-bendingly internalised.
And when the theatrical show-down doesn’t work, Joker gets nasty and brute, going for the hostage then getting into fisticuffs with Batman.
The animated universe, whilst not without its complexity and psychological exploration, didn’t feel the need to delve into convoluted, everything-at-stake ridden stories. In fact, in all its incarnations it was designed to be a book that anyone could pick up at any issue and not feel lost and bogged down in multi-issue spanning stories, they could engage with it immediately. Very few of the stories went beyond single-issue format. This combined with the younger target audience (although of course DC were well aware that many adults were picking up the title too and there was plenty of subtle undercurrents for the grown-ups to enjoy) meant that the stories were far simpler and didn’t beat people over the head with complex philosophical questions.
Nonetheless, even a seemingly straight-forward Joker story like this demonstrates the essential perversity of the Clown Prince of Crime. Only the Joker would bash in a few heads and terrorise a young artist for the sake of his pride (and the children) - and only he would use such an accessible and beloved medium as a comic book to do it. He habitually takes simple joys (his arsenal of modified gags for example) and twists and distorts them into something perverse and ugly. He doesn’t want you to be comfortable with anything.
I really love the art that Mike Parobeck does in this book, particularly on the Joker. Mistah J has a series of appropriate costume changes, but more than that he is rendered in such a fluid, evocative style that he seems almost to move on the page. The use of body language and subtle exaggeration of features and anatomy here is absolutely masterful. Mistah J looks utterly glorious, devious and delicious. He’s my favourite part of the whole book, but I guess that’s not unexpected… heh.
I also like that every panel is pretty detailed in this book. One thing I didn’t dig about the first TBA series was that backgrounds were often sparse with very flat colouring. I know some people love that style, it’s just not to my personal taste, and this comic is far richer in detail and colour which really lifts a story for me.
To finish: this is just a really great little Joker story, full of wit and style, fun, theatricality and the unmistakable creepiness that evokes the name ‘Joker’. Is it a must-have? You know, I think it is. It’s full of laughs and wicked glee.