Joker's Wild

By Randy Gentile

Phew!

So it’s been a while... my deepest apologies for anyone kind enough to read this column on a regular basis. So what’s my reason (or excuse)?

Election fever.

I’m still recovering. I know this is a comics column and I won’t bash you over the head with my political opinions but I’m an artist living in Brooklyn so go ahead a take a stab at whom I voted for. I was all over the 24-hour news networks, watching them nonstop... I volunteered at the local election headquarters down in Coney Island where I phone banked trying to bring in more voters and volunteers. It was a wonderfully rewarding experience and even though I’m still exhausted I’ve been itching to get back to some comic talk and to get Font You! weekly again.

I’ve also been thinking about getting some regular features going here so you’ll have a better idea of what to expect from week to week so I’ve decided to break the column down to 3 parts...

Part 1: Font You! Weekly Rambling
The bulk of Font You! will continue to be me rambling on about whatever comics/pop culture topic captures my imagination that week...

Part 2: Font You! Cover of the week
I Google covers all the time... Jack Kirby Covers, Steve Ditko, Bronze Age covers, etc... mostly older covers that tell a story in and of themselves...

Part 3: Font You! "What I’m Reading"
I love knowing what other folks are reading. Every so often you’ll come across a "Post Your Pull List" thread on a comic board so I’ll go ahead and do the same here and I’ll also include novels and graphic novels I’m reading, movies I just watched and of course comics. Kinda like Twittering without the Twitter. I’m hoping to turn this into a thread on the Font of Wisdom message board so head on over after you finish reading!

Alright... so here we go...

Font You! Weekly Rambling

I talked last column about how exciting the new Joker OGN by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo looked and I just finished reading it and I wasn’t let down. Azzarello rarely disappoints and Bermejo’s art certainly does not The Joker OGN made me think about a few things... comics and their relationship to their movie counterparts... about how the great characters have a way of being shaped and molded by their past as well as by the future... and about how the graphic novel is the future of the medium.

The first thing you’ll probably notice about this OGN is the similarity to the late Heath Ledger’s performance of the Clown Prince of Crime in this past summer’s mammoth blockbuster The Dark Knight. Amazingly, Azzarello and Bermejo say that they had no prior knowledge of Ledger’s Joker while working on the book. It’s an incredible coincidence and honestly hard to believe and I won’t say they’re lying but that’s a crazy coincidence. Nevertheless let’s get down to what makes this GN great and what makes the Joker great.

In his simplest and most raw form the Joker is a psychopathic domestic terrorist/serial killer. He’s everything wrong with the world festering inside a human being who looks like a clown. But yet he’s incredibly compelling. You can’t take your eyes off him. There’s a reason why Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger stole the show in their respective Batman flicks.

America also has an odd fascination with serial killers. How many serial killers can you name right now off the top of your head?

Jeffery Dahmer... Son of Sam... Ted Bundy... Charles Manson... The Zodiac Killer... I’ll stop there before I creep myself out.

One of the most popular literary and film characters of the past 20 years has been Hannibal Lecter. This country is morbidly obsessed with serial killers and Robinson, Kane and Finger tapped into that way back in 1940. Now I’m sure they were going for the serial killer angle way back then, but as scary and uncomfortable as it may be, it’s that aspect of the Joker that plays into his popularity.

Joker is also funny. His humor softens the vile acts that make up every waking moment of this maniac’s day. Similar to the way Hannibal’s soft voice and sophistication makes stomaching him easier, even while he’s wearing a skin mask. In real life, Ted Bundy was a brilliant man who tried his own murder case and whose good looks lured many a victim.

And we can’t forget what really makes the Joker tick.

The Batman.

The Batman and the Joker are the definition of antagonist and protagonist...Webster should put a picture of these guys next to their definitions. Everything the Batman stands for is the opposite of the Joker. It’s so simplistic it’s brilliant. They’re the yin and yang. At the end of the day the Joker is the greatest villain ever created and he just happens to be the number one villain to the number one hero. Coincidence? Possibly... But I like to think not.

If you’ve read any previous Font You! Columns you know that I’m not a huge fan of the monthly floppy format and that I’m not at all a fan of continuity. The Joker OGN is a perfect example of how the two are unnecessary when it comes to telling a great superhero story. Think about giving this graphic novel to a new reader fresh off The Dark Knight or giving them part 4 of "Batman: R.I.P.". They may enjoy both but one the OGN is clearly more accessible. DC seems to be a bit more interested in this format than Marvel is and maybe that’ll change. I think it has to. The current monthly floppy format isn’t the future of comics, in my opinion. Graphic novels are.

Font You! Cover of the Week!: The Mighty Thor # 126
March 1966
By Jack Kirby with inks by Vince Colletta

Kirby had a way of capturing the moment in battle where the combatants look almost frozen in time right before a thunderous impact. Almost fighting without actually fighting. It’s difficult to describe and he did it so well that no other artist has been able to pull off the same feeling.

This cover is also a great example of Kirby’s ability to use negative space as a means to show more characters as well as background and emotion. Even the woman in the back is frozen in horror by the image before her. Throw in a classic Stan Lee "Whom the Gods Would Destroy!" and you’ve got all the makings of some classic Silver Age Marvel.

Also note the design elements. In a day in age where Photoshop and Illustrator make anything possible in the hands of a capable graphic designer... today’s covers just don’t have this same "made by loving hands" feel. Joe Quesada and Marvel tried to pull off this mood with the recent Spider-Man "One more Day" run and while it was well done well... it still doesn’t have that oomph that these old books do.

Font You! What I’m Reading

As I compile my list of watched and reads I realize that this has the potential to be embarrassing... Nevertheless it gives me a chuckle.

Comics:

Savage Dragon #139
By Erik Larsen
Dragon is a great as ever... With issue 140 hitting this week, it seems like he might be back on schedule.

Back to Brooklyn #2 (of 5)
Story by Garth Ennis & Jimmy Palmiotti, art & cover Mihalio Vukelic
I dug issue #1 and have yet to sit down and read #2. I’ll keep you posted. The art by Vukelic is heavily photo referenced and while I usually stay away from that kind of art... Vukelic seems to be adding his own flare to the art as opposed to lightboxing Google images.

Throw in Invincible and Walking Dead (via trades) and I realize I’m reading way more Image books than any other company. Image is dropping some really solid books every week. Do yourself a favor and check ‘em out.

Novels:

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
I just finished this book last week and I absolutely loved it. If you dig detective novels pick this one up. Lethem also recently wrote the Omega: The Unknown for Marvel of which I’m looking forward to checking out.

The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley
I’m reading this partly for research and partly because I’m a sucker for prison documentaries and movies. I’m about 100 pages in so far and thoroughly enjoying it.

Movies:
Sex and the City The Movie
Yeah, I said it. Hey, I enjoyed the TV show so my wife and I sat down to watch the movie. Gotta say it was decent. A bit repetitive and I wonder if it really translates well to the big screen.

Alright, I better get to work. I got a book to finish lettering.

Thanks for reading.

Font You!
-Randy