Clown Prince of Crime – Psychoanalysis Update

The Joker – Psychoanalysis Update

I would like to briefly interject with some other news. Over the last few months, I had spoken about my Psychoanalysis of The Joker thesis. I had last mentioned that I was postponing my publication due to the shootings in Aurora, Colorado. I would just like to mention that I have not forgotten about it. The reason is a person from a publishing house contacted me sometime ago and asked if I was interested in getting it published as a book. It came out of the blue and I thought I could  give it a shot. Just a few minutes ago, I got a phone call from her and she said she has been given the go-ahead by her boss, provided I make some modifications. I am not really sure how big a change is being requested really. Got a Skype conversation planned with her this Sunday. Keeping my fingers crossed.

The publishing house is a medium-sized one and have an excellent portfolio. I will reveal more information if the deal goes through. Pretty excited!

Psychoanalysis of The Joker – On Hold!

Moment of Madness – The Killing Joke

Due to the tragic developments in Aurora, Colorado, I have decided to delay publishing my thesis, “Psychoanalysis of The Joker”, by a few days. As of now, I have been closely following the James Holmes story and it doesn’t look good. You might have already read reports that he claimed that he was The Joker to the police. A lot of news outlets are running with this story, but so far, I am not sure if Aurora PD has confirmed it.

As usual, the media is going overboard and it is only a matter of time, before they start blaming Batman, comic books, video games, movies, in that order for this tragedy. True, one can be influenced by a lot of things, but, one delusional man’s actions can never be used as a point of gross generalization. But, you know how it works in the news media. They will have airheads on their programs who will start the blame game and badmouth just about anything or anyone, from the dark overtones in The Dark Knight saga to people like Frank Miller. It’s no wonder why many Batman related pages on Wikipedia are currently locked.

I think we should remember that this is such a huge tragedy and wish for the well-being of everyone affected by this heinous act of violence and pray for the lives lost.

Tragedy such as last night’s is not predictable. Also, long-term mental illness does not sound like a logical cause for it. From what I have read so far, it is clear that there was meticulous planning leading to the massacre. Dropping out of UCD a month earlier, rigging his home with explosives and ammunition, it seems to me that James Holmes is someone, who is very much in charge of his own faculties. It suggests that he was willing to go the distance in waging a bloody battle to the very end. I may be dead wrong, but, let us wait before a complete picture of him emerges.

In conclusion, given the current circumstances, I am delaying publishing the article. I am not talking about an indefinite hold or a delay by a month or so. It would be just a few days. But, I will do something else. I wrote a lengthy article on Bane last night and I will put it here in a two-three part post over the weekend.

Countdown to The Dark Knight Rises

This is an exciting week. The Dark Knight Rises comes out on Friday and from what I have read online, is supposed to kick some serious butt. The movie is getting released here in Germany only on 24th of this month, but still, I have begun my prep already. Apart from re-reading many comic books (Vengeance, Knightfall, Cataclysm, No Man’s Land etc.), I am also revamping my desktops and laptops to celebrate the release.

This post is related to such a revamp. The following screenshot is from my EEE box powered by OpenBSD 5.1 and running  ScrotWM. I just thought this minimal Bane wallpaper fit perfectly and the terminal colors are one of my ancient creations from years back, called, Colorado. Since, there were a few requests for the colors, let me post them right here. The media player is vitunes, which is an MPlayer frontend that has vi-like key bindings. I have spoken about it in one of my previous posts.

Without further ado, here is the screenshot. Click on the image for full view.

Preparation for The Dark Knight Rises

You can get the terminal colors from the following link.

Colorado Colors

If there’s any other information needed, please drop a note.

By the way, The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack is mega awesome. Gotham’s Reckoning and Imagine the Fire are spine-tingling.

Starting with this post, I will add more Batman related posts for the next couple of days. Keep watching this space.

The Dark Knight Rises – Nokia Trailer

The Dark Knight Rises

Have you folks seen the new Nokia Exclusive trailer of The Dark Knight Rises? It’s bloody brilliant. Seriously, Nolan is a God when it also comes to trailers. The trailer provides more details of the film. The return of Bruce Wayne after a decade, relationship with Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway playing Catwoman is the only thing that I hate about the film!), Bane’s encounter with Batman and many more. Another thing I noticed is that they have worked on Bane’s voice after there were a lot of criticism when the first trailer came out. There is more bass added to his voice and he is very audible in this trailer. From a comic book standpoint, I could see shades of Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall 11, No Man’s Land in the trailer, which is a great thing. Looks like Nolan wants to go out with a bang!

The music is mind blowing. I thought they could never one up The Dark Knight. But Hans Zimmer has proved me wrong. The German genius is da bomb! The music conveys a feeling of real urgency and the havoc that Bane intends to unleash. Contrast that to the music from The Dark Knight. The track, Why so serious from the album conveys perfectly the unpredictability of The Joker, with its humming in the background, eventually exploding in your face with strong beats. Seriously, Zimmer is a God. I am glad that he has signed on to the much needed Superman reboot.

I will add another post tonight regarding essential reading material to prep for the movie. Watch this space for more! In the meantime, here’s the trailer embedded for your viewing pleasure.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoDGGNsIhno]

Oh, by the way, if anyone wants to enjoy listening to the background music track from the trailer, minus the audio track, just follow this link, if you couldn’t wait until July 17th. A certain Youtube user, Rubow89 was kind enough to do the editing and upload the track.

Gotham’s Reckoning – Hans Zimmer

Justice League: Doom

JLA: Doom

If you haven’t seen Justice League: Doom, then head to your local video store and grab a copy. Get home, make some nice dinner (spicy works best!), a big pot of coffee and some fine self rolled Pall Mall cigarettes and watch the film. It is a high quality production with a great story to boot. It is based on the story arc that we saw on The Tower of Babel (another one of my prized possessions). If you haven’t read that comic book series, then you should.

I am not gonna post a review of the film. The wiki article that I linked earlier would more than suffice. But all I wanted to say is, it was 01 hour 16 minutes and 52 seconds of absolute fun. Besides, who wouldn’t wanna hear Kevin Conroy’s Batman. Speaking of Batman, he is the central theme in the movie.  No wonder why it is my absolute favorite.

The animation is excellent. A large group of Japanese animators have worked on the movie and it shows in the end product. This should me a must have DVD if you are a Bats fan and JLA fan.

A monumental scene from the film:

Power of the Bats

Psychoanalysis of The Joker – What to expect

So, my psychoanalysis article is almost complete, except for a few edits here and there. I will be putting it online this Saturday. So, keep watching this space. But before I do that, I would like to give a glimpse of what one could expect from the thesis.

You see, there are plenty of articles available online about The Joker. In my thesis, you can expect strong elements of modern psychiatry and psychoanalysis – Freudian, Jungian, you name it. My analysis is also partially influenced by Deleuze and Guattari’s  work and the The Matrix Trilogy. Wait, Why you ask? Just because I can. I just managed to find parallels between a character in The Matrix and The Joker that I thought I should address. So, you should expect the unexpected.

The thesis is divided into the following sections:

1. Motivation: A little bit about why I decided to write such an article and what it means to me personally.

2. Introduction: Introducing the character of The Joker as it was intended in the 40’s and how the character has evolved over time to a dark, psychologically richer version of current day.

3. Origins: The most important part of my thesis. A strong building is dependent on its foundation. Likewise, the key to understanding The Joker is analyzing his formative years and his transformation. This section is mostly derived from The Killing Joke.

4. First Encounter with Bats: I spent quite a while trying to understand this part. You see, the first encounter basically established The Joker for what he is. After this first encounter, Batman knew that if The Joker were to strike again, it will be his utmost priority to stop him. The Man Who Laughs and Lovers and Madmen inspired this section.

5. Arkham Asylum: I had a lot of fun analyzing The Joker’s time at the asylum. The kind of tricks he pulled to get out and how he manages to manipulate officials and even parole officers into doing his bidding.

6. Relationship with other Villains: The Joker’s relationship with Two-Face is well known and has been explored in different titles. So is his relationship with The Penguin. Analyzing these relationships gives us a viewpoint of The Joker that is absolutely stunning in my opinion. Hence, this is a very important aspect of my thesis.

7. Comparisons: This is the section where I compare The Joker with several figures, including The Matrix connection.

8. Conclusions: A long section devoted to my final words on The Joker. I address questions like, Can he ever be cured? Does he really want to be cured? Can he exist without Batman? and many many more.

Hopefully, I have been able to trigger your interest in my thesis. Please wait until this Saturday. I will definitely put it up then. 

Joker’s Asylum

The Joker’s Asylum

Have you folks read Joker’s Asylum? It is awesome. It is written from the perspective of The Joker. You see, a tale of each villain is narrated by The Joker in his own, inimitable style. Psychologically very rich and extremely interesting. Was a bit troubled by a couple. But, a fascinating read.

The Joker Psychoanalysis – More Sources

Yes, I promised to post my psychoanalysis of The Joker. But I am actually doing it like a thesis, which means, pictorial representation, flow charts, etc. That’s why it is taking a while. In the meantime, how about a showcase of some more comics that form the basis for my psychoanalysis?

The Joker Collection – Part II

The series, It’s Joker Time (1,2, and 3) details The Joker’s foray into Prime time Television Programming. I haven’t read the comic book yet.

The Killing Joke is the quintessential Joker origin story. It is one of the most critically acclaimed comic books ever. You cannot be a Batman and Joker fan, if you haven’t read this book. On a side note, I got the comic book and action figure collectibles of The Joker and Bats for a bargain price.

Batman Impostors deals with a story arc, where, The Joker instigates mass insanity by recruiting general citizens of Gotham to carry out his billing and inciting riots. But the band of Jokers result in the sudden appearance of “Guardian Bats”, who resort to permanent means to bring the crime rate down. Such an insane situation is one of the greatest challenges that Batman has ever faced. But the key to stopping it relies on his efforts to uncover the identity of the Bat impostors.

In the Switch, The Joker goes international. He is done in by a joke, courtesy of a mysterious person. He dons the mantle of a detective, but in his effort to uncover the truth, he is hell bent on destroying the city of London. Will the Batman save the city? This is the premise.

In The King of Comedy, The Joker kidnaps people most randomly. Although it is difficult to connect the kidnappings, Batman finally figures out that all those kidnapped were big sharks in the Comedy Club, where The Joker tried his comedic talents for the very first time, with scathing reviews from those kidnapped. So, it is payback time. In addition, there is an interconnected story running in parallel. In Tears of a Clown, The Joker is successful in terminating all of them he has kidnapped and finally escapes the Batman, as usual. This two part series is an important piece in my psychoanalysis, since, it sheds more light on the pre-Joker character.

Knightfall!

So, the day began pretty badly. Could sleep well in the new, well furnished room. I accidentally pushed my Batman DC statue and it fell to the ground. The ears were broken. I broke Bats’ freaking ears! Feel terrible. Thank God, I have a second same action figure at home. But still, felt awful.

When I feel awful, I dig either Physics or read comics. But we had a full schedule on hands, hence, was occupied until 15hrs. Then I decided that the best way to forget the incident is by visiting the local comic book store. Just came back from the store. Ordered Knightfall, Deluxe Edition, No Man’s Land, also Deluxe and Batman – Black Mirror (It is one of the top ten Batman comics you should ever read!). You see, I am not a big fan of Bane stories in Batman, except for a very few comics. Knightfall, where Batman gets his back broken is one of my few favorites. I found the comic book in the store! I had been looking for this for quite sometime now. Finding original US  comics in Germany ain’t that easy. So, I was pretty happy to find it. Sort of compensated for the crappy way the day had begun.

So, I present to you, Knightfall 11 – The Breaking of The Batman. The comic book smells real good! On a related note, The Dark Knight Rises is inspired by Knightfall 11 and also No Man’s Land. In No Man’s Land, there is chaos in Gotham City after an earthquake and Bats and GCPD work real hard to bring order to Gotham. It’s a fantastic book.

Anyway, lets get to the showcase. Click for full view.

Prized Possession

Under the Red Hood – Art

Batman – Under the Red Hood Artwork

The Joker article is coming up. I am just fine tuning some stuff. In the meantime, wanted to post a picture that was drawn by a talented patient here. She is a great artist and I asked her if she could draw the picture based on the cover of a Batman Annual Edition, featuring the ‘death’ of Jason Todd’s Robin.

She did an excellent job and here is a picture of the artwork together with the comic book. Since, she will be here for some more time, she promised to draw Spock as well. Fascinating!

Click on the image for full view.