The Batlord

Merry Christmas, oh inferior fudge gobblers. It's almost that "special" day when you will spend entirely too much time travelling to a relative's house for the purpose of a new pair of underwear and eating food that's probably not as good as you're gonna pretend it is. Since it is such a "special" occasion, I've saved something "special" just for you. I'm sure many of you already know this comic, as it's pretty legendary. If you don't, then you can go ho ho to hell. You are not wanted. Well, I tried reviewing the whole thing a few months ago so I could post it on Halloween, but failed utterly, as there's just so much going on with this graphic novel that the few days I'd given myself to do it just weren't nearly enough, so I gave up to preserve my sanity. But this time around, I'm only interested in three pages (Although the second page is actually a two-page spread.) You don't even really need to know what's going on with the overarching plot, as this little bit has nothing to do with it and is just here to introduce the Joker...




Isn't that just the best thing the Joker's ever done? If not, it's still easily in the top ten. He doesn't rack up a body count, or even kill anybody; he just crystallizes everything about himself that makes him great: whimsical, surreal, seemingly random lunacy that only he can possibly appreciate, and horrifying levels of psychopathic violence. Murder isn't at all necessary to make this scene shocking, and would actually cheapen it; the fact that he leaves his victims to bear firsthand witness to what, in his infinitely twisted mind, qualifies as art is far more demented than simply killing them.

Those first two pages are simply fantastic. He's downright jolly in the first: unselfconsciously singing a Christmas song with his legs pulled up like some merry frog. Yet in an instant that cheer turns ugly for no apparent reason. But the Joker is far too calculating to lose control like that, implying that this is merely an act to terrorize his victims. I like to think that since these poor unfortunates haven't yet been revealed that he's almost breaking the fourth wall, his unnerving gaze boring into the reader with naked malevolence.

It hasn't yet been explained just what the **** the Joker is even doing. The paper he's reading is about a serial killer currently plaguing Gotham, but why the Clown Prince of Crime should be concerned with this isn't clear. Turn the comic's page and his purpose becomes as clear as it is baffling: he's stealing a family's Christmas, seemingly for no other reason than the simple joy of ruining this most happy occasion.

I absolutely love the flow of the pages and panels. From the slow reveal from the first page to the last, to his exit from the house on page three, it's as if the story is being told in reverse, forcing your imagination to fill in the missing sequence of events. Beginning on page three we see the Joker with present and Santa sack in hand, followed by the terrifying revelation that he's taken this family hostage, all the while reciting a cherished holiday story, turning a scene of visceral horror into a warped illusion of an idyllic Christmas.

But the panel under that is pretty much god. The front door, hacked to pieces, battle axe embedded in the splintered wood, is funny as all ****, but at the same time, I can just imagine the Joker, maniacally cackling as he tears that door to smithereens. And I just know, in my bones, that when he finally smashed it open, the family gaping in stunnedhorror, he said in perfect Jack Nicholson, "Here's Joker!"

So, his mayhem complete, he calmly walks out of the house, toy sack thrown over his shoulder, into the kind of perfect, white Christmas usually seen only on postcards. I can't think of very many scenes that so perfectly encapsulate the Joker. That idiosyncratic sense of humor. That violence bubbling just under the surface. It's just perfect.

So to all of you, I have nothing more to say except...

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