The Killing Joke (2)

 1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

Eh, it was kind of underwhelming. I'm already not a huge superhero fan, but I do think Batman is probably one of the comics I could probably get into the easiest because I think his dynamic with the Joker is interesting. Since it's an origin story of the Joker, I was really hoping it would clear up a lot more than it did. In fact, I think it didn't really clear anything up at all. It left me with more questions than answers. Why are you going to portray this in a way that relies heavily on mental instability and not approach it realistically? I don't mean this as in I was offended by it or anything, either. I purely mean it in a way that even from a superhero perspective, it was trying too hard to be meaningful and fell flat. It just didn't make sense. His wife dies, they literally do not bring her up ever again, the Joker barely shows emotion towards it, and then he falls into a radio active puddle?? And that's how he becomes THE JOKER? That is so laughably sad. Maybe this is because of my superhero bias, but if you're gonna make the story dark, at least put some thought into it.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?

I did not connect to it. I thought it was pretty lame. I also do not think the "one bad day" translates at all. "My wife died, I almost got shot because I'm an idiot and tried to join the mob and fell into goo. Therefore I will now kill other people because I'm crAaaAZAyyy," yeah I don't think that's good writing at all. It's fake deep. It's probably as shallow as the puddle was the Joker fell into. 

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose; what changes would you make?

Well, I think I would just write it better. Make it make more sense; I felt more connected to Deadpool's girlfriend dying than I did this, and I KNEW Deadpool was a parody. I think it would be fun as a movie, but they have Joker out already (Which I have not seen) that I'm assuming does what this tries to do a lot more successfully. If they're gonna make his origin story about the "one bad day", I would push that more. Add in the repercussions to his wife dying, him knowing he now truly has nothing left to live for. Make him a truly broken man being thrust into insanity. Make him be framed for the mob crime, make him feel hopeless, and THEN I can believe he's gone insane. He can still fall into the radiation, but make it disfigure him, make him have a reason to put his makeup on rather than being like "oh the radiation just happened to make him look like a clown lol." How disingenuous.

4. In what ways does this story differ from the typical expectations the reader might have for a superhero story?

I don't think it differed from my expectations in the fact that it just made me disappointed. It's not a very witty origin story. I like the addition of him buying a theme park and having the ability to make people die with a face like his, that's not a thing that needs explanation. I'm not even talking about him kidnapping the girl because it was so incredibly dry to me. Dry and boring.