Saturday, May 27, 2006
Comic Art
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7831/789/400/joker-boner.jpg)
It's interesting to me that he has never been a very good bad guy when confronted with any other hero - but against the Batman he simply cannot be topped as a character - he's outstanding.
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7831/789/400/joker.jpg)
There have been oblique references in other titles, most notably in the Justice League, that only Batman can really deal with Joker. Martian Manhunter has probed Joker's mind and come up nearly insane himself. Batman deals with Joker because he too is mad - at least to some extent.
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7831/789/400/comix2.jpg)
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7831/789/400/Joker%20full.jpg)
A final note - in all the history of movies based on comic characters, never has it been done so right as Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker. Say what you will about the movie, Nicholson absolutely nailed the character - a genius for crime while being an absolute raving lunatic. It just does not get any better.
X-MEN: The Last Stand brief review
In a nutshell, this movie eschews the humanity of the mutants so well portrayed in the previous two films directed by Bryan Singer (who is doing this summer's Superman) for a straightforward action flick, with its contrived emotional peaks and flat characterization.
This film will appeal to fans of the comics in the sense that it introduces many characters and references missing from the previous films, providing those fans with a touchstone. However, in so doing it rewrites the legend of one of the greatest comic story arcs ever conceived very radically, and given the two-dimensionality of the characters the rewrite fails to provide the level of pathos that made the comic story so great.
Even the two newly introduced characters that have significant roles - Beast (suberbly casted and played by Kelsey Grammer) and Shadowcat, Kitty Pryde, are done so flatly that you come away wanting to know who these people really are.
In the end this is an enjoyable movie and worth the price of admission, but it lacks the stuff of greatness. This is more Con Air than Spider-Man.
Related Tags: comics, comic books, villains, The Joker, DC, Batman, X-men: The Last Stand