Not like the Killing Joke but Good

books:

	• Batman: Lovers and Madmen (Batman (DC Comics Hardcover)) Michael Green, Denys Cowan, ... DC Comics, 2008 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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Not like the Killing Joke but Good

The only thing I may not have liked was the different art style from the previous Batman Confidential title. However, it was cool to see a different approach to the Jokers origin and how he met Harley Quinn. People say the Killing Joke is the ultimate story of the Jokers origin and it probably is. However, this is still a good read and I think it also shows how Batman made a mistake, because he is human.

very decent

despite what some people said about this book i bought it anyway and i am glad i did. I liked this book very much. it was nice to see a new twist on a old tale. some people said that batman calling a hit on the joker was wrong and out of character but he was just starting out and scared because he never faced such evil before and it was overwhelming. not to mention he regretted it later. i recommend this book to every batman fan and people who want to see another spin on the origins of the joker.

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The Joker's Origin

"Batman: Lovers & Madmen" collects issues 7-12 of the new "Batman Confidential" series and it is an instant classic! It explores the origin of the Joker and fleshes out the Joker far more than "The Dark Knight" film. Heath Ledger's Joker wasn't a character so much as a force for chaos and anarchy. Here, the Joker is a person. Now, there's an argument that the Joker is the one character that does not need an "origin story". I find myself agreeing with that point of view over the years (even when I read Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke"). But once you've read this book, you'll probably change your mind. The story is written by Michael Green (he wrote some episodes of the "Heroes" TV series) and drawn by veteran artist Denys Cowan.

Denys Cowan's art for "Lovers & Madmen" is what made the whole thing worked so well. Countless other online idiots with blogs are complaining about Cowan's rough-edgedness and messy-looking lines. Same idiots also complained about Klaus Janson's art in "Batman: Death And The Maidens". They never grew up with Janson or Cowan. They grew up with the digitally-polished stuff by Greg Land (at Nu-Marvel). Cowan is a storyteller whose subtle lines are able to show the growth and maturity in the young Batman still learning his ropes to the increasing insanity in "Jack" (Joker) from one panel to the next. As for the writing by Michael Golden, well, if DC is reading this - please put this guy on the ongoing Batman book and throw out Grant Morrison! In today's decompressed storytelling style, Golden's scripts are unbelievably dense. Took me far longer than usual to read the 144-pages. Every line had something to say. Every internal monologue. Every line of dialogue. Every caption box. Golden KNOWS how to write. If you've enjoyed the tightness of "Heroes", you'll love his work here. He even threw in tiny nuggets like showing the first meeting between Jack and Harleen Quinzel (we know how these two will become lovers one day as Joker and Harley Quinn). Jack even paid for Quinzel's tuition fees in medical school! So in other words, the Joker "created" both Dr Quinzel the psychiatrist AND Harley Quinn, the insane sidekick.

As for the Batman, we see him falling in love with a girl from the art gallery. The story begins at the end of his first year as Batman. Teaming up with Gordon, they literally cleaned up much of the crime in Gotham City and he was kinda letting his guard down a little (so much that he allows himself to fall in love with a girl) because he thinks that he's at last understood the criminal-mind, and hence, is able to stop any potential criminal. Everything is logical. Everything is in the criminology and detection handbooks. Then he meets someone who short-circuits everything he thought he knew about crime. He meets someone who is criminally-insane and he couldn't understand that. We see him consulting a young Dr Jonathan Crane (who'll one day become the Scarecrow) and Dr Crane telling him that the Joker is INSANE. Batman was shocked. He was so busy trying to figure out the wires in the Joker's mind in order to prevent his next crime. He was busy looking for a pattern that he missed the most obvious thing that everyone else can see. There is no pattern because the Joker is INSANE. There are no wires to connect because all the wires in the Joker's head have been disconnected long ago! When Joker nearly killed the girl he loves, Batman too went insane. Some readers have complained about this particular plotline but it really makes a lot of sense. Batman realizes that the Joker's unpredictability is what is really scary to him. So he too decides to do the unpredictable - he teams up with Gotham's underworld and gets them to hunt down the Joker. Now, if only Christian Bale's Batman was half as brilliant as this - then we probably won't see him being manipulated by the Joker at every turn! [As a bonus, we also get the origin of the Bat-Computer devised by Alfred and initially named the "Dupin" - after C. Auguste Dupin from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", Bruce's favourite book.]

As for the Joker, we see a man who was an expert at opening safes, crippling bank alarms, etc. but hating the "orderliness" of his work (his "gift"). He much prefers the chaos of a ringing bank alarm bringing in the police and a chaotic gunfight. When he finally meets Batman, he saw simply a man who was really crazier than himself! An idiot barking out commands and threats to criminals while dressed up in a ridiculous costume. When Jack finally snaps, we see how his insane mind works. He sees a bunny in the moon and at that point he "knows" that he's insane already. Then he goes on to call Batman "bunny" (I laugh every time I read that). In a way, that was even scarier and funnier than Heath Ledger's "You complete me" line! Golden brought out all the psychosexual tension between the Batman and the Joker (previously hinted at in Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" and Morrison's "Arkham Asylum") more than anyone else. When the two caught each other in a death grip and stabbed each other with knives, Denys Cowan made it look more like an embrace than a fight. The stabbing too was very sexual and the Joker was laughing all the way at the Batman who just can't resist him!

In the end, we see Bruce Wayne breaking up with his girlfriend and devoting his life to hunt down the Joker every time he threatens Gotham. See the parallelism? Joker stabs the girl that Batman loved. Batman later abandons the girl and turns all his attentions to the Joker. That was precisely what the Joker wanted - Batman's undivided attention (affection?). The subtlety of the work, the character interplay, the art, the humour, the brokenhearted girl, etc. All these elements add up to make "Lovers & Madmen" to be among the best Batman stories ever written. Who are the "Lovers" and "Madmen" in the title? It's obvious that the title was pointing to Batman and Joker being "Lovers" and fellow "Madmen".

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A Look at Lovers and Madmen...

I had not heard of this story before I bought it, instead catching a glimpse of it in the bookstore and deciding to give it a chance. I'm a large fan of Batman in general, and I'm always ready to give another adventure a try if it captures my interest.

Lovers and Madmen comes forward with another Joker origin, which as many people argue, is a problem in itself. Some of the Joker's best characteristics are due to his enigmatic past, but in my opinion, this is how you would do an almost untouchable subject justice.

Since I'm sure people want to read the story itself, I'll just point out a few parts of the tale that I thought made it warrant these five stars.

On one hand, the audience gets to watch Batman grow. He orders a hit on this man Jack, the future Joker. This seems so unthinkable, so non-Batman, that it almost jerks the reader out of the story. This is a younger Batman, a Batman who has not become his true self yet, who has not reached the potential and come to the values that make him Batman. He makes mistakes, and he loses his confidence when things don't go his the way he had planned. Once he meets Jack, a being who is outside of his comprehension and expectations, his confidence almost shatters. However, he comes closer to becoming our Batman. He makes the right decision in the end, just as he was meant to do. This Batman is human, still fresh on the job and becoming himself.

In this story, the Joker starts out not as a criminal, but someone just simply evil. He's tired of his mundane life lacking challenge, and he finds purpose in the Batman. This strangely realistic view just feels right. The reader can visualize the connection between the two, the fascination that took Jack and made the Joker. It just makes sense.

While the tale focuses, rightly, on Batman and the Joker, we get tidbits about future key players. There are glimpses of Dr. Crane and Harleen Quinzel, which just bring a little extra to the table. It may seem like a little thing, but it just adds more joy to the pages.

The art fits the story well. The lines are somewhat layered and sketched, not clean. It's not a style for everyone, but there are moments where you just get caught up in the beauty of it.

Personally, I adored Lovers and Madmen, and I could go on about why it's such a great read. I'm actually rather stunned with the downright terrible or just mediocre reviews it has collected. I urge you to go out and give this story a try. It's definitely deserving of at least a look.

The only word of caution I have is this. This story is different; it is something new, an addition to a universe that has been growing for years. In order to enjoy it, you need to be open to it and accept what it gives you before making a decision on its quality. This is not The Killing Joke, and from what I've seen, it is when people start comparing this to it that it becomes less than what it is. I loved The Killing Joke, I still do, but as long as people hold above every other Joker origin, stories like this take hits.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Michael Green, writer / producer of NBCs smash-hit series HEROES, teams with classic Batman artist Denys Cowan for a tale set early in the career of the Dark Knight that sheds light on who the Joker was before he became the Clown Prince of Crime. Discover how Batman first crossed paths with the punk who was destined to become his deadliest foe, and see just how far hell go in order tobring down the new criminal insanity that's inspiring Gotham Citys underworld.