Dark Knight Returns

Dark Knight Returns
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What happens to the joker after Batman: The Dark Knight Returns?

I mean, chances are he's coming back, but how exactly?
sorry, i was talking about the comics.

He will never return to the movie screen...ledger's performance will never be beat...

there is a graphic novel that just came out called " JOKER," by brian azzarello and lee bermejo that does see the joker being released from arkham...it looks like ledger and pays great homage to the freak that health created....it's one of the best books i've ever read.......the joker comes out. still crazy and all that is him, looking to regain his iron fist over the mafia...one scene that makes the joker the JOker is when he takes one of his boyos who was "takoing care of tings" while the joker was "reforming," as it may be, into the back room after a few drinks at a strip club and returns his boy out onto the platform without any skin.....and the joker is still in love with the batman....the joker is always looking to the roof tops, hoping that his love (bats) is there to confront him

strange thing is, the batman is content letting the joker kill the low lifes, as if the clown is doing his job for him.....that is the only flaw I see in this alsmost perfect piece of work

joker "yes...just look at you...desperate to be feared, you want to be percieved as a monster, draped in black. and yet...you leave that little window...a glimpse at the perfection underneath. obvious--the chisled good looks--not the jaw, the mouth of a monster--why do you let it be seen? tell me why."

bats "to mock you."

the only line by the batman...the line that drives the joker madder then ever.....

we are looking at some one who hates everything so much but finds the one person who cares enough that the hater turns his hate from everyone to just one person....simply glorious

The first Batman comics were written in a pulp style representative of the times. In these early stories, Batman was not above using firearms, or even harming or killing criminals with little to no remorse. Being a detective more so than a superhero, Batman was more akin to a private eye than a capes and tights crimefighter, despite his appearance. Things toned down a little when Robin joined the Caped Crusader, but were still kept in that pulp tone.

Bill Finger, the co-creator and famed writer of Batman in those early days, wrote the famous origin of Bruce Wayne in Detective Comics #33 in 1939. This issue depicted a young Wayne witnessing the death of his parents in that ever familiar scene. This led to the dark tone and nature of the Batman character. He later suggested that Batman needed a Watson to his Holmes, which is where Robin, the Boy Wonder came into play, much to the chagrin of the other co-creator Bob Kane. Sales doubled, and so kid sidekicks began popping up everywhere.

When Batman branched off into his own titular series (though he still appeared in Detective Comics as he does to this day) he was shown killing two giants with a gun in the first issue. Editor Whitney Ellsworth put a stop to this aspect of the original Batman character for good by decreeing he could no longer kill or use a gun. The first Batman comics featured a cold, calculating detective, but future stories would show his heart and mind more profoundly because of this decision.

That first issue of Batman also introduced The Joker and Catwoman, two of the most, if not the most prolific villains in Batman's rogues gallery. Now with his new edict of less violence, and with a stable of baddies to call his own, Batman was tearing up the charts. Along with Superman, Batman was and is a cornerstone of DC Comics (then called National Publications), and at that time they were the #1 company in the industry.

A few years later, post-WWII, Batman had lost his edge and had become more colorful and paternal than in the first Batman comics. Then Batman, and all comics, were brought under attack with psychologist Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent" in which he blames comics for the moral decay of the youth. As far as Batman was concerned, he suggested that Batman and Robin were portrayed as lovers as opposed to a father and son/teacher and mentor relationship, which led to the Comics Code Authority. This resulted in even cheerier Batman stories that were a complete departure from the original character.

In 1964, sales on the Batman comics were drastically down, and, according to Kane, DC was considering killing the character off. Instead, editor Julius Schwartz took over the line and instituted changes that would temporarily stave off death. Unfortunately, with the popularity of the television show, Schwartz was asked to make the comic more campy like the show. The show had brought in a bunch of new readers and sales were high. But when the show ended not long after the sales dropped once again.

In 1986, Frank Miller revitalized and redefined the Batman character, telling a story of a 50 year old Batman coming out of retirement in "The Dark Knight Returns". This would inspire darker toned stories in the regular continuity like the popular “The Killing Joke. Finally, Batman was returned to the former glory of the first Batman comics, and that classic, yet modernized version of the character still thrives today.

About the Author:

Follow the exploits of rockers DEMON TWEAK and the racing clan HARD DRIVING HEROES, as they battle the evil trickster Loki at http://www.classic-comic-books.com . Also read articles on your favorite classic comic book heroes written by our resident historian VIRGIL THE STORYTELLER.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The First Batman Comics – A Different Batman

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