Comics Explained: The Batman Who Laughs

Despite only debuting in 2017 the Batman Who Laughs has made a big impact on DC comics. A mixture of his design, the premise behind him, and his significant presence in the Dark Knights: Metal storyline has made him a quickly popular character. Despite his recent appearance, he has already made a cameo in other media being an alternate skin for a character in Mortal Kombat 11. Created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo for their new Dark Knights: Metal story, where they wanted to create Batman's worst nightmare, and Scott hoped that he would be popular enough to remain a constant in the DC Universe. At the moment, his desire has come true. Before we discuss the Batman Who Laughs we have to first set out how this character came to be.

The Dark Multiverse

Barbatos

Many comic books have the idea of the Multiverse - including DC. Prior to the Flashpoint event, when the Multiverse was in existence, there was feasibly an infinite number of realities were an infinite number of variations of characters can exist. After the Flashpoint event the Multiverse was reduced to just 52 realities - among them a world where all crime is gone and the children of heroes live a reality TV show like life, a civil war among superhumans from Injustice, and even a universe where all the characters are anthropomorphic animals. Scott Snyder for Dark Knights: Metal created the Dark Multiverse. Over the course of the event more information was revealed about the Dark Multiverse. The Batman Who Laughs summed it up quite well:

Stop me if you've heard this one... worlds will live, worlds will die... but imagine if your every fear, each bad decision, gave birth to a malformed world of nightmare. A world that shouldn't exist. And desperate as it fights to survive in the light of the true multiverse far above... these worlds are doomed to rot apart, and die, because they are wrong at their core. Welcome to the Dark Multiverse. Home to stories that should never be... It's all one big cosmic joke, except no one on this side is laughing. ...well, almost no one...

As you can tell, the Dark Multiverse was a version of the Multiverse where nightmares and bad decisions lead to the creation of universes who were unstable in their structure. In the past, a being named the World Forger was tasked with having these unstable realities destroyed, and the energy from these destroyed worlds to be used to create new realities. The World Forger used the 'Great Dragon' Barbatos to destroy these worlds, but Barbatos later betrayed the World Forger and destroyed it. Barbatos allowed these universes to germinate with the intention of using them to invade and destroy the Multiverse. When the main reality Batman got transported through time by Darkseid during the Final Crisis event this brought him to the attention of Barbatos, who recognised the similarity between itself and Batman. Barbatos would use Batman to open the gateway between the Dark Multiverse and Multiverse, which is where the Batman Who Laughs comes in.

Origins

The Joker Robins

Although the Batman Who Laughs was introduced thanks to the Dark Knights: Metal event, it was actually in The Batman Who Laughs #1 which explored his origin. In Earth -22, Bruce Wayne and the DC Universe matched the mainstream reality except with one difference - it was based on Batman's fear of becoming like the Joker. In Earth -22 the Joker found out Batman's secret identity, and decided to perform the ultimate attack on Batman as a finale, due to the chemicals which turned him into the Joker now killing him. First wiping out all of Batman's villains, and killing Commissioner Gordon via an acid trap in his notebook, planned to merge the fates of himself and Bruce Wayne. He killed the parents of a few children in front of them, and then introduced them to his Joker Venom - copying the origin of Batman and the origin of Joker. To make his plan complete he had Batman witness the children's turn into 'Joker Robins'. A broken Batman broke free and choked the Joker to death, but the clown had a secret weapon - when he died his concoction would be released infecting whoever killed him. 

Killing the Bat Family

A few days later members of the Bat Family were training with robots programmed by Batman, but they were fighting surprisingly harder this day. When they confronted Batman about this, he revealed that he had been infected by the Joker's toxins, and was slowly becoming the Joker. While Nightwing assumes that the robots were set to harder difficulties so they could beat Batman when the time came; it turned out that the turn had already came. With the robots failing to kill the Bat Family, a now changed Bruce Wayne proceeded to shoot Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Robin, and Red Hood. Turning his son, the current Robin Damien Wayne, into another Joker Robin he soon wiped out the Justice League. Confirming his descent into the Batman Who Laughs, he used a type of kryptonite on Superman and Superboy causing them to kill Lois Lane before dying themselves. Laughing, he drew a smiley face on a window of the Justice League Watchtower in the blood of his former friends. Using the weaponry of the Justice League he soon proceeded to destroy life on the planet, and this is what made Barbatos to approach him to become his right-hand. Barbatos tasked the Batman Who Laughs to recruit the 'Dark Knights' - a collection of the most twisted versions of Batman who take over the Multiverse. 

Dark Knights: Metal

The Batman Who Laughs's major appearance was during the Dark Knights: Metal event, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers for the comic. As it was recently published it is still available in stores, and it's a good story, so I would recommend reading it yourself. Instead, I'll just quickly go over some notable events which the Batman Who Laughs oversaw. Naturally, being the right-hand of Barbatos, he lead the initial attack on the Multiverse, arriving in the main reality and setting the Joker Robins on the Court of Owls. The Court of Owls is a sinister group, and it is difficult to quickly summarise them, but for the purpose of Dark Knights: Metal, they worship Barbatos and worked to use Batman to bring them into the Multiverse. Now, with their purpose fulfilled, the Batman Who Laughs had them killed, and then sent the Dark Knights to attack the home cities of the Justice League. To secure his base in Gotham, he handed out cards which could alter reality to the Riddler, Poison Ivy, Firefly, Mad Hatter, Bane, and Mister Freeze - if someone wished to take down his base, they would have to fight through the warped version of Gotham created by the villains. Through the rest of the story, the Batman Who Laughs tries to wipe out reality and his enemies, but was challenged by a team of alternate reality Batmen led by the main Batman. However, what took the Batman Who Laughs was that the Joker helped in the fight. The Joker simply explained, the Batman Who Laughs still had the planning of Batman so they had to do something which Batman would never expect: fighting alongside the Joker.

After the Dark Knights

The Batman Who Laughs managed to survive the defeat of Barbatos, and was later found to be under the custody of Lex Luthor. The other members of the Legion of Doom, especially the Joker, were uncomfortable having the Batman Who Laughs at their base, and he himself goaded Luthor about knowing the secrets of the Multiverse. It turned out that the Batman could escape whenever he wanted; he was biding his time to see how events were going on the outside. Later, in exchange for information, Luthor released him. He then began his new goal: taking down Batman. To achieve his goal he recruited another Batman from the Dark Multiverse - the Grim Knight. A mixture of Batman and the Punisher, this version of Batman killed Joe Chill, who murdered Batman's parents, when he dropped his gun. This put him on a course to becoming a murderous Batman who turned Gotham into a police state. The Joker, meanwhile, realised that his Batman didn't have the same disregard for human life as the Batman Who Laughs and Grim Knight, so he infected Batman with a diluted version of the Joker Venom. He would become another Batman Who Laughs, but with more control. In the end, a confrontation in the Wayne graveyard main reality Batman defeated the Batman Who Laughs, and Alfred gave him a serum stopping him from becoming a new Batman Who Laughs. Despite his incarceration in the Hall of Justice, he began his new plot to tear apart the Justice League and this reality: infect Superman with the Joker Venom. He came close using an infected Shazam and Blue Beetle to get Superman in position, and he would have succeeded if not for Supergirl grabbing a batarang designed to affect Kryptonians before it could hit him. 

Thank you for reading. For other blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn is by far one of DC's most popular characters despite only debuting in the 1990s. Within that short amount of time she's managed to evolve from a one-off henchmen of the Joker, that didn't actually originate in the comics, to one of the major antiheroes of DC. As she is the star of Birds of Prey movie, as played by the fantastic Margot Robbie, it is the perfect time to discuss her character. We can't go over each of her appearances, in just thirty years she's appeared in DC a lot, so we'll be doing an overview of her instead.

Creation

Harley Quinn did not actually debut in the comics, instead she debuted on TV. It is not uncommon for characters to emerge outside of comics to become big inside the comics. Mr Freeze, Agent Coulson, X-23, Batgirl, Krypton, and kryptonite all made their debuts outside the comics. Harley Quinn debuted in the critically acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series in the episode 'Joker's Favor' as originally a walk-on role, and she was created by the show-creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. After watching Arleen Sorkin in the soap opera Days of Our Lives, and because Dini was friends with Sorkin, they modelled Harley off of Sorkin - she would even voice Harley in the series. The animated series had a spin-off comic in 1994 called The Batman Adventures: Mad Love which more or less has remained her origin story, but it took until 1999 for her to fully debut in the mainstream DC universe. As part of the No Man's Land event - when an earthquake isolates Gotham and the villains carve up the city between them - a tie-in graphic novel was released called Batman: Harley Quinn. This graphic novel mostly kept her origins from the animated series. 

Origins

Her origin story has had some tweaks thanks to the rebooting of the timelines after the Flashpoint event. Born in Brooklyn she had a long interest in criminal psychology, and she was a genius in regards to psychology. In the new timeline, explained in Suicide Squad Vol. 4, her interest was sparked by her teenage boyfriend committing a murder - to signify her interest in criminal psychology she stole a taxidermied beaver from her boyfriend's father. In the original timeline, a jealous professor spiked her boyfriend's drink with diluted Joker Venom sending him insane - not knowing this Harley thought this was due to the same mental problem which the Joker suffered from. As her boyfriend eventually was cured, she was determined to cure the Joker. In both timelines she began studying the Joker, but she did not expect to find how charming he could be. His split personalities allowed him to put on a charming, friendlier facade just for her - she enjoyed the nickname he gave her. As her name was Harleen Quinzel, he called her 'Harly Quinn' from harlequin. However, through all this, the Joker was slowly chipping away at her sanity and through this she fell in love with him. Eventually, she had been broken and secretly started freeing the Joker from his cell. Depending on the timeline she was either committed and later freed by the Joker (the original), or was kidnapped by the Joker and thrown in a chemical vat to replicate how the Joker came into being (the new timeline). Thus, Harley Quinn was born.

The Joker and Harley

Calling the Joker 'Mister J' or 'Puddin'' Harley became one of the most closest people to the Joker. Just like in the Animated Series it was not a true relationship as Harley envisioned it. Joker's callous nature meant that he regularly toyed with her emotions, and regularly saw her as expendable. In Batman #663, for example, the duo set out to kill all of the Joker's former henchmen, but it turned out that this was a set up for the 'punchline' - killing Harley herself. It was one of the examples of Harley fighting back against the Joker where she shot him in the shoulder in rage for his betrayal. In 2001, she got her own title called Harley Quinn where, tired of the Joker's abuse, she leaves to go on her own. Part of the story, which ran for 38 issues, saw her forming her own gang called the Quintets, although they too would also betray her. Meanwhile, she adopted two spotted hyenas called Bud and Lou, named after Abbott and Costello, and moved in with Poison Ivy. This would spark a long relationship between the two, which also happened in the Animated Series, and recently has blossomed into a romantic relationship. At the end of her series she handed herself into Arkham Asylum realising that she needs help. 

Throughout the 2000s she would have various appearances, some big and some small. For example, in Detective Comics #831 she could have had the chance of parole from Arkham, but she was kidnapped by the new Ventriloquist, Peyton Riley. The Ventriloquist was a gangster who appeared to act under the orders of his puppet Scarface, but he died and Peyton took over the role. Harley didn't want to work for her, especially as she disliked Peyton taking on the Ventriloquist's identity as the original cheered her up in Arkham, and teamed up with Batman to take her down. Eventually, she teamed up with Poison Ivy and Catwoman to form the Gotham Sirens, in the series Gotham City Sirens, where the trio agreed to live and fight together. Among their adventures included fighting the criminal mastermind, and childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, Hush; fighting a Joker impersonator; and Harley opting to spend Christmas with the Sirens after a 'horrible' time with her family. The team almost break up thanks to the events over issues 20 to 25. Wanting revenge for years of torment Harley breaks into Arkham to kill the Joker, but ends up joining with him to take over the asylum. While Catwoman teams up with Batman to defeat them, Poison Ivy attempts to kill the re-incarcerated Harley. Then she has a change of heart, wanting revenge on Catwoman for abandoning them for Batman. In the end Catwoman chose to let them escape instead of getting them arrested.

New 52 and Rebirth

The post-Flashpoint universe is referred to as the 'New 52', and was generally seen as a new start for DC. In this Harley's origins were slightly altered, but, due to Batman's popularity, most of the pre-Flashpoint timeline was kept intact. Harley was brought into the Suicide Squad - this was basically a supervillain team used by the government to go on suicide missions. It was part of her new run with Suicide Squad that her best known design comes from. However, the Joker still had an influence of her. When it was rumoured that the Joker was dead, and that his face had been cut off, she broke into the Gotham City Police Department to get the mask - in a particularly dark scene she straps the face onto a tied up Deadshot to have one last 'conversation'. It turned out the Joker was alive, and in Death of the Family he managed to coax her into pretending to be his original moniker of the Red Hood - it was then that she realised that she could never go back to him. In 2013 she get her own comic title again, called Harley Quinn, by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner where she developed into an anti-hero, and started formally dating Poison Ivy. This was a well-received series - except for when DC ran the really stupid design competition where they asked fans to draw Harley in suicide scenarios. Naturally many artists and writers, especially Palmiotti and Conner, were infuriated by this. Regardless, the actual stories were well-received, something helped by their eccentric stories. In one, it turns out Harley has a crush on Bruce Wayne and wins a competition to go on a date with him - it quickly turns into a story where she teams up with Batman to fight supervillains. 

In 2016 DC released Rebirth to fix many of the problems caused by the recent rebooting of the universe. In the new Suicide Squad series she has gone to be more of a darker character and refuses to take the title of 'hero', but still has a carefree attitude. She even managed to lead a team of the Suicide Squad which also comprises of Enchantress, Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang, Katana, and Deadshot - it is not coincidence that this was also the roster of the Suicide Squad movie. Despite rejecting the title of a hero, she is still seen as a hero. In 2018 the Heroes in Crisis story revealed that the Justice League has the 'Sanctuary', basically a place where heroes and former villains can undergo therapy. Harley was invited, and one day all the patients were found murdered - only Harley Quinn and Booster Gold, with no memory of the event, were found alive. In a murder mystery, which ended up spanning time itself, Harley helped clear of name of the murders.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Arkham Asylum, A Serious House on Serious Earth

Welcome back to 2019's Month of Horror, and today we're looking at Batman's most dark and psychological story. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, by the masterful Grant Morrison and prestigious artist Dave McKean, sees Batman delving into Arkham Asylum where his Rouge's Gallery has taken over the institute. Inside, we see a story of madness, insanity, and questioning of who is really sane. I highly recommend reading it, so today I want to do a broad overview of the plot instead of an in depth look. Arkham Asylum is just dripping with symbolism and foreshadowing in each panel, and I do not want to spoil it too much for new readers.

What is Arkham Asylum?

Arkham Asylum first appeared in Batman #258 in 1974. The asylum was a place for Batman's mentally ill opponents like Scarecrow or the Joker; the sane villains went to Blackgate Prison. Due to unfortunate stereotypes and stigmatisation of the mentally ill in mainstream media, most of Batman's villains are schizophrenic or narcissistic leading them to be inmates of Arkham Asylum. Some inmates are not actually mentally ill; some who have certain special circumstances and cannot go to Blackgate go to Arkham. Mr. Freeze is not normally mentally ill, but because he has to live in freezing conditions he has to be confined in Arkham to accommodate him. Lovecraft fans will notice a reference here - the asylum is named after the Massachusetts town which appears in many of Lovecraft's stories, such as The Dunwich Horror. Like with Lovecraft's stories, it is strongly implied that the asylum itself sends people insane. Several members of staff have been driven insane - such as Scarecrow, Hugo Strange, and Harley Quinn - and even its founder went insane. This is the subplot to Arkham Asylum. 

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

'But I don't want to go among mad people', Alice remarked. 'Oh, you can't help that', said the Cat: 'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad.' 'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.'

April 1 Batman is summoned to the asylum by Commissioner Gordon who reveals that the inmates, led by the Joker, have taken over. On the radio Joker demands that Batman come in as he blinds a 19-year old woman who worked in the cafeteria to fund her art career. Batman quickly catches up to the Joker, where he finds out that the Clown pretended to blind the woman in an April Fools' Day prank. In an exchange all bar two of the hostages are released - the administrator Dr. Charles Cavendish and the leading psycho-therapist Dr. Ruth Adams. They wanted to stay to make sure that, in the words of Cavendish, 'I have a duty to the state. I will not leave this asylum in the hands of...madmen'. Batman is horrified to also see his old nemesis Two-Face who had just peed on the floor. He gets into an argument with Dr. Adams over his treatment - Adams sees her work as helping Harvey Dent, while Batman sees that she's broken him. In an attempt to make him become less dependent on his coin she gave him a six-sided dice to give him more choices, then a pack of tarot cards with the hopes that she can move him onto an I-ching. However, instead of decreasing his need to rely on luck he became increasingly reliant on these choices, so much so, that he cannot even decide to go to the toilet without a card. We also learn from Adams that the Joker is suffering from 'super-sanity'; one day he can be a psychopathic killer, another a mischievous clown as 'He creates himself each day. He sees himself as the lord of misrule, and the world as a theatre of the absurd'. The Joker also toys with Batman a bit - he gets Adams to perform a Rorschach test on him.

Throughout the narrative we see the journal of the founder of Arkham Asylum - Amadeus Arkham. He founded the asylum after seeing his mother throughout his childhood suffer from intense mental disorders. One night, as a child, he walked in the give her breakfast to see her eating beetles - later he found out that beetles were a symbol of rebirth and theorised it was his mother's attempt to escape from a spirit trying to possess her. This symbol was of a bat creature which drove her to suicide. Back in the present, the Joker gives an order to Batman - explore the asylum for an hour and he would then release his enemies on him, if he refused the remaining hostages will die. The rest of the story is dripping with Batman's own insecurity and the horrors of the asylum, and Batman's villains reimagined. Clayface is an emaciated figure in a stark parallel to media perceptions of AIDs, Mad Hatter is now a child molester obsessed with blond girls like Alice, the once strong Doctor Destiny is confined to a wheelchair, and Maxie Zeus (who believes he is Zeus reincarnated) is a coprophage addicted to electro-shock therapy. All through this Batman slowly loses his mind and we see Amadeus Arkham's descent into madness. The asylum's first patient was Martin 'Mad Dog' Hawkins, a famous serial murderer and rapist who is 'guided' by the Virgin Mary, who raped and murdered Arkham's family. Despite Hawkins taunting Arkham he appeared to be unfazed by a murderer gloating about murdering his family earning the respect of the other doctors. A year after Hawkins was committed Arkham announced he would use electro-shock therapy to cure Hawkins; in reality, he used it to electrocute Hawkins to death.

As Arkham's journal compares his work to that of the archangel Michael - the angel who toppled Satan, 'the Dragon', during the War in Heaven - Batman faces Killer Croc. He knocks Batman out of a window, but he grabs a spear which a statue of the angel is holding, and he uses it to get back inside impaling Croc. Batman finally reaches the asylum's tower where past and present come together. We find out that Arkham was in fact deeply traumatised by Hawkins murdering his family that was only revealed when he killed the murderer. He was adamant that the Bat was tormenting him just as it had tormented his mother, he had even murdered his mother and made it look like suicide to break the curse. He tried to use some form of sorcery to break the curse, and he was incarcerated in his own asylum where he tried to finish the seal to bind the Bat - using his own fingernails to carve it into the cell walls. Years later, Cavendish found Arkham's journals and started descending into madness. He became convinced that Batman was the 'Bat', and was increasing the insanity of the asylum by dropping off his enemies there. This is all revealed when we see Cavendish in Amadeus Arkham's mother's wedding dress with a knife to Adams's throat. He believed it was his destiny to continue Arkham's work so planned the night. On April Fools, the day Arkham's family was murdered, he released the inmates to attract the Bat, and he put on the dress as a way to bind the Bat to him in order to vanquish it. Batman, however, tries to help and reach the man, but as Cavendish goes to attack Batman Adams slices his throat.

An axe-wielding Batman hacks open the doors to the asylum declaring the inmates to be free. His enemies jeer for his death. The Joker states 'Have you come to claim your kingly robes? Or do you just want us to put you out of your misery, like the poor sick creature you are?' Batman says that he wants Two-Face to decide - if it lands on the normal side he goes free, the scarred side he will die. Harvey flips the coin and declares Batman to go free. As the inmates start to filter out the Joker gives one last remark to Batman: Enjoy yourself out there. In the Asylum. Just don't forget - if it ever gets too tough...There's always a place for you here. We pan to see Two-Face looking at his coin - it actually landed on the scarred side. He knocks over his tarot cards saying: Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards. 

Some Thematic Analysis

I don't want to go into too much detail as the comic is best read with your own analysis. A major theme is, who actually are the insane ones? Despite clear evidence that figures like Two-Face, Clayface, and Doctor Destiny are suffering under the care of Adams and Cavendish, but they are oblivious insisting that they are helping them. Batman, who's tactic with his supervillain mentally ill opponents is to beat them bloody, is even horrified by what he sees. Although, it is clear that Batman himself knows that he too belongs in Arkham. At the start Batman says 'I'm afraid that when I walk through those asylum gates, when I walk into Arkham and the doors close behind me...It'll be just like coming home.' By the end, it is clear that Batman feels he is one with his enemies. Speech is interesting in this comic. Letterer Gaspar Saladino used various different fonts for different characters to emphasise different personalities - Batman has white text against a black speech bubble, Maxie Zeus has Greek font, Clayface's is a sickly green, and the Joker doesn't have a speech bubble - instead it's just erratic red letters changing size constantly. The Joker is interesting in this comic as well. Morrison wanted to explore the relationship between the Joker and Batman, and we have seen in other comics how much of a symbiotic relationship the two have. In Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns the Joker remains in a depressed, silent state until he sees that Batman has returned. Throughout the comic we get hints that Joker is sexually interested in Batman - even slapping his butt in one panel. Morrison wanted to make this very overt in his original draft, having the Joker wear black lingerie in a parody of Madonna. However, DC vetoed this as they feared this would impact how people viewed Jack Nicholson in 1989's Batman. Reading the comic you also get a claustrophobic fear - panels drip into one another, many panels are tight, and especially with the Joker it is at times hard to read. The characters are drawn in a distorted way, only the clearly 'sane' characters are not distorted - by the end of the comic Batman goes from a solid figure to a large, shadow. It may not be scary, but Arkham Asylum gives you an unsettled feeling reading it.

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Eighty Years of Batman

In May 1939 the comic book Detective Comics in issue 27 released a new story featuring a new superhero. A superhero craze had begun in the 1930s, and all comic strips and radio shows were eager to introduce their own heroes. However, Detective Comics #27 would introduce perhaps the most important pop culture icons, never mind comic character, of all time: Batman. Superman is perhaps the only other comic book character to possibly rival Batman's importance in shaping pop culture. Over the last eighty years Batman has gone through many stories, took many forms, and has been adapted many times over. Today we'll look at Batman's creation, and some of the best stories to read to understand the Dark Knight.

Creation

After seeing the success of Superman, a new genre of comics emerged: the superhero comic. Already, DC's predecessor company had given Superman his own comic, but they wanted more. Editor Vin Sullivan had hired two new figures, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, to create a new hero for Detective Comics. As what was regular at the time, Kane and Finger were given great creative control over creating a new hero. Finger recalled that, 'Kane had an idea for a character called 'Batman,' and he'd like me to see the drawings'. Kane had got the idea of 'Batman' from watching the 1930 movie The Bat Whispers. A remake of the 1920 silent movie, The Bat, (the director of The Bat would remake his own movie in The Bat Whispers), featured a bat-themed thief who hid in the shadows. Kane's original design was very reminiscent of Superman, and a bat-wing cape based off of a design by Leonardo da Vinci. Finger would alter the design, being very inspired by fictional characters like Zorro, including giving Batman a cowl. In fact, Finger did most of the work in the creation of Batman - even down to choosing the name 'Bruce Wayne' - but for over fifty years he was largely forgotten. Kane was an aggressive self-promoter, and despite only writing the first issue, for a long time he was credited as Batman's sole 'creator'. It took until 2015 for Finger to be actually credited in a comic for creating Batman! In his debut most of what we recognise as Batman today was fairly limited - most of his backstory was created for the later Detective Comics #33 in November. Now that we've briefly gone over the creation of Batman we can look at some key stories.

Detective Comics #27 and #33

The best way to start with Batman is his first appearances. Little of what we recognise as Batman exists in these early days, but it is interesting to see how he has evolved over the years. His debut opens with a Commissioner Gordon discussing the newly emerged 'Bat-Man' to his socialite friend Bruce Wayne. The bored Wayne joins Gordon to a crime scene - chemical manufacturer Lambert had been killed and his son taken into custody. Bored, Wayne leaves, Lambert's associates start turning up dead, and Gordon is trying to track both the mysterious Bat-Man and the killers. It turns out, one of Lambert's business partners, Alfred Stryker, was planning to buy out the other partners, but grew tired of waiting and decided to kill them all off. Bat-Man confronted Stryker and knocked him into a vat of acid stating that, 'A fitting end for his kind'. The comic ends with Wayne laughing off Gordon's story, and for him to enter another room where, 'his door slowly opens and reveals its occupant... if the commissioner could see his young friend now... He'd be amazed to learn that he is the Bat-Man!'. Most of Batman's recognisable features were absent: no Alfred, the Batmobile is just a regular car, there's no Bat Cave, and even no Gotham! Batman, spelt 'Bat-Man', operated in New York instead. His 'no kill' rule, as you can probably already tell, wouldn't come around till the late-1940s - in his debut he even threw a man off of a building killing him!

Batman become the central character in Detective Comics, and in #33 he got his now famous origin story. The beginning of the comic quickly goes over the Dark Knight's origin. Returning home from the cinema via an alley the young Bruce and his parents, Thomas and Martha, were confronted by a mugger. When trying to steal Martha Wayne's pearls the mugger shot Thomas, and then shot Martha to silence her screams. Days later, the young Bruce makes a vow by candlelight, 'I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals!'. He spent the rest of his life training, but he realised that 'Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts'. Just then, a bat flew through his window giving him his moniker. 

The Joker and the Cat

Batman was so popular that within the year he had gained a sidekick in #38, 'The Sensational character-find of 1940...Robin - the Boy Wonder!', and his own comic. In this comic, Batman #1, two of Batman's major characters debuted: the Joker and Catwoman. Half the stories featured a new villain, based off of Conrad Veidt's character in the German silent movie The Man who Laughs, who was a maniacal clown named the Joker. The Joker would announce his crimes, mostly murder and robbery, and leave his deceased victims with a devilish smile on their face through an unknown poison. At the end of the first story Batman managed to apprehend the Joker, but two days later, in the second story, the Joker escapes to continue his crime spree. It only ends when, during a trap, Batman and the Joker clash where the Joker stabbed himself in the chest, narrowly surviving. Originally, it was intended for the Joker to die - a last minute change of heart by Bill Finger meant that comics' most classic villain could become a cultural icon. Meanwhile, another story, called 'The Cat', dealing with a mysterious woman attempting to steal a $500,000 emerald from a wealthy socialite. Batman managed to capture the Cat, but smitten, he lets her go. Thus started one of the most endearing will-they/won't-they romances in comic history.

The Killing Joke - the Most Controversial Batman Comic

From the mind of Alan Moore, the author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta, and drawn by Brian Bolland, 1988's The Killing Joke remains one of the most controversial Batman comics. Alan Moore has even stated that he regrets writing it. The story is split into two. The first, deals with the origins of the Joker. A loving father-to-be and husband an unnamed failure of a stand-up was on the brink of destitution. Desperate to give his emerging family a better life he agreed to take part in an extreme robbery - dressed as a villain 'the Red Hood' he was to distract any police who arrived on the scene. They would assume that he was the mastermind, not the other gang members. However, the day of the robbery his wife had a deadly fall, and the gang made him push on with the robbery regardless. Naturally the robbery went wrong. The police shot the gang members, and the scared Red Hood fell into a vat of chemicals upon seeing Batman. The chemicals bleached his skin and left him with a devilish smile. With all that happened that day it drove him insane, and now the Joker wanted to show that 'one bad day' could drive anyone insane. Arriving at the home of Jim Gordon he knocked out the commissioner and shot Barbara Gordon, who at the time was Batgirl, in the spine paralysing her. Batman tracks the Joker to a carnival where he has had Gordon beaten, tortured, stripped, and forced to look at photos of his abused and shot daughter. However, Gordon was not broken as Joker intended, and the comic ends with Batman finally laughing at one of Joker's jokes. Grant Morrison has suggested that Batman may have even killed the Joker at the end - the last panel makes reference to the joke where one man is implied to die. Although praised for the story and art it has earned controversy for the treatment of Barbara Gordon. She suffers disproportionately compared to the other characters, her abuse became a plot tool, and she remained paralysed for decades. The only redeeming part from this is that Barbara Gordon became a major disabled superhero in the form of Oracle.

Batman: White Knight

This story by Sean Murphy finished just last year, and I would highly recommend getting your hands on it. Set in one of DC's many alternate realities, and heavily inspired by the Tim Burton Batman movies, it features a broken and harsher Batman alienating himself from his allies. Publicly force feeding the Joker pills that the clown said could cure him it transpired that the pills actually worked. A sane Joker, called Jack Napier, planned to run for office and bring Batman to justice for aggressive violence, and we find out there are two Harley Quinns. The original left the Joker thanks to the events of Death in the Family but returned when her love seemed sane. However, Joker's rehabilitation may not be all that it seems, Alfred is close to death, and the second Harley becomes a new Joker. A must read.

A Death in the Family

This story was released the same year as The Killing Joke, but unlike Moore's story it was very much intended to be canon. The second Robin, Jason Todd, had become fairly disliked by fans who saw him as overly moody and whiny - quite ironic considering the later introduction of Damien Wayne as Robin. For 50 cents, DC allowed fans to ring in and answer a simply question: should Jason die? Quite possibly some fans rang many times to rig the competition, but regardless DC got an answer - fans honestly decided to kill a child. In A Death in the Family Jason finally reunited with his mother, only for the Joker to capture them, and he savagely beat Jason with a crowbar. Before Batman could rescue them Joker detonated a bomb killing Robin. The second half went down hill extremely quickly - including an overtly racist plot point towards Arabs and Iranians (a topic I'm hoping to write about one day). One of the most iconic scenes in comics came from the story - Batman holding the broken body of Jason Todd. Later adaptations changed the story to omit the racist ending, and Jason Todd would later be resurrected as the violent vigilante Red Hood.

The Dark Knights Returns

This story is perhaps the most famous comics of all time, and inspired Tim Burton's adaptations, and has been partially adapted into an episode of The Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, and Batman v. Superman, as well as having its own animated adaptation. Expertly written by Frank Miller, and beautifully drawn by Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, it depicts a bleak and very violent version of Batman. A retired Batman, depressed from the death of Jason Todd (actually written years before A Death in the Family) and being alienated from Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement as Gotham's crime rate explodes. Satirising everything from media sensationalism to Ronald Reagan's Cold War policies a bitter Wayne has to contend with a cannibalistic gang called the Mutants, murderous vigilantes acting in his own name, a murderous returned Joker, and Superman acting on Reagan's orders. It also introduced my favourite version of Robin, and one of the few female Robins, who was inspired by Batman: Carrie Kelley. Every panel of this story has become iconic and has inspired future gritty reboots of other heroes, however, none can compete with this one.

Knightfall

This was also partially adapted into The Dark Knight Rises, Knightfall is a good story, albeit written for the wrong reasons. In the 1990s many comic companies, including DC, almost went bankrupt, and DC hoped to boost sales through big stories. In January 1993 Superman was killed, and in May we got Knightfall. In this story, a new villain named Bane plans to both mentally and physically break Batman. Breaking all of the inmates from Arkham Asylum he lets Batman fight them all, slowly exhausting himself as he went, until Bane finally fought him. Bane then broke Batman's back over his knee paralysing him. Unfortunately, DC ruined a good story. The new Batman was the textbook definition of 'edginess' and was hated. DC resurrected Superman and had Bruce Wayne heal from his paralysis to get more people reading - sadly killing permanency in comics with it.

Batman: Year One

My second favourite Batman comic Year One served as the comic which inspired Batman Begins. Written by Frank Miller, and illustrated by David Mazzuchelli, it depicts a revamped origin for Batman. Jim Gordon tries to fight blatant and rampant corruption in the GCPD, Selina Kyle begins a life of crime, and Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham to begin his career as Batman. There are none of Batman's traditional Rouge's Gallery - no Penguin, Scarecrow, or Riddler. Two-Face is just the normal Harvey Dent, and only at the end of the comic is the Joker mentioned. The villains are instead the GCPD and Gotham's mob. A noir-esque story, realistic, and a great introduction.

The Long Halloween

I've saved the best for last...it's also perhaps the longest story on this list. Written by Jeph Loeb it is set early on in Batman's career. His villains from Year One are angered by the increase in masked or themed criminals like the Penguin, Joker, and Poison Ivy who are edging them out of existence. At a Halloween party a major mobster is killed and a jack-o-lantern is left at the scene. Batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent have to find the killer - the 'Holiday Killer' as they kill a major member of the mob on holidays - while also dealing with the mob itself, and the rise of the supervillains. At the same time, Harvey's mental health is failing thanks to exhaustion, and his marriage is falling apart. It ends with a new supervillain on the scene... 

Thank you for reading. These are just some of the stories I would recommend reading if you want to become acquainted with the Dark Knight. I haven't mentioned many other fantastic stories including the creepy Court of Owls, the alternate reality steampunk Gotham by Gaslight, and one of my all-time favourite comics, Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum. Batman for eighty years has given comic book fans story after story to love, and has brought himself fully into popular culture. How many other comic heroes can claim to have such a cultural presence than Batman? Only perhaps Superman and Spider-Man. Everyone not acquainted with comics know many of the key details and aspects of his comics. To another eighty years!

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. 

Comics Explained: Injustice Gods Among Us: Year One (Part 1)

Year One

Several years ago the video game Injustice Gods Among Us was released and, has become one of the most popular and influential DC comics video games. There are even several scenes in 2016's Batman v Superman referencing, or possibly foreshadowing, Injustice. A comic book series was released showing the five years before the events of the video game take place. With the new game being released in May I thought it would be a good idea to go over each year until the game is released. Now let's see how Superman took over the world...

Fall of a Hero

Clark Kent wakes up in the middle of the night and hears two heartbeats coming from his wife Lois Lane. He smiles as he realizes that he is going to become a father. Lois soon gets a text concerning a tip-off about a corrupt Senator taking bribes which the Daily Planet is currently covering as a story. Clark starts acting worried but Lois jokes that he's more worried about the baby. He looks out over Metropolis and Lois says 'Go save the world'. We soon cut to Batman easily beating a gang of thugs as Superman watches wondering why his friend is in Metropolis instead of Gotham.

Superman meets Batman

Batman explains that someone has stolen something from S.T.A.R Labs and that the thugs have some relation to it. After he beats the thugs he meets Superman on the roof. Just as Superman is about to tell Batman that Lois is pregnant he already deduces that they are going to be parents. Superman catches Batman off guard by asking him to be godfather causing the Dark Knight to give a small smile. Meanwhile, at the docks Lois and Jimmy Olson to see the corrupt Senator. Jimmy manages to spot someone but it turns out not to be the Senator. Jimmy is killed by the unknown figure who turns out to be the Joker and Harley Quinn... The next day Superman finds Jimmy's body next to a joker card as Batman is interviewing the scientists at S.T.A.R Labs. The scientists confess that the reason why they didn't go to Superman about the robber was because they were experimenting with kryptonite. Several of the corpses in the labs have demonic grins on their faces from the Joker's toxins. Suddenly Superman bursts in begging Batman for help in finding Lois. Batman contacts the Justice League to enlist them in finding the Joker and Lois. Barry Allen, the Flash, informs Batman that he's found the body of Scarecrow (a Batman villain who uses fear toxin to send people mad) in S.T.A.R Labs. As this is happening Wonder Woman manages to find a witness to the kidnapping/murder and using the Lasso of Truth she finds out that the Joker has hijacked a submarine. Immediately Superman scans Metropolis Harbor and finds the submarine. Enraged he takes it onto the land before tearing through the hull to find, to his horror, that Joker and Harley are operating on Lois. The Joker gasses him and suddenly from nowhere the monster Doomsday appears. Fearful that the beast would kill Lois and his unborn child he tackles Doomsday and flies into space with the beast. Harley and Joker are captured by the Justice League just as they leave the submarine (nicknamed 'Gunter' by Harley). However, as Batman searches the sub for Lois he finds evidence of Scarecrow's fear toxin. The Joker starts taunting the Justice League saying that when Lois's heart stops so will Metropolis. Desperately Batman tries to contact Superman who has taken Doomsday into space. However, Doomsday turns into Lois...

Superman kills Lois

Joker had used Scarecrow's fear toxin laced with kryptonite so he would see his wife as Doomsday. He also had the detonator to a nuclear bomb linked to Lois's heart so when her heart stopped the bomb would detonate. Within a day Lois, his unborn child, and Metropolis had been taken from him and he has to know that he was the one who did it. Batman begins interrogating Joker in Gotham asking why he did this to which Joker replies that he was tired of losing to Batman and wanted to 'Try it on easy'. Cradling his wife in the ruins of Metropolis Superman has been broken. As Wonder Woman tries to console him by saying it was really the Joker's fault Superman heads off to Gotham (even defeating Green Lantern on the way to get to the Joker). In Gotham Joker says to Batman that because someone took something away from him he became what he is today and questions what will happen to Superman seeing as he was already a god he deluded himself into thinking he was a man. Suddenly Superman bursts in as the Joker starts taunting Superman that he destroyed Metropolis, and killed his unborn child and Lois. Enraged Superman grabs Joker by the throat and swats Batman out of the way as he tries to stop the Man of Steel. The Joker continues to taunt Superman saying things like 'First Krypton, the Metropolis. Things you love tend to blow up' and 'I know it's soon but do you ever think you'll love again? Maybe, next time you won't kill your family'. Superman, angered, punches through the Joker's body as the Clown Prince of Crime laughs.

The Joker's Final Laugh

Dawn of the New Regime

A despondent Harley broken after Superman's murder of the Joker kills the guards escorting her to Arkham Asylum. Green Arrow arrives on the scene to recapture her laughing gleefully as he fires an arrow into the barrel of her gun causing it to discharge. He ensnares her with a net arrow and takes her to the Arrowcar as Harley questions him if he's going to take her to Superman. Arrow responds by saying that he's doing what he's doing to save Superman from himself. With a trick arrow he knocks Harley out after being annoyed by her incessant questions. Harley wakes up in the Arrowcave which she makes fun of saying it is not as good as the Batcave, and says that 'the Quiver' would be a better name (which Arrow agrees with). Harley uses a fake mustache to make Arrow laugh after he questions her about using a fake hand to escape.

Meanwhile, in the Fortress of Solitude Superman grieves over his family and the destruction of Metropolis surrounded by monitors reporting on the city's destruction. One monitor starts reporting on a communications blackout and bombing in a war-torn country called Biayla. Standing up he cries 'No more!'. He flies to the a city and protects a boy from being killed by a shell before destroying several more with his heat vision and apologizes to the civilians for not acting sooner. Easily he flies to the capital, ignores the presidential guard, and kidnaps the president declaring his presidency over. Wonder Woman arrives at the same time as the press and asks Superman not to announce his aims here. He agrees and calls a press conference outside the UN (taking the Biayla president with him). With Wonder Woman at his side he announces to the world that he is actually Clark Kent, that he is sorry for not acting before and that an event like Metropolis would never happen again. No matter who challenged him, no matter how politically powerful they are he would not allow any more innocent blood to be shed. Superman declares a worldwide ceasefire and if people don't do it voluntarily he will make them. A U.S. drone is going to bomb a village which a terrorist leader is hiding in until Superman destroys it. He has now made an enemy of the United States...

Mirror Master

A leading general gives the U.S. president a plan to counteract Superman. The plan isn't to go after Superman though but instead his parents. Armed mercenaries led by Mirror Master (a Flash villain able to take people into another dimension via mirrors) arrive at the Kent farm to kidnap the Kents. Jonathan is injured trying to defend Martha but both are taken into a mirror shard just as Clark arrives. Mirror Master taunts Superman that Jonathan has been injured in the safety of a mirror shard. At the Justice League Watchtower Wonder Woman gives a speech reaffirming her solidarity with Superman's course of actions and how they would prevent further tragedies like Metropolis. After Cyborg steps forward to volunteer to help find the Kents other members of the Justice League follow with the Flash suggesting that they should track down his Rogue's Gallery in the hope that they find Mirror Master. The Flash and Wonder Woman track Mirror Master to a bar in Keystone City where he is captured by Raven, and after being beaten by Wonder Woman he reveals that the Kents are being held at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia (home to the world's largest mirror). As Superman rescues his parents the President is worrying about how to deal with an even angrier Superman. Batman has sneakily entered the Oval Office and informs him that his plan to kidnap the Kents was the most foolish thing that he could have done. Batman vows not to tell the League that the U.S. government was actually behind the kidnapping but if he did almost the entire League (now united behind Superman thanks to the kidnapping) would go after him. When the President responds that the League wouldn't go after him Batman simply replies that no one would find his body on Saturn.

Wonder Woman ending wars

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is in Qurac easily battling armed forces there, (including destroying a tank with one headbutt). After the battle the Greek God of War Ares arrives to question if she is really devoted to Superman's cause (he remains strong if there is war so has a reason to destabilize Superman's enforced peace project). As Wonder Woman refuses to kill the soldiers that she is fighting Ares chastises her for being too merciful, and then uses Wonder Woman's secret affections for Superman to undermine her by asking if she will 'Take her place? Will you lie in his bed?'. Wonder Woman replies by saying she will let him grieve and that Superman is the greatest man that she has ever known. When Wonder Woman mocks Ares about losing his power when war has been eradicated he attacks her, but Superman arrives knocking him over easily with one punch. Wonder Woman cuts off his hand and leaves him bleeding (much to Superman's shock) in the Qurac desert. Ares has to ponder if Diana will strip away Superman's restraints.

War with Atlantis

In the Batcave Dick Grayson (Nightwing and the first Robin) and Damien Wayne (Robin) are sparring with Dick chiding Damien for going for the killing blow. Angry Damien throws a kali stick at Dick's head only to be caught by Superman. Damien tells Superman that Bruce Wayne has been 'broodier than usual' and secretly thanks him for murdering Joker. At the Batcomputer Superman asks why Batman did not help him find his parents or for not supporting his toppling of dictators. Batman replies that Superman is going too far and that people no longer feel that he is a symbol of hope, he's turned into a symbol of fear. Angry Superman rips off Batman's cowl yelling 'GOOD!'. He wants people to be scared so they will never hurt the innocent again and that by letting the Joker live Batman caused the deaths of everyone who Joker killed. Superman questions him if he ever felt guilty every time the Joker killed someone and Batman says that he did every time. When Superman justifies his actions by saying that by killing one person he can save the lives of thousands which Batman says just blurs the lines between right and wrong as he tries to justify his actions. Meanwhile, off the coast of Japan Aquaman is consoling a dying whale which sends him into a rage and he tips over a whaling ship. A distress call from the ship is sent to the Justice League who realizes that the attack is not simply a country ignoring Superman's ceasefire. Aquaman rises out of the ocean with his army to attack the whaling ship so Wonder Woman tries to reason with him. Aquaman simply says that the oceans are his domain and he shall defend the oceans. Unexpectedly Wonder Woman is shot in the face by one of Aquaman's soldiers as she approaches Aquaman. Angrily Aquaman reprimands his soldier and goes to see if his friend is alright, but Diana blames Aquaman for the attack and backhands him while saying she is tired of words. 

Justice League vs. the Ocean

Despite being bloodied and falling into unconsciousness Aquaman is reawakened by whales to lead the Atlanteans against the Justice League. Back in the Batcave Superman accuses Batman of not killing Joker as he would have lost his arch-nemesis and that he is mourning the Joker over Metropolis. Batman furiously denies this only for Superman's eyes to glow red demanding why he didn't end the Joker sooner, and why he let the Joker do this to him. He yells that Batman would never understand what the Joker took away from him, that he was now truly the Last Son of Krypton, and that Bruce is a poor excuse of a father for not consoling Dick and Damien over the death of their friends in Metropolis (we later find out that Beast Boy and Kid Flash were killed in Metropolis). Furious Batman punches Superman in the jaw but the Man of Steel is unfazed by this. Superman uses his x-ray vision to see that Batman has a hairline fracture and advises him not to punch anything for a week. This would be the last time Batman and Superman had anything friendly to say between the two of them. The alarms in the Batcave go off as a giant tidal wave created by Aquaman is threatening the ships. Superman asks Batman to come with him but Bruce refuses stating that Superman is better than this. On his way out Alfred offers 'Master Kent' some tea. Superman tells Alfred that he doesn't have to call him 'master' but Alfred dryly responds 'Good. Let's remember that.' In the Pacific Shazam and Wonder Woman find out that Aquaman has brought the kraken to battle.

Superman and Aquaman

Batman accesses the communications to the Justice League and the Atlanteans warning them that Superman is coming. In an instant Superman flies through the kraken's tentacles and grabs him by the throat demanding that Aquaman calls off the kraken. He obliges but starts criticizing Superman (despite Batman's warnings) that Superman is becoming a dictator, that the rule of Superman is coming but he will never rule the seas. Wonder Woman informs Superman that Atlantean forces have invaded major ports across the world as Aquaman states that he is not a simple land government easily bullied. Superman vows to show Aquaman his strength and orders for Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Shazam to follow him. They fly to the Mediterranean where they lift Atlantis from the sea and place it in the Sahara.

Atlantis in the Sahara

Batman tries to contact Superman but he kicks Batman from the Justice League. Wonder Woman goes to meet Aquaman on the shore of Algeria to talk. Aquaman says that he will call his forces back terrified not realizing that Superman was capable of his actions. He tells Diana to keep Superman on the right course of action, that he is scaring millions of people, and that he should seek his council. He also asks her to asks her to tell Clark that he is sorry about Lois. Later, Wonder Woman informs Superman of Aquaman's surrender and, pleased Superman asks Shazam and Green Lantern to return Atlantis to the sea. In private he informs Wonder Woman that Shazam and Green Lantern did not like moving Atlantis to the Sahara but Diana reassures him that it was the right thing to do. When Superman asks Diana if Aquaman had anything else to say after a brief hesitation she replies no.

That's the end of the first section of Injustice: Year One. In part two we will see the rift between Batman and Superman widening, war with Black Adam, and a death close to Batman's heart...

Year One Part 1: http://historyandgeekstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/comics-explained-injustice-gods-among_11.html
Year One Part 2: http://historyandgeekstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/comics-explained-injustice-gods-among_11.html

Review: Suicide Squad (2016)

Warning: Spoilers!

Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad is the newest edition to the DCEU and the second movie in this franchise to be released this year, the other being Batman v. Superman. It depicts a group of supervillains having to work for the government who wishes to take down a paranormal entity which has attacked a city. Throughout this review I will reference another film, Batman: Assault on Arkham, as that is another Suicide Squad movie, although, it is set in the Arkham universe rather than the DCEU. This review contains spoilers but please skip to the conclusion for my final verdict, and special for this review I have a but of a rant.

Plot, Acting and Pacing

Amanda Waller, (Viola Davis), has set up a team of supervillains to fight a possible metahuman, (superpowered), threat under the command of Rick Flag, (Joel Kinnaman). These villains include June Moone, (Cara Delevingne) who is possessed by an entity causing her to become the Enchantress, expert marksman Deadshot, (Will Smith), the insane Harley Quinn, (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang, (Jai Courtney), the pyromancer El Diablo, (Jay Hernandez), Killer Croc, (Adewale Akinnuoye-Abbaje), and Rick Flag's friend Katana, (Karen Fukuhara), who wields a katana which absorbs the souls of those it kills. It goes wrong when the entity possesses June Moone again causing her to take over Midway City, and is preparing to destroy the world. As the Suicide Squad is sent in to stop her, with another mission to rescue an important person, the Joker, (Jared Leto), goes to find his lover, Harley Quinn, and take her from the Squad. I will give the movie credit for embracing the source material. So far the DCEU has tried too hard to ground itself in reality, but Suicide Squad has done a good job in doing this. I have to give David Ayer much credit for doing this, 

The premise of the plot is very good. In fact it bears some similarities to Assault on Arkham with the Squad having to go to a dangerous place and retrieve someone only to find a twist, as well as being confronted by the Joker. Although I did prefer the plot to Assault on Arkham I did enjoy the plot to Suicide Squad. I was worried about pacing, something which really let Batman v. Superman down, but the film was well paced making it more enjoyable. However, I do have some gripes. Before the final act the reason why the Squad chooses to join Rick Flag seems very forced which really hindered the movie. Not only this, but I felt that Killer Croc, Katana, and to an extent Captain Boomerang were often sidelined which is a shame seen as Killer Croc is one of my favorite Batman villains. Katana only had a few lines in the film. It was a shame seeing these characters sidelined. Even the Joker was sidelined with around 90% of what was filmed being cut from the movie. Similarly, much of the scenes depicting Killer Croc's backstory was cut which again was a disappointment. It is especially disappointing considering that Akinnuoye-Abbaje spent so much time watching the DCAU, reading about cannibalism, and watched crocodiles to prepare for the role. The cuts even created a distorted view of Harley's and the Joker's relationship: the cuts caused their relationship to seem really loving whereas originally it was true to the comics, (and the DC Animated Universe where Harley first appeared), where they were in an abusive relationship. Already I've seen internet posts where people who have yet to read the comics or watch the DCAU state that Harley and the Joker were in a perfect, albeit homicidal relationship, which is far from the truth. 

Now to the acting. Viola Davis as Amanda Waller was really good; she perfectly captures the character's ruthlessness and authoritarianism which made the performance really good. With the rest of the cast I would say that the acting was good. I feared that the movie would neglect all the Squad bar Will Smith and Margot Robbie, but it didn't which gave the cast more time with their performances. Each actor worked well with one another which created a good team dynamic between the cast. Even the marginalized characters, like Croc, were given good performances so I feel the film could have been even better if they had not cut so many scenes. Now to Jared Leto. It had the makings of a good performance but I could not tell if that was due to Leto himself or due to him not being in the movie for very long, preventing him from giving a better performance. Again, if they release an unedited version of the movie we may be able to see how good a performance it was. Overall, Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger were the better Jokers, whether Leto can top Jack Nicholson and Caesar Romero that has yet to be seen. Clara Delevingne gave a mixed performance, but it was a relatively good one considering she is a relatively new actor compared to the other main cast. As June Moone, and at times the Enchantress, she was really good, but when she goes into the Central American deity mode with the voice over her performance is not as good, and the strange dance she had to do was very offputting. It looked more comical than intimidating. I must say though that Margot Robbie nailed Harley Quinn on the head; definitely one of the best live-action comic book performances that I have seen.

Effects

I would say the effects are a mixed bag. At times the CGI was good, such as the close up fighting scenes, while at other times it was not as good. Specifically, when it's showing Enchantress and her brother around the vortex. It seemed to resemble graphics from a video game five years ago rather than a big budget movie. I did not notice it but my friend said he saw the Enchantress' body being pixelated in the corner of the screen at one point. However, I did like the use of practical effects, especially Killer Croc's makeup. It looked very realistic and made the movie better as a result.

Easter Eggs and Trivia

David Ayer has truly honored the source material and has had fun with it. Throughout Suicide Squad there are many easter eggs and trivia to be found. Most of the movie takes place in Midway City where Hawkgirl and Hawkman sometimes protect, and the prison for metahumans, Belle Reve, appears in it's traditional place in Louisiana. Killer Croc speaks in a Cajun accent just like in the comics, and he mentions how he's beautiful. Originally there was going to be a scene showing his backstory which is directly from the comics. Slipknot's inclusion to be killed off immediately is reminiscent to KGBeast's inclusion just to be immediately killed off in Assault on Arkham. Batman appears three times and he is more like he is in the comics as he doesn't go out of his way to kill. The Flash also appears and takes down Captain Boomerang, and I have heard there was going to be a scene where Slipknot gets taken down by Wonder Woman but it wasn't in the final edit. I have a feeling this is due to the fact that Slipknot was only included to be killed off so this was not as needed as much as Deadshot, Harley Quinn and Boomerang. Harley Quinn at one point has a mallet which she used in the DCAU, but throughout the movie she uses a baseball bat which she uses in the Arkham games. Briefly her classic costume from the DCAU is seen and there is even a shot with the Joker replicating a image made by Alex Ross.

The image

Harley also has puddin' tattooed on her as well as a piece of jewelry saying the same thing. She is also seen doing gymnastics several times in reference to her formerly being a gymnast before becoming a psychiatrist. The Joker also has several tattoos with meanings. For one, David Ayer has said that Batman knocked out the Joker's teeth after he killed Robin leading to him getting gold braces and tattooing 'Damaged' on his head. Although, very briefly Harley's file hints that she may have actually killed Robin. The club scene is reminiscent to a scene in Joker by Brian Azzarello where the Joker murders a club owner for making Harley be a stripper. In the comic it is more violent with him skinning the owner while in the film he is just shot. However, Jonny Frost who appears in that graphic novel appears in the movie. There is so much more but I shall leave it at that.

Rant Time

I try to avoid ranting on my blog. I wanted to rant about the British EU referendum result, I wanted to rant about copyright on YouTube, I wanted to rant about how you were misandrist if you said positive things about the new Ghostbusters or if you said anything negative you were a misogynist, I wanted to rant about whitewashing with Dr Strange, Ghost in the Shell and Gods of Egypt. I avoid ranting because I do not wish to upset people. A debate or a calm review I feel is much less polarizing than a rant and I do not want to polarize the people who read this blog. However, I cannot keep this rant off anymore. This rant will cover three topics: harsh critics and Marvel comparisons, studio interference, and 'it was made for the fans'/fan wars.

First off, critics were way too harsh on both this film and Batman v. Superman. This film did not deserve 26% on Rotten Tomatoes or 40 on Metacritic. Of course movie critics occasionally are overly harsh or overly praiseworthy on certain movies; it is understandable because they have to virtually watch every movie released. Through this they will see recurring things in movies, (just think how many times 'I should have killed you when I had the chance' appears in movies), which they eventually get tired of and when a movie does something new it may seem like a breath of fresh air. This mindset is perfectly fine in my opinion. The DCEU is unfortunate to come about after the MCU grew big. The MCU is not perfect by any means, just look at the Thor movies and Iron Man 2 and 3, but when it gets it right it does it phenomenally. Both Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are on the IMDb Top 250 Movies list. As a result the MCU has set an expectation which critics are looking for, unfairly, which they expect Sony, Fox, and now Warner Bros. to match in quality and tone. Of course Sony's and, to an extent, Fox's attempts have been disastrous. X-Men: Apocalypse, Batman v. Superman and now Suicide Squad were not up to the quality of some MCU movies, and as they are different in tone to the MCU this has been two strikes against them. As a result they've been unfairly degraded. Was Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman and X-Men: Apocalypse good? Squad I believe is a yes, BvS was mediocre and I have yet to see X-Men so I cannot comment. Are they the worst comic book movies ever? Not by any means. There's all three of the awful Fantastic Four movies, Batman and Robin, Batman Forever and X-Men: The Last Stand were all worse, in my opinion, to BvS and Squad. I even feel Iron Man 3 was worse than BvS. I feel critics have to realize that if a comic book movie is less than stellar the reason for that has nothing to do with comparisons to the style of the MCU but rather other factors, and as a result shouldn't been overly harsh for that reason. An example I want to give is Dredd. Dredd is one of my favorite comic book movies based on the Judge Dredd comics; published by Rebellion Developments. It was well acted, honored the source materials, had good set-design and effects, and had fantastic fight scenes. Critics gave it positive reviews but not many. There were not any negative reviews that I'm aware of but the reason why it got so little reviews was because it was overlooked. The MCU had just gotten big and The Dark Knight Rises had shown DC was awesome again. Critics and audiences forgot this little gem to focus instead on Marvel and DC instead. Hellboy as well has been criminally overlooked in my opinion. Before we rush to DC's defense we have to remember that other comic book companies have been neglected.

My second rant is about the studio. BvS was much better unedited and most of my issues with Squad could have been rectified by keeping the deleted scenes in. Of course it is natural for a studio to have some interference; they have to make money and need to protect their interest. The studio interfered with Tim Burton's Batman by keeping Burton on a leash which produced one of the greatest comic book movies of all times. When they let him off the leash, and later Joel Schumacher, the next Batman movies were not good at all. Warner Bros. should have looked at what Fox did when they intervened in Fantastic Four and produced not only one of the worst comic book movies, but one of the worst movies of all time. Studios parade round the phrase 'it was made for the fans' but they should know fans will sit and watch a four hour comic book movie if they want this to be true. Comic book fans dress as their favorite characters, nitpick individual scenes in movies and debate trivial matters; if we do all that we will happily watch a film for three and a half hours. With the mainstream audiences they too will watch a nerdy film if it's hours long. The Lord of the Rings is one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time and not-geek audiences were more than happy to watch it. Of course BvS or Squad didn't have to sweep the Oscars but if they had made it good then the public would watch it. To be honest the studio didn't need to interfere with BvS at all: a movie with Batman and Superman in the title practically sells itself. If the studio was going to interfere it should have been to not give so much creative control to Zack Snyder. Snyder makes very good looking movies; one thing Watchmen, 300, BvS and Sucker Punch all had were they were good looking. However, it is like a fancy meal in a 5-star restaurant: nice to look at but not filling. If David S. Goyer was given more control then this could improve the DCEU.

Now to my final rant: the Fanboy Wars and 'it was made for the fans'. I hate all this Marvel v. DC. BvS and now Squad has caused DC fanboys to claim that they are hard done by, the MCU is for little kids and has brainwashed critics into thinking that all comic book movies should be like the MCU. Marvel fanboys meanwhile have been saying that DC is a shambles, it's properties are terrible and they cannot do anything right. In response DC fanboys say that Marvel cannot create good characters, Marvel fanboys say Superman and other characters are boring, and the fights continue. I will admit I am a bigger fan of Marvel than DC but that is only because it was Marvel which got me into comics. I still love DC, Image, Dark Horse etc. The Fanboy Wars are absurd. The MCU has produced both good films, (Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians), and bad films, (Thor, Iron Man 2 and 3, Incredible Hulk) while DC has produced one of the greatest films of all times, The Dark Knight. Very rarely though has any of these recent Fanboy Wars mentioned the comics. Nor has they defended the overlooked comic books:it was fans of all comics which got a Dredd sequel to be put into the works, none have commented on the possibility of a new Crow or Spawn movie, Kingsmen went overlooked by both until it was released, and none went to defend the appalling Cowboys and Aliens. Now to my other major point: 'it's made for the fans' is not an excuse to making a less than good movie. The Killing Joke, Dredd, Under the Red Hood and Dark Knight Returns were all made for fans and were good. BvS and Squad were clearly made for a wider audience, as well as for fans, and because critics didn't like it studios tried to pit fans against studios so their movie had some defense. It worked as well. I am tired though of being expected to rush to defend a not very good movie, Squad was somewhat good though, just because I'm a comic book fan. I hate it when people say 'it's just a kid's film' to defend a bad kid's movie or 'it's just a goofy movie' to defend films like Nine Lives and 'it's for the fans' is no exception. I am sick of this being a defense and I am sick of being expected to become a white knight for a poor comic book movie. 

Well that's my rant.

Conclusion

For good acting, some good effects, honoring the source material and a relatively good story, but thanks to cuts and poor CGI at times I will give Suicide Squad a 6.8/10. I would consider it an alright movie, could have been better but could have been worse. Regardless if you liked Suicide Squad or not I would strongly advise watching Assault on Arkham: it's better than Suicide Squad and a good comic book movie overall.