Grim 'n' gritty comes to Great Britain

[arbre_rieur]

The Joker brings his brand of horror to the UK's quaint superhero community.

Last issue, Jarvis Poker, the British Joker, was paid a surprise visit by his American counterpart.







Instead, the Joker decides to have Jarvis accompany him as he embarks on his plan to kill all of Britain's heroes. He finds their existence insulting because, as he puts it, "this nation of pretend superheroes and villains is a shambolic mixed metaphor echo of something real."

Which brings us to issue 6...







The Joker's using mind-control masks to turn civilians into his murder weapons.

Comments

[mas]

Is Birthday Girl's power nudity or something?

[shadowpsykie]

don't forget strategic placement of props

[icon_uk]

As in "Birthday suit" ie naked (I thought Americans used that term too)

[aaron_bourque]

That's an excellent power.

[freezer]

"Joker blows into [city that isn't Gotham], racks up a massive body count and (probably) either escapes or gets packed off back to Arkham."

Do. Not. Want.

[freezer]

Though I must admit, the idea of the local bad guys going "Fuck this guy" rather than cowering in fear is a refreshing change.

[doomisay]

I love the Druids sign.

[terrykun]

I'd expect it to ask them to "Please do not turn off the grass." ;)

[icon_uk]

Sadly, even when directly challenged with "What's funny about that?" the Joker still gives a completely shite answer.

[warpedhand]

I absolutely agree that Joker as a "death force of nature" is infinitely less interesting than a lot of other Joker interpretations. (I want an issue where the Joker leaves a threatening message or something, scares the shit out of everybody, and never actually appears because he's busy doing something ridiculous).

Also, the ending of this was really.... Not good.

[valtyr]

Jarvis has great dignity in the face of death, gotta say. Go him.

[warpedhand]

I will agree that the only one this thing should be a game to is the Joker himself.

[omgwtflolbbqbye]

Comic Alliance had an interesting write-up on this issue/story being Silver Age vs. Modern Age sensibilities, and possible Alan Moore references in the Joker's plan:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/17/knight-and-squire-6-iceman-and-angel-one-shot-review/

[valtyr]

A superpowered community rallying together after a series of murders? Not too far off from Moore's Watchmen.

I... would not really say that about Watchmen.

[terrykun]

Another case of those rude foreigners not bloody well knowing how to queue.

Yes it's a queue to kill superheroes, but the point stands.

[baihu]

"I am the Milkman. My milk is delicious."

" It's fortified with what the world wants. What the world deserves."

[icon_uk]

The Milkman is actually a riff on an old Benny Hill novelty song, Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of picking this up. Thank you Scans Daily for saving me from a horrible mistake. I like fun. I can see the appeal of grim and gritty. But I have no desire at all to watch fun turn into grim and gritty.

[espanolbot]

Actually this seems to be a deliberate attempt to show why Fun is better than Grim and Gritty, rather than vice versa.

I spy with my little eye.....

[capt_satellite]

....old school Cybermen, perhaps? Page 7, second panel?

Re: I spy with my little eye.....

[icon_uk]

Introduced in issue 1, those are Somerset based villains, the Cidermen. :)

[flidgetjerome]

. . . Man, so they're still running the Routemasters regularly in DCU London? Maybe I won't move to Opal City after all.

[bradhanon]

Ally the Cat? Dear god, is that an Ally Sloper reference?

That is HARDCORE nerdy.

[nemryn]

Probably just a pun on 'alleycat'.

[sistermagpie]

I really really don't like this. It's been said better elsewhere in the thread but ugh, I get that there's a meta challenge of the Joker in here, but wouldn't it be better to just write him well than complaining that he isn't written well? He's not funny, he's not particularly insane, and I really don't like watching him go to another country and slaughter a bunch of people, some of whom sound likeable just hearing their names. Them all banding together to get rid of him is certainly nicer than all of them cowering in fear over one guy who likes to kill people but he's still already had too easy a time of it moving through all these heroes.

I'm reading the body count get racked up and yet again thinking that one single murder that actually meant something would make the Joker more impressive than a dozen that mean nothing and makes reading it dehumanizing. It's sad to think that a character called the Joker couldn't enter into something more fun with a different culture as well. You'd think he'd find more amusement in Great Britain than just doing exactly the same unimaginative stuff he does back in Gotham.

[arbre_rieur]

"It's been said better elsewhere in the thread but ugh, I get that there's a meta challenge of the Joker in here, but wouldn't it be better to just write him well than complaining that he isn't written well?"

They're going for a contrast between Americans (the Joker) and Britons (Jarvis).

[pilotsaunicorn.livejournal.com]

Forgiven me for asking but what seems to be the problem here that everyone is having about The Joker going around killing British heroes in a brutal manner? Isn't the whole point of his character suppose to be that he is evil and insanity incarnate who does horrible things for no logical reasons other than it amuses him to do so?

[icon_uk]

The Joker being lethal I don't have a problem with, but that's ALL he is nowadays.

So it's not the horrible things, but that the ONLY horrible thing he does is kill people. That's just... dull.

If the Joker had decided to show Jarvis how it was done, by staging one of his classic theme crimed capers. That would be one thing... this is bodycount for the sake of bodycount.

There's also the fact that the Joker has such an easy time of killing off any number of heroes, not one of which seems to have put up a good fight. That's known as "jobbing" and it always comes across as a very cheap ploy.

[philippos42]

From Chris Murphy's piece in Comics Alliance:
Even the concept of the story made me think of Moore's short comic In Pictopia, which was also about different eras of comics colliding. Having the Joker as the one American character seems to cast the whole grim and gritty change in comics over the past few decades as an influence from the U.S., when in fact it was a number of British creators who were highly influential in setting that new tone.

This. England didn't invent grim'n'gritty singlehanded, Chaykin & Miller were key as well; but it's a very British thing (Delano, Ennis, Ellis, etc.), innit?

This is the problem not only with this arc, but with this series thus far. There's this odd idea that England is safe & just playing, while the real bad stuff happens in America. Metafictionally, does that mean the British writers who put horrible stuff in American settings are doing it because it's "over there"?

[arbre_rieur]

Not everything's meant to be meta-commentary.

[proteus_lives]

I almost agree with the Joker but his spree could be a lot funnier.

Thus combining dark and funny.

Regarding the DCU-Britain in the title

[strannik01]

I kind of prefer Neil Gaiman's take on the relationship between DCU!Britain and DCU!USA in the original Books of Magic mini, where British characters regard costumed superheroes and supervillains as this bizarre, peculiarly American thing. Seems more... plausible. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the superhero genre ever took hold in the British comics the way it did in American comics.

Re: Regarding the DCU-Britain in the title

[icon_uk]

No, you'd be right there, most comics are (and pretty much always have been) focussed on the "comical" side rather than super-hero led.

[warpedhand]

By the way, does anyone else find Squire's last monologue not a particular punishment to the Joker? It's like she's not even trying.