I really would have liked to have liked a little more time to think about The Joker, but the Magic Tupperware is a cruel mistress.
The Joker is one of those characters that I’m never sure where to go with. I think people try to put him on a pedestal because since he is currently Batman’s primary villain, he has to be just as competent as the Bat and thus one of the most dangerous villains in the DC Universe. While I’m happy with making the Joker brilliant and dangerous, I’m not sure if I agree with that approach.
Also, I think that DC Comics have gone a little too far with the whole monster clown thing. If he really were as bad as he’s been in the last decade or so it wouldn’t just be the cops and the heroes who would be hunting for him.
So in my approach, I would start by downplaying him down back to the “Clown Prince of Crime” just a bit with Heath Ledger’s anarchist trickster. This leaves us with a high-ranking “freelancer” he’s not exactly in a real position of power, after all where’s the fun in that? But at the same time, he’s someone who’s very much a wildcard (pun attended) acting in the name of laughs and chaos that nobody can afford to ignore.
I’m sort of quoting Fredric March as Edward Hyde here, with Joker laughing in the rain. (regrettably, rain in the nighttime is almost impossible to do with the hatching I’m doing here.) I’m afraid the whole shirtless thing makes him look a little bit like the Jared Leto’s version… It’s unintentional, sorry.
PS: I’m finding the beginning of a tangent, the punning of “clown” and “crown” have me thinking of the Joker as an underworld version of Bonny Prince Hal… but if that’s the case, who’s Henry IV and Hotspur? … or Falstaff?
With the magic Tupperware telling me to draw the lovely Barbara Gordon AKA Oracle has finally allowed me to get to one of the major points I have for one of the major points I had for my vision of this Batman sketch challenge… the Batcrew.
Based on what I have in mind, I have no idea if Babs was ever Batgirl (based on some of the things I’m thinking about I’m not sure if there even was a Batgirl… this thought may change) Though I’m mostly certain that Oracle had the same gruesome origin that she had in the comics.
So anyway… Batcrew. Does anyone believe that Alfred can keep all the Batcave running by himself? In this version, I’m seeing a staff of at least ten people.
Oracle is the head of the Information Department, which includes records and IT. That’s Joe the archivist working behind her (you know all those scenes where Batman is looking up something obscure in records? Who do you think keeps those records updated?)
For day four of my Batman sketch challenge, the magic Tupperware told me to draw Firefly (actually it told me to draw Man-Bat but since I’m not completely sure about the existence of superpowers in my current evolving version of the setting so I’ll come back to him later.
Firefly was a character from the mid-fifties whose gimmick was using special effects, he was kind of DC’s version of Mysterio. He was recreated in the nineties as a professional arsonist and pyromaniac. I like that version better.
While I’m certainly happy with this picture, my only problem with it is that without any other context, showing a madman’s hallucinations is indistinguishable from having him being surrounded by actual fire sprites.
After the heavy depressing and heavy heist films that went of their way to show as well as tell us how crime doesn’t pay, I thought I’d clear my palette a little bit with some complete fluff. My choice of topic for my mindless entertainment this time was Parkour. I’ve been interested in parkour, or free running, the art of running around in the city, for a while for various reasons (I don’t think I’d want to do it myself, I’ve got weak shins.)
It’s about five years in the future and Paris has been overwhelmed by poor neighborhoods. To deal with them the government has walled them off turning them into violent uncontrollable ghettos overwhelmed by vicious gangs. The worst of these is the titular District 13. Belle plays Leito a man trying to make a difference in his hometown. However, after earning the enmity of ganglord, Taha, (Bibi Naceri) his sister is kidnapped and he’s put in prison.
Months later he is freed by an undercover police officer (Damien Tomaso by Cyril Raffaelli) who needs a native guide to find a small nuclear missile hijacked by Taha. Can they find the missile and stop the countdown in time and do the people behind all of this really want them to?
This film really has nothing to it besides badass stuntwork and martial arts. For all practical purposes, it’s a french hong kong action film. There is just enough plot to hold the action scenes together and the less you think about the plot the better. Still watching David Belle do his thing is worth the price of admission. Never has running away been more badass.
poster art
The blue ray I rented came with the sequel film District 13: Ultimatum, directed by Patrick Alessandrin. It’s three years later and District 13 is still the pit it’s always been despite the promises made at the end of the last film. Leito and Damien are brought back together after Damien is framed to keep him from investigating a conspiracy that plans to incite gang violence giving the government the excuse to destroy District 13. Can our heroes and their allies stop this in time?
At first District 13: Ultimatum looks like it’s going to be a better film, with a bigger cast and higher production values. This misunderstanding lasts for about ten minutes. The plot’s even worse with the ending making you want to go hunting for the film’s writers. Despite this, there are enough good fight scenes to keep you from feeling like you’ve wasted an hour and a half of your life.
The best part, near the end, of course, is a fight scene featuring Élodie Yung of Marvel Daredevil fame as Tao the knowledge broker who really needed her own film.
Finally last and definitely least was Daniel BenmayorTracers. Tracers tells the story of Cam (Taylor Lautner) a bike messenger who owes money to the Chinese mafia. After getting his bike trashed nearly running over a beautiful woman freerunning in the middle of the street named Niki (Marie Avgeropoulos) he becomes obsessed with parkour. (Or more accurately he gets obsessed with Nikki and learns parkour to get closer to her.) Soon he gets good enough to join Nikki’s group, who turn out to be a gang of thieves who use their parkour skills to execute well-planned heists. Can Cam survive long enough to pay off his debts and get the girl? Watch and see.
Again despite some good stonework, this film was pretty much mediocre at it’s best with barely enough plot to hold the free running scenes together.
Honestly, the only good performance in the whole film Came from Johnny M Wu who plays Jerry the gangster Cam owes money, at first glance a charming yuppie, until he hits you while saying it’s just business and it’s your fault for making him do it.
The magic Tupperware gave me a fun one today, Mr. Edward Nygma, the Riddler!
The Riddler is one of the best examples of how to do the grey characters right. One of the best things DC Comics did in the last ten years was make The Riddler a private investigator so he could challenge the Bat at his own game. It annoyed me when they rebooted it in the new 52 and worse, made him just another murderous psycho with a gimmick in rebirth.
One of the things I like about the Riddler is while he’s certainly insane, after a fashion, he isn’t criminally insane. Whatever flavor of OCD his obsessions are they’re probably perfectly treatable and don’t warrant him a cell in Arkham.
So in this mini sketch-verse, we have The Riddler as a consulting detective. Still an insufferable jerk and quite amoral, but not a criminal. He’s probably never even been convicted! On top of this, he’s the first person the GCPD call in on the tough cases. After all, you need to wait for it to get dark to light up the Bat Signal, while you have The Riddler’s Agency on speed dial.
He even gives press conferences and loves imagining how annoyed he’s making his caped rival.
Best of all, since this is comics, this version is still played by the late, great, Frank Gorshin!
For day two of my April Batman sketch challenge, the magic Tupperware told me I had to draw Mr. Floyd Lawton AKA Deadshot!
It’s been a while Deadshot’s been part of Batman’s rogue’s gallery proper. He’s currently better known as part of the Suicide Squad. (though he did show up for the “War of Jokes and Riddles” storyline last year. As a freelance sniper, I think he fits into the modern setting much better than the villain with a gimmick he started out as in the 1950s.
As for what Deadshot would look like in this setting, he’s gone through multiple redesigns over the years. I’ve never liked his trademark wrist guns since it was never clear where the magazines were. As for the scope in his mask, I was never quite sure how that was supposed to work. For now, I’m assuming it’s hooked up somehow to a camera scope in this high tech sniper rifle.
For the rest of his “costume,” all I’m keeping is the mask/helmet, the rest is just commando gear. If it helps though, you can pretend his sweater’s red.
