Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Man Who Laughs
The image of the Joker, Batman's arch-nemesis (not the maverick Filipino senator/Pipol's Dragon), was based by Bob Kane on a photo of actor Conrad Veidt from the film The Man Who Laughs. The film was an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name, which is, oddly enough, described by Wikipedia as one of Hugo's more obscure works.
This iconic image from "Batman: The Killing Joke", Alan Moore's twisted one-shot about the psychotic clown, was drawn by artist Brian Bolland, who cited the film for his inspiration for the Joker's look. In 2005, "Batman: The Man Who Laughs", another classic Joker one-shot akin to "The Killing Joke", was released.
Labels: comic books
