Confessions of a PopBunker.net Drunkard

Caveman and Baroness have opened their closet with geek confessions. It’s my turn to do the same. To make it easier to find all the confessions by the Pop Bunker writers, I made a feature link along the menu bar ^^ up there. Or, HERE is the link.

5. Comics

Although I started Pop Bunker, the reason I recruited other writers was not only because they are much better writers than me, but also because I lack a classic upbringing in many geek areas and needed erudite folks to fill that void. Up until two years ago I had not read any comic but Watchmen since I was a pre-teen. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series roped me in two years ago and I paced myself through it in about a year. Since then I have consumed most of the canonized Batman books (more on that later) as well as 20-30 vintage Silver Age Batman comics that I got for free. I’ve also completed book one of Kick-Ass (readers of this site are sure to be aware that there is a highly anticipated movie on its way). But that is it. That’s all the comics I have read as an adult. Elwood and Baroness are probably ready to lock me in Arkham with all the questions I ask them about comics. I do it because I feel left out and would love to just be able to upload the information so I can play along now instead of facing years of catching up.

I have seen almost all of the DC and Marvel animated movies, so I have that going for me. Right? Right?

4. Paul McCartney

Sure, it is ok to love the Beatles and it is ultra-cool to be into John Lennon’s solo work, but I am a Macca man. I’ve seen him live, at one time had bought all of his CDs (the rips still exist, but the CDs? Not so much.), and listened to almost nothing but from 1992 to 2002. My music taste has expanded since then to include everything from Scott Walker to Mastodon to Marty Robbins and so much more, but Macca will always hold a dear place in my heart. I still seek out youtube clips of performances and will catch an odd special if he is performing. One of the first full-effort Pop Bunker posts I wrote was a retrospective of Macca’s solo work; and I still say his 2008 album Electronic Arguments released under the name of The Fireman is the best post-Beatles release by any of the Fab Four and the first album by McCartney or anyone else that provides a real taste to where the modern Beatles could have evolved.

3. Liz Lemon

I adore Liz Lemon. I guess one could call it a celebrity crush, but I am not sure that a character played by Tina Fey is a real celebrity. And I don’t know if I adore Tina Fey because 30 Rock is the only thing I have ever seen her in (outside of some Palin skits. I don’t think not watching SNL in 20 years is severe enough to be a geek confession, is it?). I don’t even know if it can be called a crush. It is more like a gal-I-would-like-to-buy-chips-and-beer-for-and-go-over-to-her-house-to-watch-the-Star-Wars-Trilogy-in-reverse-order type of thing. I don’t know why, but everything from Liz Lemon’s mannerisms to her world views are endearing to me in a totally non-sexual way. Like if I were gay, she would totally be my BFF.

2. Lost

I like multi-layered mysteries. I like sci-fi. I like the multiverse theory. I like JJ Abrams. I like that when the show started it had a hobbit in it (I don’t know if it still does). And I love serial shows. But I don’t like Lost. Everyone who knows I am a Twin Peaks freak asks me how I like Lost, and I wonder how in the hell the two are linked together. Maybe something comes up later, but where Twin Peaks is surreal and elegant, Lost is manipulative and purposely and painfully dense. I’ve started the series three times and can never get past the fifth episode. It is the exact same feeling I had when trying to watch the new BattleStar Galatica. Pass.

1. The Killing Joke

I think Jack Nicholson’s Joker was just as good if not better than Heath Ledger’s. There, I said it. So what?

Look, I appreciate what Ledger did. He did a hell of a job playing a psychopath with oily hair. As a Die Hard villain he would have been note perfect. I’m going to sound like a bit of a hypocrite here, but so be it. I appreciate what DC Comics has done in the last couple of decades with regard to trying to canonize the Batman mythos. Many elements and story arcs are now considered part of the official canon and it has helped clean up and make sense of what is otherwise a sprawling and muddled mythology. The Joker character in these canonized stories is a sign of our times in that he is certainly more psychopathic than absurdly insane. Many of the greatest Batman books ever have been part of the new official canon, with a more sinister Joker, and I think the comic series is better off for it.

However, the Joker than Jack played was a different sort of Joker than what Ledger played – and it was like that by design. Nicholoson’s Joker was more like the character that has been around for 70 years. The Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman was the bigger-than-life villain portrayed in most of the books up to that point; Batman’s ultimate foil by not only being chaos to the Caped Crusader’s order, but also the villain that was able to match The Goddamn Batman gadget for gadget and come up with large scale plans that would drop the entire city of Gotham into a black despair.

Jack’s Joker had parades in the street with Prince performing and Cirque du Soleil trailing behind throwing poison party favors into the crowd. It was mean, diabolical, slightly funny, absurd, and the exact opposite to Batman’s secret and quiet night time vigilantism. It was a reversal of roles for the hero/villain dynamic. There hero was of the night; unknown and draped in shadows. The villain was at the forefront, flaunting his power and evil genius. It is, in part, that stage of reversal that makes the Joker and Batman relationship so compelling in the classic books and the 1989 film. They are so very different but also frighteningly similar.

Ledger’s Joker was more gritty and, as many claim the “Nolanverse” is more realistic, the Joker was more realistic. But in that realism the Joker’s canvas in which to work was reduced. Instead of wide sweeping plans to wreck havoc on Gotham, Ledger’s Joker is small scale. Sure, he takes over from the mobs, but even that is not played out in any menacing way except in how it disrupts the underworld. The Nolanverse Joker does nod to the character’s chaotic side (like in the book R.I.P. where he is put out by other villains trying to take down The Bat), and highlights the similarities of the enemies, but without the contrast of style. In fact, in The Dark Knight, the Joker and Batman are both night time vigilantes working behind the scenes. However, Heath-Joker’s ambition never leads to much of anything except for, oooh, ahhh to blow-up a couple of ferries in a manipulative, ham-fisted moral dilemma.

Ledger’s Joker is more on par with a villain that should be handled by John McLane. He in fact reminds me of Wesley Snipe’s Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man. So a Stallone villain.

No amount and lip licking, voice acting, or greasy hair can elevate Ledger’s Joker into the realm of Super Villain. In that regard, his feet look small indeed when placed in Jack’s shoes.

As a final nail in my coffin, I also enjoyed Iron Man more than The Dark Knight (odd since Batman is the only comic I follow with any regularity). I recently watched both of them again and that opinion holds up.

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