Graphic Novel Review: Joker

"Joker"

Written by Brian Azzarello

Art by Lee Bermejo

Colors by Patricia Mulvihill

Published by DC Comics

The team of Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo never ceases to amaze and entertain me with every work they've done.  Their insightful take on the mind of Superman's greatest foe Lex Luthor in Lex Luthor: Man of Steel was impressive, and I loved the fact that they avoided telling a boring origin story and instead,  attempted to "break-in" into the mind of the genius bald-headed villain by telling a story through  Luthor's perspective.

This one is no different. 

Joker is released from the bars of the dreaded Arkham Asylum after many years and though glad that he out of the penitentiary, the clown immediately realizes that the people he trusted took everything that he has thinking that he was dead for good. Frustrated, he goes on a mission to take back what is "his" and begins the journey of rebuilding his criminal empire together with his newest recruit - a man named as Jonny Frost - who also serves as the narrator of the novel.

My Top 9 Comic Book Movies of All Time

Since I'm a fan of comic books, I have virtually watched every superhero/comic book film out there - except for a few good ones - like Sin City and V for Vendetta for example, which is a shame really. Anyway, I have been running out of things to write on my blog and I don't want to fill this up with comic book reviews all the time.

There were a lot of comic book movies that I own on DVD, some of them are good, some of them not, and only a few are memorable, and I will going to list them down in no particular order.

So without further ado here are the best comic book movies that I have watched:

Spider-Man

The original is always the best as they say and this first Spidey flick proved that. It told the classic Spiderman origin, of how an ordinary school geek named Peter Parker became a super powered hero because of a bite from an irradiated spider, and learning that "with great power comes with great responsibility." Our friendly neighborhood hero surely didn't disappoint, with Tobey Maguire playing an excellent lead role. 

Favorite Scene: What else? The Mary Jane-Spidey upside down kiss in the rain. 'Nuff said.

 Batman (1989) 

The mother of all Batman movies. Tim Burton (of the Edward Scissorhands fame) directed this new take on the Batman mythos (new at the time at least) while comedic actor Michael Keaton took on the role as the caped crusader. The villain? The Joker played by the legendary Jack Nicholson. Loosely based on the Alan Moore classic "The Killing Joke", it gave new breath to the character and paved way for the creation of the Batman franchise. It is still one of my favorite Batman movies and I remember being so excited every time it was played on TV. It was that memorable - especially Jack's performance.

 Favorite scene: The first ever Batman-Joker face off.