if I wrote comics... · 5:11am Mar 13th, 2022
Y'know one book I'd really love to make?
A kind of team-up book with the Joker and Lex Luthor. Something in the vein of the more old-school days of superhero comics, when Lex was a criminal mad scientist, and the Joker was a gangster and prankster, not just a murder-happy edgelord.
But basically, I'd want to make a sort of dark comedy/adventure about the two of them as, essentially, struggling partners in crime and vitriolic supervillainous best buds. The weird, dysfunctional kind of friendship where they argue with and criticize each other (and sometimes fight, and even sometimes try to kill each other) all the freaking time, and yet will still work together and even come to the other's defense if there's some other threat - be it of a super-heroic or super-villainous nature.
(Hell, I'd be tempted to throw in the Cheetah, and make a humorous counterpart to DC's "Big Three" of superheroes. I can very easily see the group dynamic of Lex as long-suffering straight man to Joker's antics, or Cheetah having to break up their squabbling.)
Just something that'd be fun, y'know?
Don't ask me why this popped into my head, or where it came from. But it's a thought I've had now and again, and one that I finally decided to give some voice to. I'd like to see a comic or a story about the "friendship," and sometimes, actual friendship, between supervillains.
(One that also doesn't smear the superheroes they're up against either. You can have supervillains show human traits without dehumanizing or demonizing the heroes who foil them. It's not one or the other, people.)
What do you all think?
That sounds pretty cool. ^^
Honestly we need more fun stuff in this day and age, don't always need something to be thought-provoking or edgy or all that.
I'd be game for that. Make the supervillains humans. You don't have to make them sympathetic, but let them have moments where they're not "on the clock". Let them feel like actual people, more or less, not just archetypes.
Hmmmm
I actually have this Batman/Superman book that basically has a collection of old and modern crossovers with them.
There was one where Joker and Lex teamed up and told the public they reformed, though they try to outdo Supe with indestructible mechanical men. "Mechano-Men", I think they called them, lol
5643447
I just wanted to do, if not an outright throwback to the more openly silly eras of the Silver Age (or hell, some of the Bronze Age, because you still had some wacky stuff there too), something that would just be an entertaining romp with the DC stable. Like you say, doesn't always have to be something deep or edgy.
Glad to hear you feel that way, and I agree.
5643488
Totally agree. One of my favorite aspects of superhero comics is sometimes when they show a human side of the bad guy characters... or even those who work for them. I remember one of my favorite scenes from the Harley Quinn comic I have (late 90s, early oughts) involved a scene where a bunch of henchmen talk about their various experiences working for the big names in Gotham, and who's the best to work for. It almost feels like a troupe of actors discussing working for certain directors, and it was just charmingly "mundane" to read and see that aspect of super-crime.
5643563
Oh that sounds nice.
And I think I've heard that story too. I recall reading about it, anyway... think it was in a book about the Joker and his history as a comic-book character/pop-culture icon.
5643584
Maybe contrast their approaches to crime. For Joker, it's about the show, the pizzazz, the set up and punchline, for Luthor, it's about finally getting the respect he deserves, but for Cheetah, eh, it's just a job. She'd rather NOT get her ass handed to her by Wonder Woman, but aside from that, it's very impersonal to her.
5643586
Sort of a supervillainous Technician versus Performer, eh?
I can see that. Though in some ways, I think they'd all have their own particular strengths and weaknesses. Joker is the showman, but he is the best at "improv" so to speak. Lex is the egotist but has plans and contingencies up the wazoo. Cheetah is normally the most workmanlike of the three but when her beastly side really takes over, *watch out*.
(I'm going off of what little I've seen of the Barbara Minerva version of Cheetah in the comics, at any rate. She could really relish a scrap with superpowered opponents.)
5643593
That works. Who the straight man in the trio tends to vary, though it's probably usually Cheetah. Though it's not a good day when JOKER has to be the straight man.
5643594
Indeed. And oh boy, I can hear that too.
Joker: "I can't believe you two are making *me* be the sensible one right now!"
5643596
Perfect. Just, the very concept of him, of all people, having to be the straight man is just that inherently offensive to him. Which makes it hilarious to us.