Who created Batman's nemesis, anyway? Meet Jerry Robinson.
From the piece in the New York Times...
Published by the company that would become DC Comics, the Batman stories were an immediate hit and pushed the men hard: they would work in Mr. Kane’s Bronx apartment and have long discussions over lunch or dinner to come up with content. It was a hectic pace, but, Mr. Robinson said with a smile, “I was young and foolish.”
If a hero is only as good as his opponent, then the creation of the Joker cannot be underestimated. “Villains, I always thought, were more interesting,” Mr. Robinson said. He learned from his studies that some characters were built on their contradictions, so he decided that his evildoer would have a sense of humor.
“I think the name came first: the Joker,” he said. “Then I thought of the playing card.” (There was always a deck at hand, he recalled, thanks to his family’s love of bridge and other card games.)
1 comment:
I had heard once that the Joker was based off of a character from Victor Hugo's "The Man Who Laughs," where a pitiful character, Gwynplaine is disfigured as a child when someone carves his mouth into a permenant smile. Creepy, huh? (and the book is very good so far, although I haven't finished).
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