Week Thirteen: Reconsidering The Superhero

The movement of the Superhero had lots of changes. An example, Batman was first created as a character in the 1930s as more of crime fighting character. However in between he becomes more of a sillier character over time. He is more of a vigilante past, and was reinvented in the the 1980s to be more like how he originally is. In recent times, Batman has been revamped in recent the lego movie as once again back into more of a silly character. We have more of a back and forth and revamping of Superhero characters. Superman is also quite a problem as in being too many invulnerabilities, or we have resetting the character after a set of years. The changes is by generation, not overtime where the Superheros actually learn from their mistakes.

Arkham Asylum is the comic I chose for this week, and I think not only is the stylistic choice reflects the world and the state of mind of the characters we get a definitive sense of mood. Another interesting part is that Batman himself admits that he's afraid of being similar to the Joker. It also really looks at the psychology of the actual characters and Arkham itself.

Batman The Killing Joke Questions:

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

The text I read I think is very much more into the actual relationship of both Batman and the Joker. It is about their relationship and how both characters are actually very similar. The comic starts off with the actual dialogue of Batman talking about how they will never truly stop fighting until both of them end up killing each other. The most compelling part of the story was the ending when they both are laughing at the whole situation which Joker explained in his "joke". As Batman and the Joker laugh it seems to have at this part Batman may of went to go kill joker rather than his usual capture. This is a very surprising end and it ends on the notion that Batman killed Joker.

2. What connection did you make to the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to connect.

I think what I connect to the most is how morally ambiguous the whole plot is. We are challenged because Joker's backstory seems to be tragic however at the same time the current story that we are following he is basically killing people relentlessly. I feel like I can connect and have empathy to Joker's early life. Being a failure, and being someone who experienced loss.

3. What changes would you make to adapt the story into another medium? What medium would you use, and what changes would you make?

If I were to adapt this story into another medium, I would possibly suggest a mixture between 2D and 3D animation for medium sort of like how they did Into the Spider-Verse film. The story would not have to change too much into animation, and style can still get across successfully. Using a combination of hand-drawn and a virtual reality environment combining them and keeping the same stylistic choice.