Batman: Joker’s Daughter – Review

By: Marguerite Bennett (writer), Meghan Hetrick (artist), Michelle Madsen (colorist)

The Story: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.

The Review: Despite DC’s insistence that she’s a ‘fan-favorite’ character and soaring speculation on ebay, Ann Nocenti’s Joker’s Daughter issues have not fared well in the court of public opinion. The character was near universally panned, with claims of uninspired writing and needless vulgarity.

It’s all the sadder for the weird, wild ride JD has taken; winding her way through countless villains in an attempt to find relevance and depth equal to the power of her moniker, finally finding a solid but unfulfilled concept as some sort of strange priestess of the Joker’s unique religion of madness. In spite of this long and troubled road, Marguerite Bennett strips this loathsome character down to the purest brilliance of her concept, scraping off the scabs and filth with which she’s adorned herself.

As she has done in all her previous work, Bennett immerses herself and her readers in the dark corners of the villainous psyche. The Joker’s Daughter is, from start to finish, the main attraction, and Marguerite takes great pleasure in indulging the girl’s twisted ramblings.

There’s something archetypal and frighteningly logical about the Joker’s Daughter. If you listen long enough you may find yourself following her down the rabbit hole; recognizing that that action won’t be enough, knowing that what she does next won’t truly make her one with the Joker. She lays out her plans just so, talking as much to the readers that she doesn’t know exist as to herself. We see the gaping flaws in her plans, just as we’re impressed that this arrogant pup grasps some small details of the grand play we enjoy each month. And, before long, she’s learning and the dialogue she’s having with you is operating on rules that don’t exist and really, really shouldn’t.

Supergirl #59 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Jamal Igle (penciller), Jon Sibal and Robin Riggs (inkers), Blond (colorist)

The Story: Nothing like spending the night fighting crime and searching for the one person in the world you hate the most, which is what Supergirl finds herself doing on Christmas Eve—it sure is a wonderful life!

The Review: One of the very fine comic book bloggers out in the webosphere is Rokk Krinn, founder of the Comic Book Revolution.  Being an otherwise open-minded reviewer of comics, he had a massive pet peeve for derivative characters, those spun off from already established ones.  He felt they lacked originality and crutched on their originator’s cast and image.  This meant his distaste fell on quite a number of DC’s galaxy of stars, most of them sidekicks to the big leagues—Batgirl, Superboy, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and yes—Supergirl.

There’s credit to Rokk’s prejudice, but if writers give derivative characters distinct personalities and motivations, then originality isn’t so much an issue.  People love imitations—tune into any pop radio station and you’ll sense that immediately—but no one loves a copy.  The best imitators use the original as an outline, then spin it into something new.  Sterling Gates has been working to do this since he took over Supergirl, and he’s gotten some good things out of it.

The previous Bizarro-girl storyline was exactly the sort of material Rokk would have hated: pitting an imitation of a hero versus an imitation (a rather weak one, too) of a villain.  This issue features a similar matchup with the Dollmaker, essentially a younger Toyman who specializes in the creepiest of all children’s playthings.  The Dollmaker has a fairly cliché connection to the classic Superman foe, and the full package of misguided angst.  By every definition, the Dollmaker is totally unoriginal.