Wordplay is fundamental to comic books. Half of the form is the written word, and the other half is informed by it. The marriage of the two is what makes them graphic novels.
So what happens when wordplay, puns, jokes and japes are informing the entire package?
We get clowns.
It seems no superhero universe is complete without at least one kind of clown, somewhere stirring the pot. The obvious place to start is with the royalty:
The Clown Prince of Crime,
Joker.
Joker is, much like Stephen King’s IT, the illogical extrapolation of the fear of clowns. Illogical in the sense that the Joker is a drawing or a photograph in motion and Pennywise is likewise an illusion of paper or prosthetics. Yet we fear them.
Joker is an ongoing gag in Gotham. A memetic monster that just repeats, again and again until its tragedy becomes comedy. Or tired. One or the other.
Its an odd pairing, a clown vs a bat. So why repeat the match up?
Because the point of a Fool is to tell uncomfortable truths.
That’s what all these Fools are.
So let’s explore that!
The clear path paved heads towards Harley Quinn, a sidekick of the Joker in many ways.
Their dynamic is based in how orbiting around someone like that, a mythic figure, makes you mad. The gravity of that personality will alter you into something garish that you may not like, or deserve.
Some have lobbied this complaint at idea of sidekicks in general, and the Robins in particular. Fairly or otherwise.
But Harley, like many in her specific situation, truly did not deserve it.
The Comedian of Watchmen, a nihilistic “hero” who’s murder ignites the investigation central to the story. Alan Moore threw a fool off a modern cliff, to start his story and architecturally built it to be effectively, a series of well meaning but destructive practical jokes.
There’s a lot to dig in just there, but the Comedian’s various roles, actions and reactions form a complex prism of reflections for the various motivations of the characters Edward Blake faced.
That’s the relevant point.
Exiting from the grasp of DC,
Mr. Grayson or Stitches of Sky High, played by Jim Rash, is a foil to the parental figures shown throughout the movie, most notably Commander and Jetstream. The reveal of his true nature is the joke, as is his demeanour around his child in and out of costume.
Marvel too has its share of Clowns.
The Clown of Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye run interestingly is the point when the book halts being funny and begins to inflict serious consequences on your heroes. He is also, not funny. Or rather the idea of the Tracksuit Mafia hiring a clown to murder people is joke enough, him as a threat is not the joke. Its played straight.
Another clown, or clown adjacent character is Arcade who keeps alive the Silver Age quizmaster style of villainy. Much appreciated, even if your depth is that of a ginger puddle.
But the most popular clown, or rather trickster, of this side is Loki. Loki of course is far older character than Marvel or DC. But the folding of them into a superhero universe and thus exposing their rich mythology to that kind of morality allows various writers to have Loki be something of a weird chaotic neutral party. Foiling plans having their plans be foiled and being a foil to everyone’s favourite non-horse faced Odinson.
But all examples listed have been, largely malicious. Their humour is black and putrid, the cackling laughter of a foe not a friend. Loki at times acts the exception, but… there are those who are good humoured heroes.
Take Astro City’s Jack-In-The-Box:
A black quipping joke based hero. Joke based, but not himself a joke. He is one of the premiere street level crimefighters of Astro City’s heroic community. A legacy in of himself.
Alex Ross and Brent Anderson did a great job of leveraging the fear of clowns into something that is heroic, in the design of Jack-In-The-Box. Likewise with Dave Gibbons exploring different avenues of funny, by applying Groucho Marx-like features to the Comedian.
We have here a toy slinging gadget hero, who wraps his enemies up in confetti and bops their noses with electric false noses. To fight and lose to Jack-In-The-Box is humiliating to them and hilarious to us.
Another jokester is from the lands of My Hero Academia,
Ms. Joke.
Who like the Joker, exists to torment a moody and dark clad hero. But is merely a peer of Aizawa, and is just incessantly jeering of the overly tired teacher.
But her tactics for being a hero, are to alleviate panic and to settle others during rescue by being… funny.
She makes you smile.
Which is probably why her sights for torment are affixed to the grumpy Aizawa.
With that being said, stated, stamped and approved I guess there’s nothing left to say but…
Thank You For Reading.