About four months ago, a new YouTube fan series called The Joker Blogs started, and it’s the best Heath Ledger Joker impression I’ve seen on the net so far. This guy has the mannerisms, the voice, and the look down to the letter. The series is wonderfully creepy, but also very funny and often ironic. The writing is excellent and the production value is surprisingly strong. There have been four episodes so far, each averaging between 4 and 5 minutes. The premise is that these are videos made in Arkham Asylum of the Joker’s therapy sessions, given by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who of course, in comic book continuity, is turned insane by the Joker and becomes his right-hand lady. There’s an ongoing story beginning to form, and it’s impressive what they can do with just a few minutes. Enjoy!

Therapy Begins

Arkham Bound

Meet Steve

A Dream Come True

They’ve also made two little Holiday specials that aren’t official episodes– the most recent, My Funny Valentine, just came out last week.

The Dark Knight Before Christmas

My Funny Valentine

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

I don’t want to say that I’m outraged that The Dark Knight didn’t get more Oscar nods, but I am a little disappointed. I think most people expected it to be nominated for best picture, almost as much as we expected Heath Ledger to get nominated for best supporting actor. Ledger did get that nomination, which is no surprise, but I wonder if he still would have been considered had he not died.

I was really excited about the Oscars this year. It seemed like there was a really good shot a comic book movie could finally be recognized as a serious piece of artistic cinema. Had Dark Knight been nominated for best picture and won, it would have been a big step in solidifying the comic book as a valid medium. Granted, comics aren’t just for geeks like they once were, but there are still a lot of stereotypes attached, still plenty of “normal” people who don’t take them seriously, who see them entirely as insignificant escapism.

But, as the Joker puts it in The Dark Knight, Batman’s “changed things.” To be fair, The Dark Knight and Iron Man have “changed things.” There’s a depth to those movies that you don’t have to be a comic book fan to appreciate, and indeed, those movies have been throroughly enjoyed and taken seriously by a significant number of people who have never read a Batman or Iron Man comic book. They’re stories about people and about society, not just about flat, heroic characters who put on costumes and fight bad guys. Not unlike major court cases, these films have set a precedent, and people are going to expect comic book films in the future to live up to that depth. It seems evident from the trailers that Watchmen is trying to live up to that precedent. The Dark Knight didn’t need to be nominated for best picture for that to happen, and the future is looking quite bright for future comic book films. And the fact that it broke nearly every box office record means that superheroes won’t lose their popularity any time soon.

I suppose all good things take time. One major step has been achieved, and perhaps it isn’t the right time for a comic book movie to win best picture. Eventually the comic book film will come along that goes even further than The Dark Knight, and I’m optimistic it will eventually happen.

In the meantime, The Dark Knight has been nominated in a number of other technical categories (although I also wish it were up for best screenplay). It’s up for best supporting actor (Heath Ledger), art direction, cinematography, film editing, makeup,  sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects.

Here’s the official list of nominations.

The Oscars will be on February 22nd and hosted by Hugh Jackman. That oughta make it worth watching all by itself! At least I’ve actually seen some of the movies on the list this year. The last few years, I hadn’t seen anything on the list, and judging by the ratings, I’m not sure anyone else had, either.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan