Funny Holidays - Joker Day

On August 16, all fans of Batman comics celebrate Joker Day, one of the most charismatic and mysterious supervillains in the DC Comics universe This character first appeared on the pages of publications in 1940 He was destined for a sad fate - to play a small role in the plot and disappear, but the Joker turned out to be a tough nut to crack Today he is rightfully considered one of the most popular villains, with thousands of fans The Joker's name itself is a reference to a special card that is included in the standard French deck According to one of the most common versions, it was borrowed from the Tarot, where the Fool usually symbolizes forgiveness In games, it can act as a wild card of variable value In a regular card deck there are two Jokers - a colored one, which symbolizes day, and a colorless one, which represents night The image of the Joker could well have been borrowed from the images on the cards, but the creators were inspired not only by him In 1928, Victor Hugo's famous novel "The Man Who Laughs" was filmed In the black and white film, the main role of the crippled Gwynplaine was played by an American actor of German origin, Conrad Veidt The novel is about a man who was kidnapped and mutilated as a child He spent most of his life in poverty, but later found his family, rose to the very top and was completely trampled Since only silent films were produced at that time, all the attention of the audience was focused on the facial expressions of the actors To create that creepy smile for Veidt's character, special prosthetics were used The actor put them on his teeth and the devices used small hooks to lift the corners of his lips up According to the official version, it was Veidt's on-screen image that became the main source of inspiration for author Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, who created the Joker Initially, the Joker appeared before readers as a real maniac who even created his own poison People poisoned by this compound died in fits of wild laughter His victims were easily recognized by the characteristic grins on their faces In the first comics with the Joker, the authors wanted to realize their idea and kill the character with the hands of the Dark Knight, but that was not the case The editor demanded that this character be added further, so a fist fight with Batman, which was supposed to end with the death of the Gotham jester, ended quite unexpectedly The Joker turned out to be a strong opponent in hand-to-hand combat and managed to defeat the hero The character escaped his death, although the authors' fears were not unfounded - many cartoonish villains who return regularly quickly become boring to readers The Joker not only didn't get boring, but also showed everyone that Batman can also have weaknesses The main character turned out to be not so omnipotent, and this already humanized him a little and made him closer to the reader Fans were not tired of the Joker himself The aura of mystery that shrouded this character did not dissipate even after he, by the will of the authors, turned from an intriguer and maniac into a hooligan and prankster Although the Joker is already 80 years old, this character still remains one of the most mysterious The authors never lifted the veil of secrecy over his past Of course, fans never stop creating their own theories, and the hero himself never tires of telling stories, but each time they are different Because of this, there is no faith in the Joker’s words, although there is one version of the origin of the hero’s unusual appearance, which is considered the most plausible According to this story, the Joker was previously a member of a gang where he had the nickname Red Hood By an unfortunate accident, he fell into a container of harsh chemicals that whitened his skin, turned his hair green and stretched his face into a wide smile due to damage to the facial nerves After the Joker saw himself in the mirror, but went crazy It is likely that the hero himself does not remember his past