Weird Coincidence In A Batman Novel

[calliopes_pen]

I'm going to put this under an LJ cut for anyone who has never seen Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.



Remember how Tim was brainwashed to be a miniature Joker? I'm reading a novel that was probably published 10 years earlier.

In it, Dick is being brainwashed and tortured by The Joker until he believes he is The Joker. They don't have time for plastic surgery, so they just put the white make-up on him, and the green hair.

And, earlier, he had been brainwashed by a cult. He gets out of that, only to be captured and brainwashed to be The Joker. Poor guy.

I doubt that the people who made the movie, read this novel, but it is a funny coincidence.

ETA: I might as well mention the title. The Batman Murders, written by Craig Shaw Gardner.

Comments

[cosmicastaway.livejournal.com]

That's a novel!?!

Only Batman/DC book I've read is "Knightfall" and it was pretty good.

I shall have to find. Thankies!

[calliopes_pen]

If you can handle seeing Dick being completely out of character, and easily brainwashed by a cult, and then by The Joker, then look for it.

It's really hard to find.

[cosmicastaway.livejournal.com]

I'm up for the challenge. :]

[calliopes_pen]

So you'll know that it's the right book when you find it, it was published in 1990.

[cosmicastaway.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

They've got some whacked books out. I found a novel crossover of Star Trek and X-Men. It's an actual book one can find in the library.

I'm betting this isn't as odd.

[calliopes_pen]

Oh, and here is a little excerpt from it:

"There were no more electric shocks. The video images went on and on. It didn't matter. His reaction was always the same.

He'd learned what they wanted. He'd learned the only way to get through life.

Dick did nothing but laugh.

Dick was a real Joker."

This is just as The Joker finally breaks him. The Joker's plan is to create a lot of Batmen and Joker's. And kill the Batmen whenever he feels like it.

(He wanted Bruce Wayne to be The Joker. He didn't think he would make a good Batman. It didn't happen.)

[cosmicastaway.livejournal.com]

Oh the irony. That would make for an interesting story, if he did get BW.
Though Bruce might lose it or blow his cover if he saw at that point what was happening with Robin.

Did Joker figure out Dick's identity?

[calliopes_pen]

No, he never finds out. But I just read the final part of the novel, and there is a scene that looks like it might have inspired Joker being electrocuted in Return of the Joker. Or, at least, the edited version of it.

Water goes under the Joker while he is standing in a lab of some sort. Batman pushes a button, and Joker is electrocuted. It turns out it was another duplicate of The Joker, though. Plus, a duplicate of Batman.

So, he wasn't really dead.

[cosmicastaway.livejournal.com]

Fwah!

So complicated. Lol.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

Creepy coincidence. That doesn't sound like a coincidence at all, actually. But... but... I can't stand it when they make Dick *weak* so I think I'm going to have to pass.

Now, Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu is *fun*. Okay, so I bought it because it's Devin Grayson writing, but random men thinking Dick hot, wanting to *break* him and err... just overall appraising his good looks are always a plus. Oh, nothing *deep* but it's FUN. Fun fun fun.

:)

[calliopes_pen]

I've read that one. It is pretty good. :D