Today I'm reading the Killing Joke featuring my favourite Supervillain!
The Joker owes his appearance to the character that Conrad Veidt brought to life back in 1928.
The 1928 silent film The Man Who Laughs was an adaptation of a 1869 novel by Victor Hugo. The film told the story of Gwynplaine, a man whose face was disfigured into a permanent grin, giving him the appearance of a clown.
Though not a major box office success at the time, the film later influenced comic book creators. Most notably, Gwynplaine's disturbing grin is cited as a key inspiration for the Joker character in the Batman comics. The Joker's origins as a criminal whose face becomes permanently disfigured into a rictus grin echoes Gwynplaine's story.
The article explores the parallels between Gwynplaine and the Joker, and how certain scenes and imagery from the 1928 film seem to prefigure the Joker. It also discusses the tragic nature of both characters, who were turned into "monsters" through disfigurement.
The Man Who Laughs represents an early example of comic books taking inspiration from other visual media, not just other comics. The clown-faced Gwynplaine introduced motifs that shaped the iconic DC villain Joker years later.
Though not a direct adaptation, the film had a clear influence on early comic book creators and introduced elements that were later effectively incorporated into the Joker's appearance and backstory.
https://youtu.be/NHY05QdAJ9U