10 Problems With The Joker Nobody Wants To Admit
7. He's A Total Rip Off
Of course, The Joker isn't quite as unique as that even suggests. Credit for the character's creation is disputed, with famous jerk-off Bob Kane and co-conspirator Jerry Robinson claiming most responsibility (whilst reluctantly admitting that Bill Finger made some significant writing contributions).
Even that seems pretty cheeky when you consider that the whole look of the character wasn't invented by Kane nor Robinson, but was lifted wholesale a photo of actor Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine (a man with a disfigured face, giving him a perpetual grin) in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs.
Well, technically it was a combination of that and a joker playing card provided by Robinson. Even Kane, who infamously keeps all credit for creating Batman to himself, which is total BS admits that the character's roots are in that film. Bill Finger had a book with a photograph of Conrad Veidt, he told an interviewer back in 1994, and showed it to me and said, 'Here's the Joker'.
So there you go, straight from the horse's mouth. Even if it's a horse that frequently laughs. The iconic look of The Joker, which rarely changes too dramatically? Totally ripped off.