Graphic novels, The Fall and the nuisance of human existence

I often find it strange that in my case theological constructs are derived out of my exposure to what many dub as juvenile entertainment, which includes graphic novels. Perhaps there is something that I hit upon as profound in the action-packed artworks that are situated in separate panels that represent individual scenes which make up a plot. After all, human experience unfolds in story and its meaning is fashioned from places, plots, and players fused in real-time.

In like fashion Biblical narratives function as vehicles of divine revelation that helps us makes sense (or better yet find) our place and meaning in this sizeable and ever changing storyline that we call life. That perhaps explains why we often find ourselves identifying with the characters in Bible stories because in a way they lay bare a part of ourselves that we exhibit we whenever we cope with the harsh realities of life as well as when we feel like we are brought face to face to the actuality of the divine in our midst.

In this reflection for this class on Christian anthropology I would like to turn our attention on the primordial creation narrative of The Fall, looked at from the vantage point of a graphic novel: Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke, where I will attempt to find parallels between the two comic book storylines in relation to the fall of man and the predicament of human existence that follows it.

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The Killing Joke: Insanity & human perseverance

I remember buying this graphic novel back when I was still in high school, and it’s still really interesting how the story still strikes a chord with regards to my sympathetic appreciation of the most hated Batman’s enemies.

“Any man can have one really bad day and end up just like me.”

Indeed, it only takes a bad day is enough to put a former clerical staff a at a chemical processing plant who resigned from his job to become a stand-up comedian, who has a pregnant wife, a backlog of bills, and not to mention the fact that the whole career move that he made is seen perceived as a stupid move by everyone around him.

But his fate seems to change as he is given a break by thieves who asked the clerk-turned-comedian to help them break into the chemical plant that he used to work in. However, a few hours before the heist the man comedian who would in time become The Joker got a call from a doctor telling him that his wife died from a freak accident in an electronics store while testing a water heater, realizing that he has nothing left to live for he tried to walk off from the heist, but the crooks told him that he can’t back-off, so reluctantly he guides them through the chemical plant. During the heist they ran into plant security and eventually Batman who out of fear caused him to jump into a pool of chemicals causing him to disfigure his face and eventually lose his sanity transforming him to the homicidal Joker.