In case you’ve been keeping score, The Dark Knight just passed half-a-billion dollars at the box office (it’s now second only to Titanic). It’s a bona fide pop culture phenomenon, and a big part of that success is the late Heath Ledger’s much talked-about turn as Batman’s nemesis, the Joker … and he’s sure to be even more talked-about as Oscar time approaches.

But where did the Joker come from? I’m not talking about his comic book backstory, which has been left shrouded in mystery (the recently re-released The Killing Joke gave what many people consider the definitive version). Heath Ledger inherited the role from such greats as Jack Nicholson (Tim Burton’s Batman) and Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series), who in turn looked back to other actors, and eventually to Batman creator Bob Kane, whose original 1940 Joker tale can be read in The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1.

But Kane had his own inspiration when he created the Joker: an obscure silent film from 1928 called The Man Who Laughs. The film (actually more of a melodrama than a horror picture) starred actor Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, a man doomed to live life with a permanent grin literally carved into his face. Sound familiar? Take a look at the DVD cover, or do a Google image search, and you’ll see that Kane got all the visual inspiration he needed!

But the story doesn’t end there. The Man Who Laughs was not an original screenplay. It was, in fact, based on a 1869 French novel of the same name (in French, L’Homme qui rit) by author Victor Hugo. If that name sounds familiar, it should, because Hugo is among the most famous novelists of all time. He’s the one who gave us The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables, to name a few.

So the next time you’re watching The Dark Knight or reading your favorite Batman graphic novel, just think … it all goes back to a 19th Century Frenchman with a timeless imagination!

Two furious-fisted comic book heroes are duking it out at the box office this summer!

In corner one, we have Hellboy, star of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, from creator Mike Mignola and director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth). Hellboy’s tale began with the graphic novel Seed of Destruction. The most recent volume, number eight, is Darkness Calls. The Weird Tales and B.P.R.D. series expand Hellboy’s universe, and there’s also an impressively huge art book called (surprise, surprise) The Art of Hellboy.

In corner two, we have the Batman, star of The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins). In addition to the novelization by bat-scribe Dennis O’Neil, we’ve got enough Batman-related books to fill multiple bat-caves! The Dark Knight Archives are perfect for anyone who wants to see how Batman really began … but if the film left you in the mood for more Joker, try Batman: Secrets or No Man’s Land, Vol. 5. You can also check out Batman: Faces, for a great Two-Face story.

Still hungry for more movie-related multimedia? You can investigate The X-Files with Mulder and Scully, groove out to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, keep an eye on the Watchmen, learn to draw Wall-E, raid the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, or even take a Journey to the Center of the Earth.

It’s all here at your local CADL location!

Those of you paying attention to recent entertainment headlines may have caught the news that, after years of negotiations, two films based on The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary prelude to The Lord of the Rings, have been officially greenlit. That’s right — TWO films! One based on The Hobbit, another inspired by the reams of background material Tolkien wrote (check out the Return of the King appendices, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales for a glimpse at some of this exciting material). This opens the way for popular characters such as Aragorn, Legolas and Saruman to return, even though they don’t directly appear in the book!

Although Rings director Peter Jackson is attached to produce and oversee the films, a new director will be hired. While nothing’s set in stone yet, the smart money’s on Spanish fantasist Guillermo Del Toro, the director of The Devil’s Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy and, most recently, Pan’s Labyrinth. (This is terrific news to me, since I found Pan’s Labyrinth to be one of the best films of recent years.) If Del Toro drops out of the running, the name of Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead and Spiderman trilogies, has also been mentioned. Which one would you prefer?

The films aren’t due until 2009 at the earliest, so while you’re waiting, why not check out The Hobbit graphic novel, or the recently published The Children of Húrin? The Hobbit is also available in a great annotated edition, with lots of rare pictures and behind-the-scenes info. And, of course, if you haven’t seen the Extended Edition DVDs of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, they’re filled with great scenes and characters that never made theaters!