The Illustrated Man, Part 7: The Joker

The Joker is perhaps my favorite villain in all of comic books, and Mark Hamill's interpretation of the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series/The Adventures of Batman & Robin is phenomenal. So phenomenal that no one is associated more closely with the character than Hamill. I decided it was this was the version of the Joker I wanted to use for my seventh tattoo. I happened to have a deck of playing cards themed after the television series, so I took the deck with me to Tiki Tattoo (Lacey, WA) and used on of the Joker cards in the deck for the inspiration, including making it look like a playing card. An artist named Jim (who was helping out at the shop that day, but owned his own in Seattle; I wish I knew the name of it) drew something up for me. He changed the lettering of the word "Joker" to something more custom, and added some detail to the Joker's eyes to make him look more menacing and psychotic. Although this was one of the most painful tattoos I've ever received (on my right calf), I was incredibly happy with how it turned out. I've even had people tell me it's the coolest Joker tattoo they've ever seen.