Oh yes! Thank you, I can’t believe I overlooked that one. Yeah, the way he lectures Batman on where not to hit someone definitely sounds like he’s had some experience with “enhanced interrogation.”

Excellent points, particularly the one regarding his response to being called crazy. The expression on his face and way he distractedly replies, “I’m not...no, I’m not” is the only moment in the film that we see beyond his cultivated facade. Perhaps I’ve read too much into this, but it speaks to an unnamed and…

“Hi, I’m the Joker, and I’m doing the ice bucket challenge! Woo! I nominate Penguin, the Riddler, and Mister Fre—ha ha, just kidding. Poison Ivy. Ok, dump it!” *minion pours a bucket of live crabs onto Joker’s head* “Ha ha ha ha!”

I’m inclined to go with this. Wanna know how I got these scars? Maybe shrapnel from seeing his combat buddies turned into spray around him. Yikes.

I’m a big fan of the theory that The Dark Knight’s Joker is a former soldier, probably someone involved in special forces or covert ops, with combat experience in the Middle East. Consider:

The Trolley to Yesterday! A Johnny Dixon book. I think it's still in my parents' basement.

oh man I loved lewis barnavelt and johnny dixon… remember that time one of them time-travelled to constantinople or something, what book was that??? Or am I hallucinating?

I am so happy to see that Bellairs is getting featured at AV club.  He was pretty much my favorite author during my early adolescence.  My library had all his books (and Brad Strickland's continuance of the series) and I read all of them multiple times.  Loved all of them too, though I wasn't as fond of Anthony Monday…

I was John Bellairs' agent (and still represent his estate) and it's very gratifying to read these tributes.  It was impossible not to love this elfish man with eyes perpetually wide and eyebrows raised in wonder at everything and everyone in the world. I took him to a Broadway show once and it was more entertaining…

Bellairs was the first author I was ever able to psychologically "profile" based on the repeated elements in his books (bookish young protagonist, small town setting, only one close friend of the same age, friends with older, highly erudite people, etc.).  He's also the one of the first authors I can remember who made…

The use of splinters from the cross in the amulet was the first time I was introduced to Papal Indulgences.

Why does it have to be Kripke, though? Maybe he'd be all right confined to a movie.

Fuck yes, John Bellairs. The Johnny Dixon books were more my speed than Lewis Barnavelt, but I had room in my heart for all the various takes of cross-generational asskicking of the supernatural in the Fifties.

OH GEEZ I'D FORGOTTEN THAT PART

Yeah, it added richness to the world, and that was about it.

Oh shit. I seem to recall that the character being pursued by the hooded tentacle monster comes across a dog's corpse that has all of the flesh removed from its head. That shit scared the hell out of me as a ten year-old reading in a dark bedroom.

Holy shit! For years I have tired to remember a book I read as an 11 year old about a kid who knew an older guy that was a magician. I couldn't remember much more about it other than than a vague recollection of the cover art amd that fact that I read in almost in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. Anyway, I…

Oh man, thanks for this. John Bellairs was my favorite author for several years, and I remember The House With A Clock In Its Walls as one of the best ones. (My other favorite was The Lamp From The Warlock's Tomb; I always liked the Anthony Monday series because of the Minnesota setting.)

I loved this book!  I'm always surprised no one's tried to film it yet— or if they have I suppose I just haven't noticed.  It seems like it ought to be rediscovered now in the wake of all the Harry Potter business.

Holy crap, I haven't thought about this book in ages. Now I'm tempted to go dig it up. I loved this book as a kid, even though it scared me—though not nearly as much as The Thief of Always, my other favorite kid's horror book. Clive Barker has a twisted mind, but that book has stayed with me for years. I will never…