Matt and Kevin Smith Reaveal the Secret Origins of the Joker

Earlier this month, Kevin Smith brought me in to the Smodcast studios to appear on his Fatman on Batman videocast as part of a follow-up to my appearance on the SoundCloud audio podcast to talk about the Jerry Robinson original art pages I acquired that may be evidence–once and for all–that Jerry co-created the Joker in the same time frame that he co-created Robin.

Above is the second part of that interview, where we really get into Jerry's story and I explain how these pages came into my possession. I am eternally grateful, once again, for this opportunity to spread the gospel of Jerry Robinson.  

Kevin Smith has been an amazing supporter, so sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel (here) if you haven't already, and be sure to subscribe to Pod Sequentialism with Matt Kennedy via iTunes here. Please watch, share, and enjoy!

For those of you who will go to see Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, if you stay for the end credits roll, you will see that Jerry Robinson was included in the "Special Thanks" alongside Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Let's hope this is the first step toward creator credit in the subsequent films!

The Fantastic Life of Matt Kennedy: Kevin Smith's Fat Man on Batman 030 Videocast (Part 1)

A month and a half ago, Kevin Smith brought me in to appear on his Fatman on Batman podcast to talk about the Jerry Robinson original art pages I acquired that may be evidence–once and for all–that Jerry co-created the Joker in the same time frame that he co-created Robin. It was an epic two-and-a-half hour podcast that covered my personal history in pop culture in addition to this amazing, chance discovery.

Immediately after taping, Kevin asked if I wouldn't mind coming back for the video version of the podcast, which I did, and which I've linked here. On that same day, quite by chance, my friends Jon Schnepp and Holly Payne were recording a segment about the video release of their incredible documentary, The Death of Superman Lives. I got to sit in studio while they taped their episode and afterwards we recorded our episode. It was another great experience for which I am eternally grateful.  

Kevin Smith has been an amazing supporter, and I can personally attest that he is even more awesome in person than he is in film, video, and other media. He is just that cool. More than that, he is the real deal. I hope I'll be able to announce here soon that his pilot for Hollyweed (shot at La Luz de Jesus Gallery) has been picked up for series.

This is the first half of a two-part video cast, so when the second part drops, I'll be sure to post it here as well. Be sure to subscribe to Kevin Smith's YouTube channel (here) if you haven't already, and be sure to subscribe to Pod Sequentialism with Matt Kennedy via iTunes here.
Please watch, share, and enjoy!

Who Really Created the Joker?

The feedback I've gotten from my appearance on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman has been incredible! Sales of my Pop Sequentialism book have been off the chain and the spike in listenership on my Pod Sequentialism podcast has almost doubled my audience.

Click here to stream my podcast

After recording the audio-only version of the show Kevin had me back for the videocast to which I'll be posting a link as soon as it goes live. I've posted a little teaser photo to the left of us holding the smoking gun, as it may be.

In researching the history of Jerry Robinson's involvement with the Joker I amassed a mountain of info that didn't get mentioned in either broadcast, and I wanted to dedicate a version of my own show to the proto-Joker pagers to elaborate on how I came to posses them and what these pages may mean to fandom.

If you haven't heard it by now, I purchased some original art a few years back when setting up the follow-up to the original Pop Sequentialism exhibition. The pages turned out to be preliminary, unpublished (though later incompletely copied) pages that retell the origin of Robin that feature a villainous clown character that was never entered into the official cannon, which would seem to support Jerry Robinson's lifelong claim to having created the character, and losing that credit after bringing his idea to Bob Kane and Bill Finger.

As Kevin said in his podcast, this is a real barn-burner. It's not just a mystery, it's a matter of real significance that effects pop culture history.

I previously posted images right here in the blog, which you can see again below.
Listen to the show before rushing to judgment based on the images alone.

Stream it here on the Meltdown Comics site.
Or Subscribe here via iTunes.

Front of the page

Back of the page

Second page from set

Tune in every Sunday for a new episode of Pod Sequentialism with Matt Kennedy!

Matt on Fatman on Batman!

Matt & Kevin on Fatman on Batman

I taped an epic 2 1/2 hour Fatman on Batman with Kevin Smith, and it's now uploaded for your listening pleasure! This covers a lot of ground for sure, but it revolves primarily around an unpublished Batman page I bought years ago that may be evidence of Jerry Robinson's contribution to the Joker and an alternative origin story for Robin. My comic geek friends will love this, and everyone else is bound to learn a lot about me.

I was honored and humbled to be invited on Kevin's show and even more so to be given so much air time, which I used to give as much credit as I could to some of the great people who have played an important part in my particular story and to give shout outs to some other fine folks:

Billy Shire, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Fantastic Store Comics, Meltdown Comics and Collectibles, Gaston Dominguez-Letelier, Tony Scott, Mel Brooks, Comics Legends & Lore, Paul Marcure, Paul Glavin, Tim Cole, Thomas Sniegoski, Ai Honda Kennedy, The Goblin Market, Døc Gillespie, Wacko: Purveyor of Post-Pop Culture, Sean Francis Kennedy, Howard Hallis, Joel Spielman, Hollywood Book & Poster Co., Panik House Entertainment, Liberation Entertainment, CaseNegra Entertainment, Pinky Violence, Chris D., Hector Cruz Sandoval, Lindsay Way, James Euringer, Troma Entertainment, Lloyd Kaufman, David Shultz, Blue Underground, James Gunn, John Kantas, Eric Caidin, David Gregory, Joyce Shen, José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros, Larry Edmunds Bookshop, The Wu-Tang Clan, Tom Neely, Glenn L Barr, and my Mom and Dad. Many thanks to you all!

Stream it here on the Smodcast site.

Tune in every Sunday for a new episode of Pod Sequentialism with Matt Kennedy!