Image Attribution: “Anthony Misiano – The Joker” by Anthony Misiano is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA. (See interactive map)
Kiranjot Kaur
Terryl Atkins
VISA1500_02
October 15, 2021
This photograph is of Anthony Misiano, a cosplay impersonator, dressed as the Joker. He is the person who first bought the character of Joker from comic books into the real-life. Joker is a well-known character in the DC Marvel comic series, starring as a supervillain. However, nobody played Joker’s role until in 2011, when Anthony chose to work on this character as a form of an art project, and then wore it to the San Diego Comic-Con in 2012. His unreal resemblance to the comic character of joker drew the attention of numerous people, and hence, making him a famous cosplayer among the masses. His costume was declared as the hit of the convention, and today, he has a huge number of people as his fans, a blog on tumblr and numerous fan pages dedicated to him.
Anthony takes part in many conventions taking place worldwide. Observing his popularity as well as his skills, the direction team of The Batman Chronicles approached him and offered him to play the role of the Joker. The audience reviewed his acting skills as outstanding, as it provided justice to the character of the Joker in the comic book by bringing out the same level of energy as well as emotions, while also not over-doing it. His expressions, make-up and costume helped him surpass all other characters in the movie.
In an interview, he mentioned how he had absolutely no intention to become a cosplayer, and just enjoyed making costumes and clicking photographs. He loves how costumes utilize numerous artistic and visual techniques in order to glorify and accentuate the overall character appearance. In addition, he expresses his concern about how he is losing his identity to the Joker, and how it could affect his acting career in the future. To avoid this, he is intending to stop cosplaying the Joker and pursue his dream career by becoming a costume designer.
References:
- Joshua B. “The world’s 16 best male cosplayers” https://www.therichest.com/most-popular/the-worlds-14-best-male-cosplayers/
- Romano, Aja “The Internet’s most recognizable Joker tells us why he’s about to don his last smile” https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/joker-cosplayer-anthony-misiano-interview-nycc/