#1  
Old 03-12-2020, 04:28 PM
Abishai100 Abishai100 is offline
Evil Dead
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 117
Mad Hatter: An Experiment in Fear

The Mad Hatter is an iconic logic-trickster and anarchy-figure appearing in Lewis Carroll logic-carnival stories about the precocious young English girl Alice who goes through a space-gate and ends up in places where logic seems upside-down. Alice meets the Mad Hatter who appears as a funny tea-party host talking intelligible gibberish' about irony and coincidence.

This same trickster character in English fiction served as the inspiration for the iconic Gotham City super-villain in Batman (DC Comics) stories and TV series, including the canonical 1990s Batman: The Animated Series. While Batman is the brooding 'dark knight' masked vigilante of Gotham as well as its dashing if jaded bachelor Bruce Wayne, Batman's criminally-insane nemeses (including Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Mad Hatter) are the fear agents of Gotham, liberally creating anarchy through mayhem and deception.

The Mad Hatter in Batman (DC Comics) is a deranged madman named Jervis Tetch who exhibits an eerie tale for turning the law and courage upside-down with terrible labyrinths of schizophrenic cruelty.

The character of the Mad Hatter, in the original Carroll stories about 'Alice in Wonderland' and in the modern Batman (DC Comics) stories about urban insanity, clearly symbolizes our social fear of unexpected gibberish.

That's why this 'avatar' is a perfect model for creative comics-stylized stories about the unusual contours of perception, fear, irrationality, and schizophrenia. That's what this short-story (very graphic in details) is meant to explore --- the human fascination with realistic chaos!



====

Jervis fooled around with the three nightclub strippers in the seedy part of the city until 3 a.m. that Saturday night. He'd come dressed in his invented 'Mad Hatter' costume since it was Halloween season, and Jervis had been itching to create some new antisocial persona ideal for modern urban fright! He left the nightclub somewhat drunk and took out the hammer in the trunk of his car and put it in the inside pocket of his fancy red velvet jacket. He stumbled across the streets, deciding he'd walk around until sunrise.

Jervis ('Mad Hatter') was confronted by two ghoulish thugs in an alley who demanded the funny-looking man (who was about 35 years-old) give them his wallet. Mad Hatter gave an eerie grin and explained all he had was a shiny playing-card, an Ace-of-Spades, fitted in his giant velvet hat! The thugs grew impatient and decided to push him around in that alley on that late Saturday night, so Mad Hatter yanked out his hidden hammer and beat their skulls in until they were basically deathly deformed.

Mad Hatter awoke in his city apartment the following Sunday afternoon with a new venomous plan to become the city's newest and undoubtedly worst anarchist! He schemed to kidnap female cops the following weekend, luring them towards his car and then sedating them with tranquilizer-darts before decapitating them and leaving their dead corpses unclothed on the footpaths of the city church! That's exactly what the evil Hatter did, and after he executed and delivered three corpses of female cops to the church footpath at about 4 a.m., he sent a letter to the police, informing them that his victims that night resembled young precocious Alice (from the Lewis Carroll story!) and required 'correction.'

The following Saturday night, Mad Hatter stalked a yuppie-man exiting a nightclub and dragged him to his car after sedating him. Hatter took the yuppie to his apartment and waited for him to regain consciousness. When the young man, a yuppie named Patrick, awoke, he realized he was tied up in the madman's apartment which was tonight dimly-lit with a scary red light! Patrick's demanded to know what he was doing in this bizarre apartment late at night, and Hatter explained he was there for an important experiment in fear.

HATTER: I will untie one of your hands.
PATRICK: What do you want?
HATTER: I want you to sip your cup of tea!
PATRICK: With my untied hand...but why?
HATTER: With each sip, you must tell me a secret fear!
PATRICK: Why?
HATTER: If I'm unimpressed with your thoughts, I'll burn you!
PATRICK: Burn me alive...my God, why?
HATTER: You must report fears of value, or I'll find you useless!
PATRICK: Well how many valuable fears must I disclose?
HATTER: As many as are required for you to finish you tea with sips.
PATRICK: I suppose the tea is quite hot!
HATTER: Quite hot, but it's a small cup, so you can finish with 10 sips!
PATRICK: What does this test/experiment show?
HATTER: Your courage and honesty of course!
PATRICK: I suppose I have no choice.

Since Mad Hatter wore a mask during this experiment in fear, Patrick would not recognize him or be able to report his face to the police! However, Hatter/Jervis did promise Patrick the yuppie he'd release him if his responses to the fear-inquiry were sufficiently interesting. Patrick had no choice but to submit to this deranged test of courage...and faith! All he prayed for was to survive this unimaginable ordeal in a city he otherwise adored. Patrick remained calm!

HATTER: Take your first sip.
PATRICK: My first fear is the dark night.
HATTER: Good answer...take your second sip!
PATRICK: Alright; my second fear is rape.
HATTER: Intriguing; go ahead and take your third sip.
PATRICK: My third fear is starvation.
HATTER: Take the fourth sip!
PATRICK: My fourth fear is ugliness.
HATTER: Do you think I'm ugly?
PATRICK: I fear I think you're crooked.
HATTER: Crookedness is a fear you didn't mention!
PATRICK: I guess I forgot to sip the tea too.
HATTER: Maybe you're too crooked for this exam.
PATRICK: You've found all my answers interesting, Hatter!
HATTER: I admit, you have me at a stand-still; I'll free you!

For a fortunate reason, the deranged Mad Hatter (Jervis) decided to release the terrified yuppie Patrick, since his fear-inquiry responses were adequately sensitive! Patrick ran out of Hatter's apartment that late Saturday night and never looked back. He couldn't report the incident to the police since he didn't know what Mad Hatter looked like under the creepy mask he wore in that dimly-lit apartment. Therefore, Patrick worried that if he led the police to that apartment, a resident would answer the knock on the door but may not be the Hatter but an associate or ignorant friend of Hatter who'd report to Hatter that Patrick had ratted him out to the police. So, instead, Patrick decided to keep the entire experimental experience a perfect secret, simply hoping he'd never cross paths with the urban gargoyle again...

====



Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_0526.jpg (20.6 KB, 0 views)
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:02 AM.