Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Thomas English 

BA [Hons] Animation

My name is Thomas, most people in college know me as Tommy, and I am an Animation, Character Designer and Story Board specialist. I have a big passion for film, tv, comic books and video games, which all have a strong influence on my work.

Specialisng

I specialised in three different roles, Animation, Character design and Storyboarding. I worked within 4 different projects with these three roles. I worked on Blitzer, directed by Tadhg O'Shea, Habitual directed by Reese Carroll, I'm Tyr'd, directed by Zach Drew and Ava directed by Michelle Higgins. I got to work with many different styles and designs that really helped me expand on my work and my portfolio.



Thesis - THE KILLING JOKE: Batman, James Gordon, Joker, and the Hero’s Journey

Within this discussion, I will be looking into the structure of the Hero's Journey based on Joseph
Campbell's book “Hero with a thousand faces” and look at how this character structure works and how
it can be seen within the stories of many different medias through the years.
I will be specifically looking into Alan Moore's “Batman: The Killing Joke” and see how the working
of Joseph Campbell can be seen as an influence for the story and the characters found within the comic.
I will be looking over the story of Batman and how he keeps his moral ethics and no kill rule in line,
Commissioner Gordon and how he has the great resilience of not hero, but a good man and The Joker
and how he displays the opposite traits in his journey compared to Batman and how this lead him down
the path of villainy and how this chaos corrupts him and eventually shows what was created the Joker.
I will also be discussing the themes of resistance, good vs evil, trauma, and heroism and how these
themes are relevant in all three journeys and that work as a guide on further understanding the use of
the hero’s journey with Alan Moore's “Batman: The Killing Joke.”