the buzz log

It may not be Gotham City, but some joker's gone wild in L.A. A poster that mashes up an image of President Obama with the smeared face paint and red lips of Heath Ledger's Joker from "The Dark Knight" has hit the streets, guerilla style. The eerie face is underscored with the title "Socialism." Say, what?

Confusing message aside, the posters are causing a surge of interest on the Web. Queries have heated up the Search box, with lookups on "obama joker," "obama joker shirt," "obama socialist poster," and "obama poster" all soaring. Already a digital form of the poster has popped up on Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook. You can see the image for yourself. (Be warned, it is disturbing.)

As Newsbusters points out, the poster "does not appear to be in the same category as the many benign take-offs on the Shepard Fairey 'Hope' poster."

It sure doesn't. Heath Ledger's Joker was the villain's villain, bent on gleeful destruction. There's no "hope" here. By contrast, the street artist Shepard Fairey created an iconic image to promote the message of the Obama campaign.

So far, the creator of the "Socialist" design has not come forward. Maybe that's wise. Shephard Fairey is fighting a battle over the rights to the photo he used for the "Hope" art. The photo from the "Socialist" poster is taken from a Time magazine cover. It's probably clear who would have the last laugh.