Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's 1988 graphic novel "The Killing Joke" is one of the most famous Batman stories. It's also undergone a more adversarial reevaluation in the 21st century due to its exploitative depiction of violence against women; the Joker shooting and disabling Barbara Gordon is a textbook case of a woman in a refrigerator.
Despite the ickiness, I still think it's a damn good comic. Bolland's artwork is gorgeous and the book interrogates Batman and the Joker's shared dynamic with depth every Batman writer since has been chasing.
In "The Killing Joke," the Joker abducts Commissioner Gordon and tries to push him to his psychological breaking point. As the Joker remembers it, he was once a regular man who had a really bad day that convinced him to laugh at how awful the world is. But his hypothesis is wrong; Gordon doesn't crack and Batman suggests the...
Despite the ickiness, I still think it's a damn good comic. Bolland's artwork is gorgeous and the book interrogates Batman and the Joker's shared dynamic with depth every Batman writer since has been chasing.
In "The Killing Joke," the Joker abducts Commissioner Gordon and tries to push him to his psychological breaking point. As the Joker remembers it, he was once a regular man who had a really bad day that convinced him to laugh at how awful the world is. But his hypothesis is wrong; Gordon doesn't crack and Batman suggests the...
- 2/12/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
This Batman article contains spoilers.
Joker continuity is a bit messy by design. Ever since the Clown Prince of Crime declared that he “preferred multiple choice” in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s seminal 1988 comic Batman: The Killing Joke, it’s been very tough to nail down just what is true and what isn’t about the villain’s origin story. Was the Joker once a failed comedian who went mad after criminals murdered his family and he fell into a vat of chemicals? Maybe. Or was he originally a crime boss known as the Red Hood? Is his real name actually Jack?
Multiple choice has mostly worked well for the Joker, who is meant to be Gotham’s embodiment of true evil. The fact that his story is indecipherable and ultimately unknowable makes him that much scarier of a threat for Batman. But things are getting a little too convoluted now.
Joker continuity is a bit messy by design. Ever since the Clown Prince of Crime declared that he “preferred multiple choice” in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s seminal 1988 comic Batman: The Killing Joke, it’s been very tough to nail down just what is true and what isn’t about the villain’s origin story. Was the Joker once a failed comedian who went mad after criminals murdered his family and he fell into a vat of chemicals? Maybe. Or was he originally a crime boss known as the Red Hood? Is his real name actually Jack?
Multiple choice has mostly worked well for the Joker, who is meant to be Gotham’s embodiment of true evil. The fact that his story is indecipherable and ultimately unknowable makes him that much scarier of a threat for Batman. But things are getting a little too convoluted now.
- 2/6/2024
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
At the end of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 one-shot Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker lays out his worldview in plain terms. After testing his theory that “one bad day” could make even the most decent person into a madman like himself, the Joker tells his nemesis, “It’s all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for… it’s all a monstrous, demented gag!”
Even more than the grisly sights of The Killing Joke—in which the Clown Prince of Crime sets out to prove his theory by brutalizing Batgirl Barbara Gordon and tormenting her father Commissioner Gordon—that line has set the course of Joker stories of the past several decades. Fans and creators alike try to push the Joker to edgier extremes, forgetting how Batman answers when his nemesis asks why he isn’t laughing. “Because I’ve heard it before,” he responds. “And...
Even more than the grisly sights of The Killing Joke—in which the Clown Prince of Crime sets out to prove his theory by brutalizing Batgirl Barbara Gordon and tormenting her father Commissioner Gordon—that line has set the course of Joker stories of the past several decades. Fans and creators alike try to push the Joker to edgier extremes, forgetting how Batman answers when his nemesis asks why he isn’t laughing. “Because I’ve heard it before,” he responds. “And...
- 1/4/2024
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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