Batman: The Killing Joke

After reading (and loving) “Death of a Family”, I thought I would read the classic Joker story. This one is more focused on the Joker's past, but it gives a chilling example of his insanity as well. I'd say it's more powerful than the much more recent Scott Snyder story, as I felt a bit shaken after reading it.

It's great writing. Great art. A great graphic novel.

Story
I vaguely knew the details of Oracle's origins but had never realized this was the book where it began. I only recently heard the title in a clip of the panel at NYCC this year introducing Troy Baker as the Joker a few weeks back.

Unfortunately the book didn't really live up to the performance Mr. Baker gave for me. Overall the story just didn't do much for me, and the ending just felt abrupt and bizarre. To me more seems to come from the aftermath of the events in this book, than the book itself.

Still since it's a one-shot it's pretty quick, and probably worth checking out for Batman fans out there that haven't read it yet.

Artwork
I read the anniversary edition of this book, which had the colors redone by the original artist. Since I never read the original I can't compare the two, but I enjoyed the artwork and colors in this edition.

Short and sweet. Just a superhero book, basicsally, but a pretty good one. You'll enjoy it if you like the Joker and crazy people, otherwise give it a miss.

Kind of bizarrely priced at $10, short as it is. It's got Alan Moore's name on it, sure, and he does a good job, but it isn't his best work.

For my money, the highlight is the illustrations. Not of everything, really, though it's all perfectly fine – just of the Joker. Some really good work there.

Challenge: Read a book that came out the year you were born Read a graphic novel

I really liked how this comic explored The Joker's past. Using flashbacks of what happened to him before his accident, the author drew parallelism with both Batman's past and origins and Gordon's present nightmare. Also, I liked that idea that even The Joker himself isn't sure of what his origins were.

I loved the idea that tragedy can break even the most honest man and that everyone is capable of going as mad as the villains.

The other aspect I liked was that the ending didn't actually give the reader a certain answer as to what was the outcome of the encounter between Batman and The Joker. Knowing Batman, one can say that there's only one possibilty but the general tone of the comic, dark and twisted, can lead us to think otherwise.

I'm sad to read that the author himself doesn't find this to be an interesting read because I enjoyed it a lot.