BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE

Publisher: DC Comics | Writer: Alan Moore | Artist: Brian Bolland

Retro Review

1988’s The Killing Joke redefined the relationship between Batman and the Joker as well as Batman and his audience for decades. If Denny O’Neill dimmed the lights on Batman, Alana Moore shattered them sending Batman into darkness. The Killing Joke is the kind of comic book you’d recommend to people who don’t like comics. It is a dark and haunting tale that brings us kicking and screaming into an R rated Batman tale. Moore’s writing on this book is undeniably brilliant. The tale focuses on two different time periods serving as an origin story of sorts and a study in the dynamics of Batman and Joker’s relationship. Bolland’s art superbly matches the edgy tone of Moore’s writing. This is the story that influenced every media adaptation of Batman outside the comic books for good or for bad. The Killing Joke is the story that redefined the relationship between the Clown Prince of Crime and the Dark Knight for decades as well as put Barbara Gordon in a wheelchair for almost as long. Oddly enough, although I generally bemoan the dark and gritty nature of the book, placing Babs in a wheelchair provided DC Comics and the comic book reading community with a hero they could look up to that was both active and disabled. Despite the Joker not knowing that Barbara Gordon was Batgirl when he shot her, he inadvertently gave us one of the greatest heroes in all of comic history, Oracle. If you’ve ever wondered where the “one bad day” expression came from in Batman mythology, this is it. “One bad day” is a paraphrased reference to the origin of the Joker and all it takes to separate a hero from a villain.