I've finished yet another chapter in my research of the Joker and I've gotta say... This is the Joker story I've been waiting for...
Last night, I sat down and read Batman: The Killing Joke in its entirety. Much like the last story I reviewed, I don't think this one takes place in the normal DC continuity and is more of an Elseworlds type of story. Don't know what I'm talking about? See my post "Studies of the Clown Prince, Part Four"... Go ahead, I'll wait...
Done?
OK...
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE COMIC BOOK ONE-SHOT "BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE"
Now then, I view Batman: The Killing Joke as a story of one possible origin of the Joker... In the beginning, we see Batman pull up to Arkham Asylum in the Batmobile to visit the Joker. Batman sits down and speaks to the Joker, says that maybe they can stop trying to kill each other. Batman doesn't want it to end that way... The Joker sits in silence. Batman grabs Joker's hands to get his point across and white greasepaint smudges from the hands of the Joker. Batman then wipes the make-up from the face of the imposter Joker... The real menace has escaped...
Next we flash to the Joker walking around an amusement park, seemingly preparing to open it as a new hideout. From the very first time we see the real Clown Prince in this tale, he looks utterly insane... (Have a look below...)
He ends up killing the man he is talking to in this sequence. Almost from the beginning of the story, the Joker is an insane, murderous lunatic... We then go on to see why...
In this imagining of the Harlequin of Hate, he used to be a struggling stand-up comedian. He's got a wife and a baby on the way and he's worries about making ends meet. Later we learn that the Joker has turned to a life of petty crime by joining up with a band of thugs and becoming a character that is a throwback to a classic Joker tale called The Red Hood. Before his first big caper with the thugs, the Joker learns that his pregnant wife has had an accident and died. The thugs won't let him back out of the crime, though, and while being chased by Batman, he falls into a vat of chemicals at the plant that he and the thugs were casing and emerges... having become the permanently scarred madman we know and love.
The image directly after his transformation has become iconic and is a very popular depiction of the Joker. I've posted it below...
The Joker in this tale is very sadistic and truer to the Joker that we know today. This may have been the penultimate tale of his transformation into that persona. During the course of this 48 page tale, he shoots and cripples Barbara Gordon (Commissioner Gordon's daughter), he doesn't stop there, though... He then kidnaps the good Commissioner, strips him down and shows him nude photos of his crippled, ravaged daughter. The Joker in this tale is seen sitting on a throne atop a heap of what one can't tell whether is dead babies or or dolls strewn about. The Joker in this tale sings a gleeful song about going insane while Commissioner Gordon weeps for his daughter. The Joker in this tale is completely, irrevokably insane... And it's all the result of one bad day.
I'm not going to give away the climax of the tale because I truly really don't know what happens to the Joker and Batman. I don't think we're supposed to... I'll just say that the tale ends with a killing joke.
This has got to be my favorite out of all the Joker stories that I've read so far. It's been said to be Tim Burton's favorite comic and the comic that was given to Heath Ledger when he was researching his role the for upcoming film The Dark Knight.
You've all heard me mention the story Watchmen in my blogs before and you've all heard the legend of it being touted as the greatest comics series of all-time... This book is written by that same writer: Alan Moore. The art is by the extraordinary Brian Bolland (with help from John Higgins on the original version) and is truly a sight to behold... Through all the Joker's killngs, his misfortunes, and his craziness, Bolland keeps pulling at our eyeballs and heartstrings with this work...
The version that I read was the newer hardcover version which is completely done by Bolland and I think it's superior. The art jumps off the page and the covers are sensational. I'll include the orginal version of the cover and the front of the hardcover (when you take the dust jacket off) below, the lower one being the hardcover...
The final verdict on this one is that it's a great tale of the Joker, a great possible origin to the character, and a touching, yet disturbing story, whether you like the Joker and comic books or not...
See ya next time (and that might actually be my review of the long-awaited film: THE DARK KNIGHT!!!)
All above art in this post by Brian Bolland and John Higgins
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