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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Do perfect books exist? They do. Batman: The Killing Joke is one of them.
What can I say? The overall story, the premise, it's incredible. Alan Moore's writing is topnotch. And let's not forget the amazing art of Brian Bolland. I really love the visual story-telling. It works well with the flow of the story.
The amazing writing and art worked perfectly together to make this masterpiece. This will always be one of my favorite graphic novels, and perhaps the one that's closest to my heart because... it just hits differently.
Remember? Ohh. I wouldn't do that! Remembering's dangerous. I find the past such a worrying, anxious place. "The past tense", I suppose you'd call it. HA HA HA.
What can I say? The overall story, the premise, it's incredible. Alan Moore's writing is topnotch. And let's not forget the amazing art of Brian Bolland. I really love the visual story-telling. It works well with the flow of the story.
The amazing writing and art worked perfectly together to make this masterpiece. This will always be one of my favorite graphic novels, and perhaps the one that's closest to my heart because... it just hits differently.
Remember? Ohh. I wouldn't do that! Remembering's dangerous. I find the past such a worrying, anxious place. "The past tense", I suppose you'd call it. HA HA HA.
This was very good, albeit a bit short.
I always find villains more interesting than heroes - at least in the traditional perception of the perfect and righteous hero - and it is never more true than in this story.
This is a fascinating, frightening, twisted and highly psychological take on the joker, this "average man" who just had one bad day and is determined to twist everyone around him. To show the world how bad a day can be.
This is honestly very well and cleverly written.
And, seriously, that ending. Damn.
I always find villains more interesting than heroes - at least in the traditional perception of the perfect and righteous hero - and it is never more true than in this story.
"I've demonstrated there's no difference between me and everyone else ! All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy"
This is a fascinating, frightening, twisted and highly psychological take on the joker, this "average man" who just had one bad day and is determined to twist everyone around him. To show the world how bad a day can be.
This is honestly very well and cleverly written.
And, seriously, that ending. Damn.
Ahhh-Finally, I've read the 'The Killing Joke.' No longer do I have to lie about being a true Batman fan. It's all official. No, but all jokes aside this is actually a good read. However its defiantly a bit over hyped. First off the best part of this book is Brian Bolland's enthralling artwork. I've seen his work but never read with it. Everything from his paneling to his colors, he really is a renaissance artist. As for the overall plot and story it's a nice deep dive into Joker's "one bad day" theory. We also see a possible origin for the Joker and how he might've been as a sane man. Blah blah you've heard it all-the reflections of the Joker and Batman-the deeper meaning of their relationship-yea yea its a good story, but honestly I'd say its just that. A good Batman v. Joker story. I also feel like Moore didn't capture the Joker's voice all that well. I know it sounds silly but, the Joker spoke too prolifically at times. It just didn't feel very in character. Not to say the Joker isn't smart, but it just didn't seem like him. All around I do think its a fun read however some people would call it a classic and I guess it is however the hype kinda brought it down for me.
Side Note- Brian Bollonds short story 'An innocent guy.' Now that gave me chills and should be a full story!
Side Note- Brian Bollonds short story 'An innocent guy.' Now that gave me chills and should be a full story!
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Killing Joke tells us the Joker's story in flashbacks, also Barbara's transformation from Batgirl to Oracle, Brian Bolland's art is just so good, but I think Moore could've done a better job.
Synopsis
The Joker’s at it again and is doing his best to drive Police Commissioner to his breaking point and straight into madness. He does this by striking his daughter–taking her and Gordon into a funhouse of torture and mayhem.
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Richard Starkings, and Tim Sale
★★★★★
Genre: Horror/Science Fiction
Release Date: 1988
Source: Target – Bought
On My Shelf: Yes
So, I read this book ages ago, and I'm finally getting around to writing my review of it. I’ve been wanting to talk about this book since finishing it, but I’ve never felt myself in the right mind to accurately describe how I felt about it.
I’m actually a pretty big low-key fan of Alan Moore and will literally read anything he’s done. So, I basically went into this collection knowing that I was not going to be disappointed, and, sure enough, I wasn’t even a little bit.
I will say a quick disclaimer before I start praising this work. I know some of the topics in this book are tough to handle (especially for some), and I know that there are parts of this book that come across demeaning and politically incorrect to certain groups of people. I in no way support this, but I’ve taken into consideration the year of publication of this text, and it’s also important to know that Moore himself apologized for they way some of the text may be misconstrued.
That all being said, I really did enjoy this. This story was quite the ride. From page one, Moore dives right into the action and, quite frankly, right into the madness. He gives zero sensibility to the Joker and makes him at times even more ruthless and insane than you would expect. There is no sense of humanity left in the character that Moore writes and Bolland draws.
The Joker is actually one of my favorite Batman villains, so seeing him in a story where’s he’s violent and nowhere short of insane was fun in a sort of unsettling way. I enjoyed this storyline and thought the setting was utterly appropriate for it.
To top it all off, Bolland’s artwork set the scene perfectly. I enjoyed the soft tones and intensity of his work. Each panel was like some new nightmare I couldn’t look away from. The dark colors complemented Moore’s storytelling to the t and brought the story to life in a seamless, morbidly disturbing manner.
There was something else that struck me about this text that I just want to say a quick word on before I wrap up. Not only does this comic show us the craze of the Joker, Moore examens Bruce Wayne’s character in a striking way as well. Gordon does a fairly good job of holding on to his sanity; the same can’t exactly be said about Wayne. Batman’s character is pushed to extremes, and the concept of a dark knight truly came into play. Moore has a way of subtly giving his characters so much complexity that when you stop to think about it all everything takes on the tone of overwhelming in a good way–this story is no different.
Overall, I highly recommend this twisted tale to fans of Batman, Moore, or those looking for a superhero comic that is much…much darker than the typical one you’d pull off the shelf.
*NOTE* I also highly recommend buying the anniversary edition that’s introduced by Tim Sale. His work has been incredibly influential in the Batman (and DC universe), and his foreword is worth the read!
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Ashly Reads.
The Joker’s at it again and is doing his best to drive Police Commissioner to his breaking point and straight into madness. He does this by striking his daughter–taking her and Gordon into a funhouse of torture and mayhem.
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Richard Starkings, and Tim Sale
★★★★★
Genre: Horror/Science Fiction
Release Date: 1988
Source: Target – Bought
On My Shelf: Yes
So, I read this book ages ago, and I'm finally getting around to writing my review of it. I’ve been wanting to talk about this book since finishing it, but I’ve never felt myself in the right mind to accurately describe how I felt about it.
I’m actually a pretty big low-key fan of Alan Moore and will literally read anything he’s done. So, I basically went into this collection knowing that I was not going to be disappointed, and, sure enough, I wasn’t even a little bit.
I will say a quick disclaimer before I start praising this work. I know some of the topics in this book are tough to handle (especially for some), and I know that there are parts of this book that come across demeaning and politically incorrect to certain groups of people. I in no way support this, but I’ve taken into consideration the year of publication of this text, and it’s also important to know that Moore himself apologized for they way some of the text may be misconstrued.
That all being said, I really did enjoy this. This story was quite the ride. From page one, Moore dives right into the action and, quite frankly, right into the madness. He gives zero sensibility to the Joker and makes him at times even more ruthless and insane than you would expect. There is no sense of humanity left in the character that Moore writes and Bolland draws.
The Joker is actually one of my favorite Batman villains, so seeing him in a story where’s he’s violent and nowhere short of insane was fun in a sort of unsettling way. I enjoyed this storyline and thought the setting was utterly appropriate for it.
To top it all off, Bolland’s artwork set the scene perfectly. I enjoyed the soft tones and intensity of his work. Each panel was like some new nightmare I couldn’t look away from. The dark colors complemented Moore’s storytelling to the t and brought the story to life in a seamless, morbidly disturbing manner.
There was something else that struck me about this text that I just want to say a quick word on before I wrap up. Not only does this comic show us the craze of the Joker, Moore examens Bruce Wayne’s character in a striking way as well. Gordon does a fairly good job of holding on to his sanity; the same can’t exactly be said about Wayne. Batman’s character is pushed to extremes, and the concept of a dark knight truly came into play. Moore has a way of subtly giving his characters so much complexity that when you stop to think about it all everything takes on the tone of overwhelming in a good way–this story is no different.
Overall, I highly recommend this twisted tale to fans of Batman, Moore, or those looking for a superhero comic that is much…much darker than the typical one you’d pull off the shelf.
*NOTE* I also highly recommend buying the anniversary edition that’s introduced by Tim Sale. His work has been incredibly influential in the Batman (and DC universe), and his foreword is worth the read!
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Ashly Reads.
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There are certain comic books that are so ubiquitous that there’s very little that one person can add to the pantheon of reviews that already exist around the source material. The Killing Joke is certainly one of those graphic novels is any have ever existed. It’s a story that is always on the list of the best comics of all time, it boasts one of the most important origin stories ever told, and has one of the best writers of all time helming the script for the book. To say anything other than that The Killing Joke was, and remains, an essential landmark in the comics medium is to damn it with faint praise.
The story is an incredibly simple one, the Joker has escaped Arkham once again, and this time he is trying to prove that anyone can break, that anyone can become him. This forward progression in the narrative is matched by a flashback in which the reader gets to learn how the Joker became the Joker, a decision that would end up creating the default view of the villain’s origin story. The Killing Joke is more than just a book about the Joker, however, it is also about Batman and his attempts to reconcile the nature of his crime-fighting and his one rule that he lives by. Can Batman truly see an end to all the fighting between him and his greatest rival? Are his feelings towards murder still justifiable when it would make more logical sense to finally put an end to the reign of terror that the Joker has placed on Gotham? These are the larger questions that Mr. Moore asks from the point of view of the caped crusader.
Mr. Moore’s writing is just as good as it always is, he has long spoken about how his work in mainstream heroes pales in comparison to the more “artistic” projects he’s worked on but The Killing Joke is a prime example of where his personal opinion could be wrong, because he makes Batman more than he typically is. There have been a great many writers in Batman’s long publication history, and there is perhaps no other comic character who could claim to have as many good stories as Batman does. Despite all of that, however, it’s the artist in Mr. Moore who can make a simple, forty-page story stand high above everything else in the character’s vast library.
I don’t know of another Batman story that has tackled the caped crusader's feelings about his war on crime and his resistance to drastic action like this book does. For most writers of the character, they see his one rule, that he will never kill a criminal, and simply leave it at that. Mr. Moore, however, decides that even Batman could reach a point where he begins to waver in his otherwise unyielding belief in the penal system, that even Batman could consider the death of a man to be a net benefit for the world, even Batman can be a utilitarian. That’s what makes the ambiguous nature of the end so intoxicating because a case is laid out from the beginning of the book for Batman to finally decide to end his war with the Joker, but whether or not he does is left up to the reader. Do we as the reader believe that even Batman can be worn down? Or do we believe that there’s no situation that could arise to make him question his core principals?
The artwork by Mr. Bolland is among the best that has treated the character in his history, while his art of the joker has come to be somewhat of a standard it's his Batman that I am drawn to. His rendering of Batman is among the most mysterious that the character has ever had, there are only two panels in which we see Bruce without the cowl on, and neither has his whole face in view, only his right profile. More than that, we rarely see the whole of Batman’s suit, Mr. Bolland opts to accentuate the darkness of his cowl, cape, and gloves, a decision that leaves the hero wrapped in darkness through most of the book, a fitting thematic choice. It is also very nice of DC to allow him to recolor the artwork himself, Mr. Bolland was famously unhappy with the fact that the original publication of the story only featured his penciling, but for this re-release of the story as a deluxe edition he was given the chance to color the book in the way he would have back when it was first published.
The Killing Joke is a seminal work, and it's not hard to see why. It proves just how masterful of a writer Mr. Moore truly is while not being overwrought in poetry and symbolism like so many of his other projects are. If you call yourself a Batman fan, or even just a fan of comics, and haven’t read The Killing Joke then I highly suggest you go and get yourself a copy.
The story is an incredibly simple one, the Joker has escaped Arkham once again, and this time he is trying to prove that anyone can break, that anyone can become him. This forward progression in the narrative is matched by a flashback in which the reader gets to learn how the Joker became the Joker, a decision that would end up creating the default view of the villain’s origin story. The Killing Joke is more than just a book about the Joker, however, it is also about Batman and his attempts to reconcile the nature of his crime-fighting and his one rule that he lives by. Can Batman truly see an end to all the fighting between him and his greatest rival? Are his feelings towards murder still justifiable when it would make more logical sense to finally put an end to the reign of terror that the Joker has placed on Gotham? These are the larger questions that Mr. Moore asks from the point of view of the caped crusader.
Mr. Moore’s writing is just as good as it always is, he has long spoken about how his work in mainstream heroes pales in comparison to the more “artistic” projects he’s worked on but The Killing Joke is a prime example of where his personal opinion could be wrong, because he makes Batman more than he typically is. There have been a great many writers in Batman’s long publication history, and there is perhaps no other comic character who could claim to have as many good stories as Batman does. Despite all of that, however, it’s the artist in Mr. Moore who can make a simple, forty-page story stand high above everything else in the character’s vast library.
I don’t know of another Batman story that has tackled the caped crusader's feelings about his war on crime and his resistance to drastic action like this book does. For most writers of the character, they see his one rule, that he will never kill a criminal, and simply leave it at that. Mr. Moore, however, decides that even Batman could reach a point where he begins to waver in his otherwise unyielding belief in the penal system, that even Batman could consider the death of a man to be a net benefit for the world, even Batman can be a utilitarian. That’s what makes the ambiguous nature of the end so intoxicating because a case is laid out from the beginning of the book for Batman to finally decide to end his war with the Joker, but whether or not he does is left up to the reader. Do we as the reader believe that even Batman can be worn down? Or do we believe that there’s no situation that could arise to make him question his core principals?
The artwork by Mr. Bolland is among the best that has treated the character in his history, while his art of the joker has come to be somewhat of a standard it's his Batman that I am drawn to. His rendering of Batman is among the most mysterious that the character has ever had, there are only two panels in which we see Bruce without the cowl on, and neither has his whole face in view, only his right profile. More than that, we rarely see the whole of Batman’s suit, Mr. Bolland opts to accentuate the darkness of his cowl, cape, and gloves, a decision that leaves the hero wrapped in darkness through most of the book, a fitting thematic choice. It is also very nice of DC to allow him to recolor the artwork himself, Mr. Bolland was famously unhappy with the fact that the original publication of the story only featured his penciling, but for this re-release of the story as a deluxe edition he was given the chance to color the book in the way he would have back when it was first published.
The Killing Joke is a seminal work, and it's not hard to see why. It proves just how masterful of a writer Mr. Moore truly is while not being overwrought in poetry and symbolism like so many of his other projects are. If you call yourself a Batman fan, or even just a fan of comics, and haven’t read The Killing Joke then I highly suggest you go and get yourself a copy.
I've heard this book hyped up ever since I started getting into comic books and I finally read it for book club. I understand why it's so important and influential; it changed the game in its own way. I think the art was incredible and it's an Alan Moore story, of course it's pretty dark. All that being said, I just didn't really enjoy it.
I rarely give four stars to comics but this one was really good. I loved the plot, the backstory of the Joker. He isn't even one of my fave characters of the DC universe but I really loved him in this book. Well, I mean, he was interesting and I wanted to know more about him. However, Alan Moore needs to learn how to write female characters, his writing was a bit yikes.
The artwork is just brilliant and that ending...... oh batman, what have you done?
The artwork is just brilliant and that ending...... oh batman, what have you done?