Batman: Killing Joke - Alan Moore

I'm not entirely sure where this particular story fits into the seemingly never ending collections of Batman comics, but it is up there with the best of them. I had just watched the Batman Begins movie and wanted to see how the Batman character began and evolved through time. I was lead to 'The Killing Joke' and boy I wasn't dissapointed. Prior to reading this graphic novel and or watching the blockbuster movie 'The Dark Knight', you may have wondered who The Joker is exactly and why he's such a sick and twisted individual. After reading you'll not only have learnt who he is but you'll be left with a quite a strange sense of disgust for an individual ...  Read the complete review

What does it take to turn a sane man to madness? Could sanity be as flimsy as to crack completely after just one bad day? This is the question The Joker tries to answer in DC's The Killing Joke. Remembering the fateful day which turned him into the lunatic he is now, The Joker escapes once more from Arkham Asylum (I swear, they must just leave the doors open at that place) and sets out on a terrifying rampage. His plan is to drive Commisioner Jim Gordon mad, after a day full of misery, grief, and torture. If Gordon is insane at the end of the day, then the Joker has made his point. Needless to say, Gordon is still sane at the end of the day ...  Read the complete review

Two stories are told in this comic, in the present the Joker cripples Barbara Gordan and goes on the run from Batman, whilst in the past we learn how the Joker came to be. The Joker is revelaed to have been transformed from an unfortunate and largely innocent man in to the insane and homocidal Joker after an encounter with Batman at a chemical plant. The present day questions the roles of Batman and the Joker, how they continually play this game of cat and mouse. The artwork for this book is solid, but not particualrly inspiring. Alan Moore does an excellent job in creating real characters out of Batman and the Joker and makes much of the tragedy and futility of ...  Read the complete review