“That’s how far away the world is from where I am, just one bad day”
Yes, it counts. I also knew that I’d have to talk about it eventually seeing as it wasn’t brought up in my Ten Recommended Comics series. It was going to be difficult to not talk about Alan Moore in a series about British comic books and The Killing Joke DOES count. Both the writer Alan Moore and artist Brian Bolland are British. That is going to be my entire justification despite it being part of an American franchise.
The Killing Joke is for many the quintessential Batman comic. It fell short of my recommended comics list the first time around but that doesn’t mean that it’s any less of a good comic. I don’t personally agree that it is the best, purely because I don’t believe that there can be a best Batman comic.
The Killing Joke is often touted as the ‘origin story’ of the Joker, and this isn’t really true. It’s certainly an exploration of the character, however it largely draws upon the idea that The Joker and Batman are actually far more similar than what Batman wants to admit.
The Killing Joke has a huge legacy behind it, bringing The Joker to the cruellest he had ever been up until that point (this was before Jason Todd had been murdered) and much of The Joker’s actions are downright sick in this book. It’s frequently the inspiration that actors cite when preparing to play The Joker.
However I’m not going to spoil too much of The Killing Joke here, as I will be covering it even more in depth, alongside Moore’s other popular work, Watchmen! I want to be able to do this book justice, especially seeing as it’s been screwed over by me in the past. So go read it and meet me back here before the month is out when I release my Appraisal series!
Join me next time for my honourable mentions!
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