A story that fundamentally changes established characters for decades, and continues to remain celebrated is a rare occurrence. Stories come and go, but the status quo is always resumed at some point. However, Batman: The Killing Joke is different. It not only transcends every notion of modern comics, but is easily one of the best Batman stories ever. Not bad for a mere 48 pages.
Written by Alan Moore with art by Brian Bolland, Batman: The Killing Joke released in 1988 as a 48 page one-shot. Unlike many comics, it had lasting effects for over 20 years that not only fundamentally changed characters, but attempted to break cardinal rules of story telling, reveal the origin of the Joker.
The Joker escaped from Arkham, setting out to prove a point, it only takes one bad day to push an average person to madness. He targeted Commissioner Gordon to validate. His plan in place, he knocked on the Gordon’s door. Barbara (Batgirl) answered, immediately shot through the abdomen, severing the base of her spine. Joker kidnapped the Commissioner, putting him through an abandoned carnival ride, subjecting him to images of Barbara, naked and bleeding, attempting to drive him mad.
Flashbacks of the Joker’s past are interspersed throughout. A nameless man, failing at as a stand-up comedian, agrees to a heist, leading men through the chemical plant he worked at to rob the card factory next door. Before the night of the theft, his pregnant wife dies in a freak electrical accident due to a faulty appliance. The thugs force him to go through with the job, having him wear a red hood, making him a distraction and patsy. The heist was stopped by Batman. The nameless man fled, falling to a vat of chemicals, emerging from the waste with his skin bleach chalk white, lips stained red, and hair dyed green.
The brilliance of the book is with its execution. Some characters work better without an origin, like Wolverine. The Joker has always been a force of nature, nailing down his past is near blasphemous as it would permanently damage him. Instead, Moore avoids this by having the Joker explain that he doesn’t remember his past, sometimes he remembers it one way, other times another, preferring it to be “multiple choice.” Moore, via Joker, went on to give one of the best parallels of the two, Batman and Joker, saying that Batman is likely the result of a bad day. Batman counters that he made a choice, as did Gordon, who Joker failed to break.
While comparisons between Batman and Joker were brilliant, as was the possible origin of the Joker, neither have been as remembered or discussed as much as the paralysis of Barbara Gordon. This act transformed the character, paving the way for her to become Oracle, leader of the Birds of Prey. Any story featuring her as Oracle references The Killing Joke to some degree. It’s also become controversial, with many on both sides pointing to it as the key argument about treatment of women in comics.
Moore as disparaged the work years later, as he has most of his earlier writing, calling it uninteresting. Holland was unable to color the book originally, with John Higgins providing the original colors. For the 2006 deluxe reprint, Holland was able to recolor it according to his original vision. This version does play out much better, the flashbacks in black and white, Barbara’s injure missing the odd red shading, etc. As for Barbara, she remained in the wheelchair until 2011. The New 52 reboot changed it to a temporary injury, with her magically recovering after three years.
Batman: The Killing Joke is not only one of the best, but one of the most influential comic books created. It’s required reading for any Batman fan, whether their a comic reader or not, and deserves a place on the shelf of every collector.
Enjoy the parallel between Batman and the Joker? Think Barbara was mistreated? Comment below!
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