A Graphic Novel Review: "Batman: The Killing Joke"

Members of both the comic book world and the Batman fanbase worldwide reacted with both an enthusiastic joy and a touch of curiosity towards the more uncertain aspects that would make up this adaptation. For those that aren't familiar, "Batman: The Killing Joke" has gone down in history as one of the best stories ever written featuring the title character. It's almost always listed beside the equally famous "Batman: Year One" and "Batman: The Long Halloween" among a few others I've yet to read. That might mean absolutely nothing for a person who doesn't read comics, and really it probably shouldn't. I'm not a comic reader. I'm not well-versed in the seemingly limitless universe that DC Comics and others have created. I'm also not hugely familiar with the written works of Alan Moore or Brian Bollard. The perspective I'm writing from is a person who simply loves cinematic, edgy storytelling. I love the "Batman" movies directed by the likes of Christopher Nolan and Tim Burton, and had a comforting level of exposure to the 90s animated series as a child. I'm no stranger to Batman, but not about to write a doctoral thesis on him either. Writing about a comic book is outside of my comfort zone, so I'll try my best to keep my thoughts in order.

In a way, "Batman: The Killing Joke" is a bit of an anomaly in superhero graphic novels. It's not very long, and is what's called a one-shot comic. The story isn't told over the course of several issues. On the positive end, it means that you can push yourself through it like a tank and be finished in as little as half an hour. On the negative end, and this really is more a challenge for writers than readers, there's the issue of elaborating on all the necessities briefly while being as detailed as possible. Alan Moore and Brian Bollard have done an exceptional job at meeting these demands however. Almost abysmally small it may seem, it reaches great heights in terms of its final impact on you.

To summarize what this one-shot comic is all about, it's a hero's tale, a tragedy, an ordeal with the psychological and a brush with villainous ambience all at once. The Joker has been incarcerated in Arkham Asylum for sometime, only to have escaped under mysterious circumstances. Batman learns of the Joker's plans to torment Commissioner Gordon and his family in the name of a deranged final goal and sets out to stop him. At the same time, an origin story is being told in the background. It focuses on a man battling with his aspirations to become a comedian, his family obligations and how his getting caught up with the wrong people leads to a turn for the worst.  




Right from the first page, I was immediately hooked. There's very little dialogue in these first stages of the story, and everything you learn comes from a strictly visual basis. The artwork was gothic, established a feeling of mystery, a sense of dread and all that's going through your head are questions over why the Batman has been called in by the police. It's actually quite amazing the sounds you find yourself hearing as you flick through the pages. The thunder, the rain, the whistles of the wind, the sound of footsteps. It pulls you right into the scene and makes the entire experience far more immersive.

Given this is a Joker story, it's only normal to expect there's a equally sadistic side of comedy to the picture. What's fortunate though is that it's not a distraction, and rather compliments the drama's intensity. There's a scene where the Joker kills a salesman and makes him more or less an ornament for his new amusement park, and then makes what would have been a light-hearted pun. It's both shocking and embroils us in Batman's struggle as we learn immediately of the kind of Joker we're dealing with.

Perhaps what I found most appealing about this comic is its intention to push psychological boundaries and draw question about the instability of the human mental state. There's this particularly ruthless pair of sequences that really had me in awe. The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon, takes pornographic photographs, kidnaps the Commissioner and sends him on this wild roller coaster of torment directed at assaulting his own fatherly instincts. Purpose? To prove that 'one bad day' can drive the most sound purpose into insanity. It's an act of savagery that I feel hasn't been equated to in any Batman film adaptations.

Another thing I adored is how Joker oriented this comic really is and it's really not that big a story about Batman. As far as audio-visual media is concerned, you'll naturally draw the closest comparison to the Mark Hamill version of the character from "Batman: The Animated Series" and the subsequent feature films it spawned. I find The Killing Joke's depiction to be just as impressive and an obvious influence on that later incarnation spawned only a few years later. 

This Joker is animalistic, but also highly intelligent and aspires to demonstrate an understanding of the unstable side of the human mind. As cruel as this character is depicted, there's the undeniable tragic aspect of him that makes him at least 50% sympathetic. When painted as a man who was once completely in touch with his sanity, a man aspiring to make those around him happy and as a victim of the manipulating influence of criminals we come to understand the Joker's motivations. Beyond the sadistic exterior, there's this overwhelming strive for vindication and a want to be liberated from the wrongs that made him into what he is. This is not the cold-but-clownlike gangster of the 1989 Tim Burton movie (Jack Nicholson) or the ambiguous anarchist of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" (Heath Ledger). This is a genuinely traumatized individual asserting on the world how his tragic tale shaped him into the monster society sees him as.

Finally, there's the ending, and it's fantastic and completely drops any expectations you might have had on their head. Batman and The Joker have the physical bout and it's exciting like one would guess, but then this happens. The Joker prepares for a death at the hands of his eternal foe, only to learn of the Bruce Wayne's mercy and his desire to avoid a deadly fate for them both. The Joker admits that he feels it's too late, tells an old story and the two share a laugh together. I was left with all these mixed feelings on what I was supposed to finally make of the Joker as well as the future of his everlasting war with Batman. The last frame of raindrops is the same that started the comic. It acts as a bookend and leaves you in a state of apprehension over what might have followed.

"Batman: The Killing Joke" is very short, but it's also riveting, thought-provoking, inventive in its structure, illustrated marvelously and toys with different kinds of feelings. I can only hope to see Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprise their roles from the animated series for the planned film based on this graphic novel, but I'm confident I'll be very happy either way. I'm a film buff, not a comic reader, and for me this change in medium was both refreshing and strangely familiar.

I highly recommend "Batman: The Killing Joke" to all fans of any cinematic version of Batman, and hopefully you'll find not only a great experience of experimentation in the way you engage in fiction, but also a basis to judge the upcoming film.