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''Batman: The Killing Joke'' is a One-shot Superhero Comic Book written by Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland , published by DC Comics in 1988. In 2006, it was reprinted in the Trade Paperback ''DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore'' (ISBN 1-4012-0927-0). PLOT SUMMARY The plot revolves around a largely Psychological battle between Batman and his longtime foe, the Joker , who has escaped from Arkham Asylum . The Joker intends to drive James Gordon , the Police Commissioner of Gotham City , Insane , in order to prove that the most upstanding citizen is capable of going mad after having "one bad day." Along the way, the Joker has Flashbacks to his early life, gradually explaining his Origin . (However, this origin may be false - see Themes below.) The man who will become the Joker is an unnamed engineer who quits his job at a chemical company to become a Stand-up Comedian , only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his Pregnant wife, he agrees to guide two criminals into the plant for a robbery. During the planning, the police come and inform him that his wife has just been electrocuted in a household accident involving an electric baby bottle heater. Grief-stricken, the engineer tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his commitment to them. At the plant, the criminals make him don a special mask to become the infamous Red Hood . Unknown to the engineer, this disguise is simply the criminals' scheme to implicate any accomplice as the mastermind to divert attention from themselves. Once inside, they almost immediately blunder into security personnel, and a violent shootout and chase ensues. The criminals are gunned down and the engineer finds himself confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance. Panicked, the engineer deliberately jumps into the chemical plant's toxic waste catch-basin vat to escape Batman and is swept through a pipe leading to the outside. Once outside, he discovers, to his horror, that the chemicals have permanently bleached his skin chalk white, stained his lips ruby red and dyed his hair bright green. This turn of events, compounding the man's misfortunes of that one day, drives him completely insane and results in the birth of the Joker. In the present day, the Joker Kidnap s Gordon, shoots and Paralyzes his daughter Barbara , and imprisons him in a run-down Amusement Park . His henchmen then Strip Gordon Naked and cage him in the park's Freak Show . He chains Gordon to one of the park's rides and cruelly forces him to view giant pictures of his wounded daughter in various states of undress. Once Gordon completes the maddening gauntlet, the Joker ridicules him as an example of "the average man," a naïve weakling doomed to insanity. Batman arrives to save Gordon, and the Joker retreats into the Funhouse . Gordon's sanity is intact despite the ordeal and he insists that Batman capture the Joker "by the book" in order to "show him that our way works". Batman enters the funhouse and faces the Joker's traps while the Joker tries to persuade his old foe that the world is inherently insane and thus not worth fighting for. Eventually, Batman tracks down the Joker and subdues him. Batman then attempts to reach out to him to give up crime and put a stop to their years-long war. The Joker declines, however, ruefully saying "It's too late for that... Far too late". He then tells Batman a joke that was started earlier in the comic. The two laugh as police cars arrive. THE JOKE The joke told by the Joker is a common one:
THEMES The exploration of the Joker's origin and the hopelessness that belies his "evil clown" persona is effected toward creating a more three-dimensional depth for the character. Another theme explores the possibility that Batman is just as insane as the criminals he faces ("You had a bad day too, once, didn't you?" The Joker asks him), but manifests insanity in a different way. For the decade or so following publication, this theme became central to Batman's character in mainstream stories, but following '' Infinite Crisis '' in 2006 has been downplayed in favor of a more heroic motivation. The Joker's underlying motive is to illustrate the inherent insanity of Batman's mission: dressing up as a Bat to fight criminals. It is only when Batman renders the Joker helpless and his extended assistance is rejected that the Dark Knight comes to appreciate the madman's aim, reacting just as the Joker would: laughing hysterically. The Joker also serves as an Unreliable Narrator . He admits to his own uncertainty as he has varying memory of the single event. ("Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!") It must be noted though, that it is in no way said that the background supplied is anything but the story told out of an observer's point of view. CRITICAL RECEPTION AND LEGACY Although this comic book was a one-shot, it had an extraordinary impact on the DC Universe . Most significant was Barbara Gordon's paralysis, which ended her career as Batgirl , and eventually led to her role as Oracle in the '' Birds Of Prey '' series and other DC Universe appearances. (''Birds of Prey'' was also adapted into a TV Series Of The Same Title which incorporated the ''Killing Joke'' continuity, with the difference that Barbara Gordon is shot by the Joker in her home.) Despite its popularity, Alan Moore himself would later find much fault with his story, calling it "clumsy, misjudged and of real human importance."George Khoury, ed., ''The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore'' (Raleigh: TwoMorrows, 2003) 123. In his introduction to the story in the ''DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore'' trade paperback, Brian Bolland disputes the widely-held belief that the story was originally a Batman annual story and ended up as a prestige-format book. Bolland recalls that the idea for a one-off Batman story focusing on The Joker — with Batman more of an incidental character — was his. Bolland says that in 1984, DC editor Dick Giordano told him he could do any project for DC he wanted, and Bolland requested to do a Batman/Joker prestige book with Moore as writer. Bolland has also expressed dissatisfaction with the final book, and regrets that its impending schedule for release meant he couldn't color the book himself (John Higgins was the colorist). Bolland says that "The end result wasn't quite what I'd hoped. I don't think it rates with some of the highlights of Alan's career."Brian Bolland, "On Batman: Brian Bolland recalls ''The Killing Joke''," ''DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore'' (New York: DC Comics, 2006) 256. This was not the first time the Joker was given an actual origin. Moore's rendition uses elements of the 1951 story "The Mystery of the Red Hood" ('' Detective Comics '' #168), which established the concept of the Joker originally having been a thief known only as The Red Hood, and whose real name was unknown. The Tragic and human elements of the character's story, coupled with his barbaric acts as the Joker, portray the character as less of a one-note monster and more like a three-dimensional (if irredeemable) human being. Quoting Mark Verger: ''The Killing Joke'' "provid {Link without Title} the Joker with a sympathetic back story as it presented some of the villain's most vile offenses."Mark Voger, ''The Dark Age: Grim, Great and Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics'' (Raleigh: TwoMorrows, 2006) 33. A story of the second Batman/Joker encounter later presented in issue #50 of ''''. Much of the Joker's story from ''The Killing Joke'' is also confirmed as being correct in 2004's "Pushback" ('' — having no reason to lie. Nigma recounts that the Joker's wife was Kidnapped and murdered by the criminals in order to force the engineer's compliance. In this version, the pre-accident Joker is called "Jack" (as in Tim Burton 's 1989 '' Batman '' movie, where the character was named "Jack Napier"). In ''Killing Joke'', he was not even given a name. Barbara Gordon's spine was severed by the bullet wounds inflicted by the Joker, paralyzing her from the waist down, but she would emerge from tragedy as the covert information broker and Birds Of Prey founder known as ''Oracle''. The ''Birds Of Prey'' Television Series preserves the ''Killing Joke'' encounter between Barbara and the Joker as the origin of her genesis from Batgirl to Oracle, but alters the Joker's motivations to revenge against Batman. Tim Burton claimed that ''The Killing Joke'' was a major influence on his Film Adaptation Of ''Batman'' : "I was never a giant comic book fan, but I've always loved the image of Batman and The Joker. The reason I've never been a comic book fan - and I think it started when I was a child - is because I could never tell which box I was supposed to read. I don't know if it was Dyslexia or whatever, but that's why I loved ''The Killing Joke'', because for the first time I could tell which one to read. It's my favorite. It's the first comic I've ever loved. And the success of those graphic novels made our ideas more acceptable."Tim Burton, ''Burton on Burton: Revised Edition'' (London: Faber and Faber, 2006) 71. Director Christopher Nolan has mentioned that ''The Killing Joke'' will serve as an influence for the version of the Joker that will appear in '' The Dark Knight '' film. Heath Ledger , who will appear in the film as the Joker, stated in an interview that he was given a copy of ''The Killing Joke'' as reference for the role.1 The theme of "one bad day" is also present in the (ongoing) 2004 '' The Batman '' animated TV series, particularly in the episode " The Rubberface Of Comedy ", when Joker tortures Detective Ethan Bennett and states, "All it takes to separate the nuts from the normals is one rotten day. Well, in my case, one rotten day and a chemical bath." REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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