The Killing Joke Graphic Novel

I’ve been a fan of Batman since I was a kid. Actually, I’ve been a fan of the Batman villains since I was a kid. I don’t read many comic and I wasn’t interested in much of the superhero type stories, but something about Batman’s antagonists drew me in. They are colorful, and, more importantly, psychologically interesting. Each nemesis is clearly insane in their own unique way to contrast and compare Batman’s instability as a costume wearing vigilante. But for this post, I’m going to focus on just one of those villains. My personal favorite, the Joker presented at his delightfully psychotic best in The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brain Bolland.

The character of the Joker had gone through many incarnations since he arrived on the scene

Such a happy fellow

in the early 1940’s, from corny gag villain to extreme chaos spreading murderer. Many feel The Killing Joke is the definitive Joker story, with good reason. Not only is the Joker in full sadistic and psychotic glory in this piece but he is also shown with a tragic origin story to add a touch of sympathy to the character. Though the truth of the origin story is debatable by his statement, “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another ... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!” the sad backstory still hits enough emotionally to make the Joker’s actions in the present story feel even more disturbing.

The origin story not only makes the Joker a more dimensional character in this piece, but beefs up the theme. The Joker’s “one bad day” that drove him to lunacy is the inspiration for the message he is trying to convey in paralyzing Barbara Gordon and torturing her father, the Commissioner. He intends to prove it only takes one day of traumatic events to draw out the dormant insanity in every man. Gordon manages to remain sane, proving the Joker’s belief false, but this one bad day idea has more to do with the Joker’s relationship with Batman that it does Gordon. The message reflects Batman’s origin story in a twisted way. The one night that Bruce Wayne lost his parents drove him to become the crime-fighting, cape-wearing Batman, so truly it was only one bad day that changed each of them into their current forms. Yet Batman still manages to hold on to some of his sanity and can survive in everyday society as Bruce Wayne. The Joker has lost all hope in recovering any of his lost sanity or rejoining society, as he explains in his final joke.

Just brutal

No review of this story would be complete without discussing the fridging of Barbara Gordon, A.K.A. Batgirl. As much as I love the themes and dynamic between Batman and the Joker in The Killing Joke, the treatment of Barbara will always bother me. Her whole role in the story is as a plot device without showing her a person. Her injury drives Batman to have a more emotional reason to confront the Joker and is used by the Joker as part of his plot. Even more frustrating, unlike countless other comic stories where a male hero is badly injured, Barbara doesn’t make a full recovery. She will always be paralyzed. Though she is later revised as Oracle in the DC universe, this is still an unjust and cruel end for the strong female character of Batgirl.

Fridging is one of my personally most hated tropes. The story needs some plot device that will ensure the hero takes action, so they add in a female character to maim/torture/kill/depower that is close to the protagonist to give him reason to confront the antagonist. This shrinks the female character’s worth to only what she meant to the male characters instead of her being a person in her own right. I could go on for hours about the treatment of Barbara in this story from a feminist perspective but I’m going to halt here as there are dozens of blogs and articles that explore this topic in depth. It was a bad choice for the story and stains the brilliance of the piece.

This story has an ambiguous ending, another thing I highly enjoy in fiction. After Joker’s final joke where he basically explains his perspective for refusing Batman’s offer of rehabilitation, the panels show both characters sharing a good laugh and then pan down to the rain puddles at their feet. When I first read this book many years ago, I believed Batman kills the Joker out of frame. It made sense for the title The Killing Joke and explained why the laughing stopped all of the sudden. Batman offered a truce, the Joker refused, so Batman had no other option but to kill him.

Since then I’ve considered a couple of other possible endings. It doesn’t fit with Batman’s moral code to kill the Joker. He always strives to restrain all the criminals he encounters so

Everyone loves a good joke

that they receive justice in the court system. At this point, I’m more inclined to believe the ending shows that nothing has changed in their dynamic. It is more like the relationship has been reset. In the opening, Batman feels a mounting tension to defuse their growing rivalry. The Joker gives him just cause to hit that final battle where one of them kills the other, but it doesn’t come to that head. Instead, Gordon wants him brought in “by the book.” Batman makes his rehabilitation offer, the Joker refuses, and they share a laugh at the futility of their situation. After this moment, they go back to the dynamic of hero and villain from before the story. The opening and closing panels of rain falling on the ground helps to solidify the circle as the end is the same as the beginning.

Overall, this is a much hyped story for a reason. If you can work your way past Barbara’s fridging, there is a meaty story here with deep themes and wonderfully done creepy images. The Joker shines as a true psycho. If you are a fan of the character this is a must read.