Batman: The Killing Joke (Deluxe Edition)

As usual, the Joker has escaped and gone on the rampage, but this time he has decided to take revenge on all the key characters that he believes have caused his suffering - the Gordons and Batman.

His scheme is diabolical - this is one of the ugliest Batman stories I have ever read - and violent. His method of revenge is really sickening and will probably leave you hoping for some severe punishment to be delivered by the end of the book.

And it is - Batman is at his most savage when he catches up with Joker. But the flashbacks to the Joker's past, beautifully rendered, may in turn have you feeling some sympathy for a man who just wanted to take care of his family and ended up disfigured and insane.

This book is about twisted fate and redemption. Both Batman and the Joker are victims of events beyond their control and now must live with the consequences.

Buy this for great art and one of the most thought-provoking stories in comics.


A rewarding read   October 31, 2002
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

As someone rediscovering comics after some 20 years out, this book is something of a revelation. A literate script and beautifully illustrated, this is a rewarding, sophistocated read. Batman seems to be the only 'golden age' superhero who lends himself to tales as dark as this - my other favourite is Year One by Frank Miller. But this is the better book, and I'd recommend it to anyone curious about graphic novels but wary of their relative (to paperback novels) high price. Of course, this is reasonably priced, and fairly short - but it's actually all the better for it. Give me a taught, tense story over the flab that fills many of the longer graphic novels every time!


Definately worthy of 5 Stars   June 1, 2003
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

Definately worth reading, not sure what more to add to be honest!

Alan Moore is a truly amazing writer and this is very good proof of that. Within just 48 pages (or so) he has created an utterly compelling and thought provoking story in which we see the origins of the Joker and how he came to be.

It is full of images which stay in your head for ages after you've finished reading it, which is what good comics should do!

Recomended!


Could just be the finest comic every   July 22, 2002
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

What happens when you get the world's best comic writer and one of the world's three best comic artists to produce a one-off story for the world's most fascinating superhero-supervillain relationship? The answer is this truly magical work.

The Joker, as written by Moore and drawn by Bolland, has never seemed so human and yet so utterly insane, and rarely gets such brilliant - and brilliantly sick - one-liners as when Barbara Gordon is lying crippled from his gun shot to her spine. As the story progresses, we are both moved by the 'one bad day' that caused the Joker's insanity and horrified by the truly evil acts he uses it to excuse.

Batman also seems more human than he can often appear - Moore allows him to show more compassion than many authors would, both for Barbara and for the Joker, and his frustration at his continuing inability to reason with the Joker is one of the more interesting background themes to the book.

If you only buy one Batman book, make it this one. Although more ground-breaking work has been done by authors creating their own characters (Moore's own 'Watchmen' being a good example), the creators here manage to take a well-established set of characters and develop and broaden them without losing any of the original spark in the process. A rare feat indeed, and for that reason, along with the overall quality of the story and how much is contained in such a small package, this may be one of the finest comics ever produced.


Return of a classic   October 24, 2008
John Hughes
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This was the first comic i ever bought,twenty or so years ago and it is still one of my favourites.The story is probably the best Joker tale and the art is un-paralled.This edition is if anything an improvement on the original having Brian Bolland's own colours which are a delight in themselves.This book might be the definitive version of this seminal graphic novel.