The Killing Joke

I take in another deep breath, and sprint forward. There’s a sting in my lung, and I have to stop yet again. The steps behind me are gaining, and I glance backwards, panicking. Without much thought I lunge behind one of the park’s benches, and try to control my loud breathing. The person following me slows down and stops right in front of the bench I’m hiding behind, but doesn’t even look in my direction. For a moment I dare to think that he has lost me, that he’s scanning the darkness in front of him for me. But then the man speaks, the sound crackling slightly.

“So this clown and a blogger run into a park…”

He turns his head to look at me, his white face covered in an unnaturally wide grin.

The Killing Joke (WARNING! Major Spoilers!)

The Killing Joke is the third of my Batquest, and has shown me dimensions that I couldn’t fathom before. This comic, although featuring some major events that affected the whole Batverse and maybe even the DC universe (haven’t really read any other DC so I can’t say :D), does not build it’s awesomeness on that. Instead it’s breathtaking art style and colouring coupled with an absolutely fantastic storyline really show what a graphic novel can be.

The story starts off with Batman going into Arkham Asylum to have a little chat with the Joker. Instead of doing what I expected him to do (“WHERE ARE THEY?”), he just wants to have one sane conversation with the one person in the world who’s faith is so deeply tied to his own. Of course, this can’t happen; Batman quickly discovers that the Joker has escaped and the person in the cell is just a stooge pretending to be him.

This is where we’re introduced to our first flashback. Before we go into it, I have to say a few words: although the flashbacks seem to depict the origin story of the Joker, I don’t believe this to be the case. Rather than being something that actually happened, I think it’s one of the many crazy beginnings the Joker has imagined up for himself, and symbolizes his relationship with the Bat. But let’s talk about that a little later.

In the first flashback we’re introduced to a failing comedian, and his pregnant wife. They live in a tiny little shack, and the comedian can’t find any work because he’s shit at what he does. He’s desperate for anything that could save him and his little family. Eventually he finds a job; some thieving kind have decided to rob a chemical plant that the comedian used to work in, and they ask him to guide them for a share of the loot. They offer him the mask of the Red Hood to use so that no one can recognize him. However just before the men are about to leave for their heist, a police officer comes into the bar they’re sitting at and tells the comedian that his wife and the baby are both dead. The comedian tries to back away from the heist after this, but the robbers won’t let him and force him to come with them. They make their way to the chemical plant, where the Batman finds them and captures the other robbers. The comedian runs away from him but trips into the sewage of the plant, getting away from the Batman but discovering at the shore that his face is pure white, his lips rosy red and his hair bright green. This is the last straw, and the comedian breaks down. Insanity takes hold of him and the Joker is born.

Back to the present day. Joker buys an abandoned amusement park, and sets up his planned amusements. Then he goes to Gordon’s house, shoots Barbara snapping her spine and paralyzing her from the waist down, and kidnaps Gordon. He takes Gordon down to the amusement park and forces him to go through the haunted house ride naked, with all of the usual decorations removed and replaced with giant pictures of Barbara, lying on the floor of their apartment bleeding. Joker is doing this to prove to Gotham, Batman, Gordon, and himself that anyone could go crazy, they just need to go through one really bad day.

Eventually Batman finds his way to the scene, and a fight ensues.

As I said earlier, this comic book was brilliant.  The whole story is built upon the idea that Batman and the Joker are different sides of the same coin, and that one wouldn’t exist without the other. This is further reinforced by the flashback scenes, where Batman plays a part in Joker’s creation; since the Joker exists psychologically because of the Batman, he has created a past in his mind where the same happens physically.

It’s also argued by Joker that the Batman is as crazy as the Joker is, and this is really the first time I thought of Batman this way. This was the first time I thought of the Batman series as a bunch of psychopaths fighting for the control of Gotham rather than a hero trying to stop criminals. The only difference is that the Batman refuses to steal things or kill people, and Joker even argues that Batman himself was created by one bad day. Of course, this is all the more compelling argument when we know this to be partially true; it’s certain that the childhood trauma of having his parents killed right in front of him contributed to his crime fighting, and this makes you wonder whether Batman would even exist if it weren’t for that one day. What if only one of his parents got killed? What if Alfred got killed instead? What if his dad had killed the druggie first?

Other than these very interesting ideas about the whole essence of Batman, the story itself works very well. The pacing is tight and no scene feels like it’s dragging on too much, and the story itself gets told in just enough time to grasp the main points but not so long that the reader gets bored. Each scene has something important to say in relation to the story, unlike a certain other Batman comic I read recently *cough*The Long Halloween*cough*.

The art on the other hand is well done, but not on par with other works I’ve seen. It gets its point across simply, with most of the comic being fairly bland coloured except for the objects important to the plot. This style has been tried before, but it definitely works, even if it can’t hold up to the deep symbolism that the Long Halloween showed in its artwork.

Altogether, this was an amazing comic book. It’s a must read for anyone interested in Batman or comics in general, and I demand you read it right now. Do it. Do it now.