Five reasons I dislike this book:

[1] Batman is totally wrong. It seemed like the pet-peeve of every cynical Brit writer in the 80s and 90s to portray Batman as equally insane compared to his foes [check out Grant Morrison's "Arkham Asylum" for more of the same].

[2] The hopeless ending. Agreed, this book has the Joker at his most evil and the book ends with Batman and Joker laughing in the rain?

[3] The level of *sick* shocks in this book. From Barbara Gordon's crippling to Jim Gordon's "circus" experience. This was written at a period where shocking violence in comics is considered a prerequisite in crafting a "mature" work. Granted, I actually prefer Barbara as Oracle than the cheesy Batgirl but I absolutely detest the way Alan Moore did it in this book.

[4] The totally unnecessary "origin" of Joker. Joker is one of those characters in comics who really can do without an origin. He is a sicko, and that's all you need to know. We do not need to see him from a more compassionate perspective by having a "tragic origin".

[5] The use of "Watchmen-transitions". Alan Moore is justly famous for the use of clever transitions between panels. But in this book, we have transitions such as a poster of a fat woman freak in a circus leading to the next panel of Joker's pregnant wife. Where's the catch? This is the real problem of the whole work - clever but ultimately pointless.


Sympathy for the Devil   April 11, 2002
 18 out of 21 found this review helpful

The Killing Joke is one of the few Batman stories where you actually feel for the Joker as a character. In most stories he either comes off as a charicature of a killer or a sinister and dispicable murderer who you can't have any sympathy for. One of Alan Moore's masterpieces, it even has a song that you can sing. Its funny, but the tune just comes to your head. You automatically know how you should be singing it. The pacing is very cinematic and it is not overburdened with words. Wordless captions make the story more fast paced.
Bolland (why doesn't he do more interiors these days?) is the best Joker (and Batman) artist of all time. The expressions of dispair that he draws on the faces of Barbara Gordon, the Joker, Commissioner Gordon and others are among the most realistic I have ever seen.


Should NOT be so Expensive!!!!   December 14, 2005
 15 out of 20 found this review helpful

I bought this as a present for a friend and myself back in 1988 and while the story is no doubt one of the best ever written GNs to expound upon the Joker, it doesn't warrant these price tags. This graphic novel has been REPRINTED 6 TIMES!!!! I'm just shaking my head looking at what these vendors are asking. "Price-gouging" is the word that comes to mind. I'm into collecting comics as much as the next guy, but this is classic artificial demand placed on this comic due to the success of the Hollywood film Batman Begins. A CGC graded Killing Joke may be worth the $35.00 you'd pay for it, but these aren't even graded.
In the end, I concur with every review written, this graphic novel is one to add to your collection if you can find it at a reasonable price.

I would, however, strongly suggest to anyone considering purchasing this graphic novel to consider the upcoming "DC UNIVERSE: THE STORIES OF ALAN MOORE" being released Jan. 11, 2006 which will include for the first time ever in trade paperback, The Killing Joke along with many other fantastic Alan Moore stories.


The Dark Knight vs. The Killing Joker   November 11, 2000
 11 out of 14 found this review helpful

This graphic novel is about the Batman, a very dark hero against very evil villains, in this case the Joker. The mood in the comic is very intense, as the rivalry of The Dark Knight and an insane killer escalates. The growing emotional drama between these two is very evident in this story. It also focuses in on the darker side of the human soul. I saw a hero, who is himself plagued with personal demons, having to face a villian who became a devil, through extreme circumstances, after his life was incredibly taken away from him. The comic tells us the origin of the Joker and it tells us how he became this evil force. Being set up to commit his first crime, he pays the ultimate price during his first encounter with the Batman, and as a result, he plummets into a vat of chemicals disfiguring him which causes him to lose his mind. Becoming a crime boss himself he mercilessly kills people for his own personal entertainment, like a private sick joke. He kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and his daughter after permanently crippling her with a gun shot to her spine. Batman goes in after them in the Joker's lair and attempts to rescue them. For a comic book, it is quite suprising how involved the story can get, therefore I reccomend this book to any mature person who likes good literature.


The greatest Joker story ever.   March 2, 2002
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I remember first reading this astonishing book about ten or so years ago around when I first got into comic books. Up until that point I had just read typical mainstream super-hero fare with stories where a bad guy is introduced, commits his crime, and the good guy takes him out. status quo remains in place and everybody goes home happy.

Then I chanced upon this book, not even yet knowing who Alan Moore or Brian Bolland were and was completely blown away! This was a story that mattered. The event's of this book changed the character's in ways that they could never go back, and that's a very rare and good thing in comics. Never has a comic book so brilliantly dug so deep into the nasty bowels of the Joker's mind like this. You see the events that lead up to him going over the top and becoming the criminal who would one day be Batman's arch foe. Then we have Joker's confrontation with Batgirl which would forever change the character's in the Bat books and go on to really show just how insane and demented the Joker actually is. Personally, every time I read it, I can't wait to get to the end of the story when Batman get's his hands on the clown for one of my favorite fight sequences ever! You know a man can write when he get's you feel that much hate for a fictonal character!

A first rate story, from a first rate creative team. This story is only second to The Dark Knight Returns.