Killing Joke: One Good Read
In the eighties, there was a revolution in comic book industry that marked the arrival of Frank Miller. The superhero genre, so far meant to be for children, was forever transformed and redefined with the arrival of Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns in ’86. This graphic novel was painted with dark tones and shades. When children were transfixed by gritty action, the adults were by it and the polished narrative tone and its literary content. Around the same time arrived Alan Moore with Watchmen that portrayed perplexed superheroes with human flaws. This graphic novel is held by critics as one of the greatest literary work ever penned, perhaps the only one work to attain that stature in the graphic format so far. Soon Moore teamed with artist Brian Bolland to create The Killing Joke.
This 46-page one-shot comic weaves two parallel stories, one of which follows Joker loose from Arkham Asylum with a mission and the other is a possible origin story of Joker. His mission is to prove a point that “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.” He doesn’t hold this point as a hypothesis. To him it is a proven fact with—one being himself and the other Batman—living witnesses in Gotham. This is explored in the tragic back story compellingly. He tells, as being pursued by Batman, “I know I am. I can tell you. You had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would you dress up like a flying rat.” Having the theory so firmly grounded it is only a matter of picking the right device to paralyze the right victim with lunacy.
His subject is the morally deep-rooted Jim Gordon and his mean is his daughter Barbara. Near the end of the nightmarish experiment, Joker meets his symbiotic ally Batman with whom he shares the killing joke of two lunatic prisoners attempting escape from Arkham Asylum. After the narration of the symbolic joke, in which one can take the liberty to connect two lunatics with the joker and his audience Batman, the Joker breaks into his mad laughter joined by, hesitantly at first, the restrained laughter of Batman.
The Killing Joke is a quintessential Joker tale scripted by Moore, perhaps, at his moody-best and illustrated and re-colored by Bolland at his best. It remains the perfect example of writer-artist teamwork, not surprisingly, achieving the high art status. I first read The Killing Joke in black and white as a kid in the 90s. It is remarkable to own this re-colored deluxe edition. Besides, since childhood I have been intrigued by the persona of the caped crusader Batman. What I am intrigued by now is that if Batman is the shadow of Bruce Wayne, in a Jungian sense, isn’t it very likely that Joker is the shadow of Batman. Then I see the hardest, and most important, task of befriending your shadow, and the need to go through and out of the Batcave conquering. There was a bond there when they shared a joke and laughed their lungs out on a stormy night. Art and symbolism make one good read provokingly even if you had one bad day.
This 46-page one-shot comic weaves two parallel stories, one of which follows Joker loose from Arkham Asylum with a mission and the other is a possible origin story of Joker. His mission is to prove a point that “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.” He doesn’t hold this point as a hypothesis. To him it is a proven fact with—one being himself and the other Batman—living witnesses in Gotham. This is explored in the tragic back story compellingly. He tells, as being pursued by Batman, “I know I am. I can tell you. You had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would you dress up like a flying rat.” Having the theory so firmly grounded it is only a matter of picking the right device to paralyze the right victim with lunacy.
His subject is the morally deep-rooted Jim Gordon and his mean is his daughter Barbara. Near the end of the nightmarish experiment, Joker meets his symbiotic ally Batman with whom he shares the killing joke of two lunatic prisoners attempting escape from Arkham Asylum. After the narration of the symbolic joke, in which one can take the liberty to connect two lunatics with the joker and his audience Batman, the Joker breaks into his mad laughter joined by, hesitantly at first, the restrained laughter of Batman.
The Killing Joke is a quintessential Joker tale scripted by Moore, perhaps, at his moody-best and illustrated and re-colored by Bolland at his best. It remains the perfect example of writer-artist teamwork, not surprisingly, achieving the high art status. I first read The Killing Joke in black and white as a kid in the 90s. It is remarkable to own this re-colored deluxe edition. Besides, since childhood I have been intrigued by the persona of the caped crusader Batman. What I am intrigued by now is that if Batman is the shadow of Bruce Wayne, in a Jungian sense, isn’t it very likely that Joker is the shadow of Batman. Then I see the hardest, and most important, task of befriending your shadow, and the need to go through and out of the Batcave conquering. There was a bond there when they shared a joke and laughed their lungs out on a stormy night. Art and symbolism make one good read provokingly even if you had one bad day.
Add a Comment
-
Comment by iBatman on October 29, 2008 at 3:04pm - I will now need to read this...
© 2009 Created by iBatman on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of iBatman to add comments!
Join this Ning Network