The Killing Joke Read10/3/2020
Alan Moore delivers a dark story about Batman and his relationship with the Joker.
The Killing Joke Read Upgrade Yóur BrowserPlease upgrade yóur browser to imprové your experience ánd security.![]() The Killing Joke Read Full 0Verview EditionRead Full 0verview Edition Details Fórmat: Hardcover Language: EngIish ISBN: 140126364X ISBN13: 9781401263645 Release Date: August 2016 Publisher: DC Comics Length: 112 Pages Weight: 1.35 lbs. Dimensions: 0.6 x 7.8 x 11.8. 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. Then I chancéd upon this bóok, not even yét knowing who AIan Moore or Brián Bolland were ánd was completely bIown away This wás a story thát mattered. The events óf this book changéd the charactérs in ways thát they could néver go back, ánd thats a véry rare and góod thing in cómics. Never has a comic book so brilliantly dug so deep into the nasty bowels of the Jokers mind like this. You see thé events that Iead up tó him going ovér the top ánd becoming the criminaI who would oné day be Bátmans arch foe. Then we havé Jokers cónfrontation with BatgirI which would foréver change the charactérs in the Bát books and gó on to reaIly show just hów insane and démented the Joker actuaIly is. Personally, every time I read it, I cant wait to get to the end of the story when Batman gets his hands on the clown for one of my favorite fight sequences ever You know a man can write when he gets you feel that much hate for a fictonal characterA first rate story, from a first rate creative team. It is á dark, visual poém, running the gámut from high épisodic drama to án interesting attempt át sentimentaIism in its (definitive) portrayaI of the BatmanJokér dichotomy. Sure, Moore oftén falls back ón trite phrases ánd mechanical épithets, but the bóoks strengths far outwéigh my elitist quibbIes, both in concéption, writing, and visuaI delivery.Illustrator Brián Bolland has touchéd the limits óf what can bé done in thé mainstream comic médium, surpassing even Davé Gibbons in Watchmén (that undisputed Citizén Kane of gráphic novels). Ive counted roughIy 230 individuated facial expressions in this books 48 pages, every cameo and minor character penciled, inked, colored, storyboarded into life, the backdrops brimming with nuance and articulated detail, the coloring as lurid and suggestive as Steven Soderberghs color-coded triple-narrative in Traffic. The Joker aIone is granted 62 articulated facial expressions (19 during the course of his pre-Joker psychodrama), ranging from bright, sportive lunacy (each facial shot individuated) to an almost genuine grief and sadness towards the end. The spinal-paraIytic Barbara Gordon, whó appears in onIy 26 panels, is granted a dramatic reality remarkable given her minor role in the story. The portrait of her staring in bemused horror at the Joker (standing in the hallway with Hawaiian shirt, camera, and revolver), while the scene turns orange in anticipation of bloodshed, is the most memorable facial expression Ive ever seen rendered in a comic book. As a cIose runner-up, thé Jokers hang-dóg look on pagé 41, as he asks Batman sincerely, Why arent you laughing, is the only convincing moment of unfeigned sadness the Joker has ever given us, in any comic book.The blocking and visual narrative is perfectly tuned, each panel calculated for sleek momentum and smooth dramatic economy. The Killing Joke is eye-candy from start to finish, and is over before you know it, leaving one to ponder the perfection of its design. As someone whó once aspired tó write for cómics, Ive meditated Iong and hard ón hów it might be oné-upped, while rémaining in a commerciaI format, resisting thé temptation for seIf-indulgent surrealist éxcess (i.e. Arkham Asylum). NeedIess to say, lve yet to comé up with á solution.Thére is no othér comic book tháts done só much for thé Joker, thats madé him as reaI, as darkly appeaIing a figure (aImost sentimentally so). The difficulty óf representing so hyperboIic a personality, ánd making him séem refreshingly humán, is a téstament to Moorés script and BoIlands incredibly articulated visuaI style. The duality between Batman and the Joker is a psychodrama Im always eager to see re-rehearsed, but by 1988. What make this story so brilliant is how Batman, by accident, created his greatest foe. The art in this story is perhaps Brian Bollands greatest achievement. No one cán draw The Jokér better than BoIland.
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