Eighty Years of Batman

In May 1939 the comic book Detective Comics in issue 27 released a new story featuring a new superhero. A superhero craze had begun in the 1930s, and all comic strips and radio shows were eager to introduce their own heroes. However, Detective Comics #27 would introduce perhaps the most important pop culture icons, never mind comic character, of all time: Batman. Superman is perhaps the only other comic book character to possibly rival Batman's importance in shaping pop culture. Over the last eighty years Batman has gone through many stories, took many forms, and has been adapted many times over. Today we'll look at Batman's creation, and some of the best stories to read to understand the Dark Knight.

Creation

After seeing the success of Superman, a new genre of comics emerged: the superhero comic. Already, DC's predecessor company had given Superman his own comic, but they wanted more. Editor Vin Sullivan had hired two new figures, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, to create a new hero for Detective Comics. As what was regular at the time, Kane and Finger were given great creative control over creating a new hero. Finger recalled that, 'Kane had an idea for a character called 'Batman,' and he'd like me to see the drawings'. Kane had got the idea of 'Batman' from watching the 1930 movie The Bat Whispers. A remake of the 1920 silent movie, The Bat, (the director of The Bat would remake his own movie in The Bat Whispers), featured a bat-themed thief who hid in the shadows. Kane's original design was very reminiscent of Superman, and a bat-wing cape based off of a design by Leonardo da Vinci. Finger would alter the design, being very inspired by fictional characters like Zorro, including giving Batman a cowl. In fact, Finger did most of the work in the creation of Batman - even down to choosing the name 'Bruce Wayne' - but for over fifty years he was largely forgotten. Kane was an aggressive self-promoter, and despite only writing the first issue, for a long time he was credited as Batman's sole 'creator'. It took until 2015 for Finger to be actually credited in a comic for creating Batman! In his debut most of what we recognise as Batman today was fairly limited - most of his backstory was created for the later Detective Comics #33 in November. Now that we've briefly gone over the creation of Batman we can look at some key stories.

Detective Comics #27 and #33

The best way to start with Batman is his first appearances. Little of what we recognise as Batman exists in these early days, but it is interesting to see how he has evolved over the years. His debut opens with a Commissioner Gordon discussing the newly emerged 'Bat-Man' to his socialite friend Bruce Wayne. The bored Wayne joins Gordon to a crime scene - chemical manufacturer Lambert had been killed and his son taken into custody. Bored, Wayne leaves, Lambert's associates start turning up dead, and Gordon is trying to track both the mysterious Bat-Man and the killers. It turns out, one of Lambert's business partners, Alfred Stryker, was planning to buy out the other partners, but grew tired of waiting and decided to kill them all off. Bat-Man confronted Stryker and knocked him into a vat of acid stating that, 'A fitting end for his kind'. The comic ends with Wayne laughing off Gordon's story, and for him to enter another room where, 'his door slowly opens and reveals its occupant... if the commissioner could see his young friend now... He'd be amazed to learn that he is the Bat-Man!'. Most of Batman's recognisable features were absent: no Alfred, the Batmobile is just a regular car, there's no Bat Cave, and even no Gotham! Batman, spelt 'Bat-Man', operated in New York instead. His 'no kill' rule, as you can probably already tell, wouldn't come around till the late-1940s - in his debut he even threw a man off of a building killing him!

Batman become the central character in Detective Comics, and in #33 he got his now famous origin story. The beginning of the comic quickly goes over the Dark Knight's origin. Returning home from the cinema via an alley the young Bruce and his parents, Thomas and Martha, were confronted by a mugger. When trying to steal Martha Wayne's pearls the mugger shot Thomas, and then shot Martha to silence her screams. Days later, the young Bruce makes a vow by candlelight, 'I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals!'. He spent the rest of his life training, but he realised that 'Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts'. Just then, a bat flew through his window giving him his moniker. 

The Joker and the Cat

Batman was so popular that within the year he had gained a sidekick in #38, 'The Sensational character-find of 1940...Robin - the Boy Wonder!', and his own comic. In this comic, Batman #1, two of Batman's major characters debuted: the Joker and Catwoman. Half the stories featured a new villain, based off of Conrad Veidt's character in the German silent movie The Man who Laughs, who was a maniacal clown named the Joker. The Joker would announce his crimes, mostly murder and robbery, and leave his deceased victims with a devilish smile on their face through an unknown poison. At the end of the first story Batman managed to apprehend the Joker, but two days later, in the second story, the Joker escapes to continue his crime spree. It only ends when, during a trap, Batman and the Joker clash where the Joker stabbed himself in the chest, narrowly surviving. Originally, it was intended for the Joker to die - a last minute change of heart by Bill Finger meant that comics' most classic villain could become a cultural icon. Meanwhile, another story, called 'The Cat', dealing with a mysterious woman attempting to steal a $500,000 emerald from a wealthy socialite. Batman managed to capture the Cat, but smitten, he lets her go. Thus started one of the most endearing will-they/won't-they romances in comic history.

The Killing Joke - the Most Controversial Batman Comic

From the mind of Alan Moore, the author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta, and drawn by Brian Bolland, 1988's The Killing Joke remains one of the most controversial Batman comics. Alan Moore has even stated that he regrets writing it. The story is split into two. The first, deals with the origins of the Joker. A loving father-to-be and husband an unnamed failure of a stand-up was on the brink of destitution. Desperate to give his emerging family a better life he agreed to take part in an extreme robbery - dressed as a villain 'the Red Hood' he was to distract any police who arrived on the scene. They would assume that he was the mastermind, not the other gang members. However, the day of the robbery his wife had a deadly fall, and the gang made him push on with the robbery regardless. Naturally the robbery went wrong. The police shot the gang members, and the scared Red Hood fell into a vat of chemicals upon seeing Batman. The chemicals bleached his skin and left him with a devilish smile. With all that happened that day it drove him insane, and now the Joker wanted to show that 'one bad day' could drive anyone insane. Arriving at the home of Jim Gordon he knocked out the commissioner and shot Barbara Gordon, who at the time was Batgirl, in the spine paralysing her. Batman tracks the Joker to a carnival where he has had Gordon beaten, tortured, stripped, and forced to look at photos of his abused and shot daughter. However, Gordon was not broken as Joker intended, and the comic ends with Batman finally laughing at one of Joker's jokes. Grant Morrison has suggested that Batman may have even killed the Joker at the end - the last panel makes reference to the joke where one man is implied to die. Although praised for the story and art it has earned controversy for the treatment of Barbara Gordon. She suffers disproportionately compared to the other characters, her abuse became a plot tool, and she remained paralysed for decades. The only redeeming part from this is that Barbara Gordon became a major disabled superhero in the form of Oracle.

Batman: White Knight

This story by Sean Murphy finished just last year, and I would highly recommend getting your hands on it. Set in one of DC's many alternate realities, and heavily inspired by the Tim Burton Batman movies, it features a broken and harsher Batman alienating himself from his allies. Publicly force feeding the Joker pills that the clown said could cure him it transpired that the pills actually worked. A sane Joker, called Jack Napier, planned to run for office and bring Batman to justice for aggressive violence, and we find out there are two Harley Quinns. The original left the Joker thanks to the events of Death in the Family but returned when her love seemed sane. However, Joker's rehabilitation may not be all that it seems, Alfred is close to death, and the second Harley becomes a new Joker. A must read.

A Death in the Family

This story was released the same year as The Killing Joke, but unlike Moore's story it was very much intended to be canon. The second Robin, Jason Todd, had become fairly disliked by fans who saw him as overly moody and whiny - quite ironic considering the later introduction of Damien Wayne as Robin. For 50 cents, DC allowed fans to ring in and answer a simply question: should Jason die? Quite possibly some fans rang many times to rig the competition, but regardless DC got an answer - fans honestly decided to kill a child. In A Death in the Family Jason finally reunited with his mother, only for the Joker to capture them, and he savagely beat Jason with a crowbar. Before Batman could rescue them Joker detonated a bomb killing Robin. The second half went down hill extremely quickly - including an overtly racist plot point towards Arabs and Iranians (a topic I'm hoping to write about one day). One of the most iconic scenes in comics came from the story - Batman holding the broken body of Jason Todd. Later adaptations changed the story to omit the racist ending, and Jason Todd would later be resurrected as the violent vigilante Red Hood.

The Dark Knights Returns

This story is perhaps the most famous comics of all time, and inspired Tim Burton's adaptations, and has been partially adapted into an episode of The Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, and Batman v. Superman, as well as having its own animated adaptation. Expertly written by Frank Miller, and beautifully drawn by Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, it depicts a bleak and very violent version of Batman. A retired Batman, depressed from the death of Jason Todd (actually written years before A Death in the Family) and being alienated from Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement as Gotham's crime rate explodes. Satirising everything from media sensationalism to Ronald Reagan's Cold War policies a bitter Wayne has to contend with a cannibalistic gang called the Mutants, murderous vigilantes acting in his own name, a murderous returned Joker, and Superman acting on Reagan's orders. It also introduced my favourite version of Robin, and one of the few female Robins, who was inspired by Batman: Carrie Kelley. Every panel of this story has become iconic and has inspired future gritty reboots of other heroes, however, none can compete with this one.

Knightfall

This was also partially adapted into The Dark Knight Rises, Knightfall is a good story, albeit written for the wrong reasons. In the 1990s many comic companies, including DC, almost went bankrupt, and DC hoped to boost sales through big stories. In January 1993 Superman was killed, and in May we got Knightfall. In this story, a new villain named Bane plans to both mentally and physically break Batman. Breaking all of the inmates from Arkham Asylum he lets Batman fight them all, slowly exhausting himself as he went, until Bane finally fought him. Bane then broke Batman's back over his knee paralysing him. Unfortunately, DC ruined a good story. The new Batman was the textbook definition of 'edginess' and was hated. DC resurrected Superman and had Bruce Wayne heal from his paralysis to get more people reading - sadly killing permanency in comics with it.

Batman: Year One

My second favourite Batman comic Year One served as the comic which inspired Batman Begins. Written by Frank Miller, and illustrated by David Mazzuchelli, it depicts a revamped origin for Batman. Jim Gordon tries to fight blatant and rampant corruption in the GCPD, Selina Kyle begins a life of crime, and Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham to begin his career as Batman. There are none of Batman's traditional Rouge's Gallery - no Penguin, Scarecrow, or Riddler. Two-Face is just the normal Harvey Dent, and only at the end of the comic is the Joker mentioned. The villains are instead the GCPD and Gotham's mob. A noir-esque story, realistic, and a great introduction.

The Long Halloween

I've saved the best for last...it's also perhaps the longest story on this list. Written by Jeph Loeb it is set early on in Batman's career. His villains from Year One are angered by the increase in masked or themed criminals like the Penguin, Joker, and Poison Ivy who are edging them out of existence. At a Halloween party a major mobster is killed and a jack-o-lantern is left at the scene. Batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent have to find the killer - the 'Holiday Killer' as they kill a major member of the mob on holidays - while also dealing with the mob itself, and the rise of the supervillains. At the same time, Harvey's mental health is failing thanks to exhaustion, and his marriage is falling apart. It ends with a new supervillain on the scene... 

Thank you for reading. These are just some of the stories I would recommend reading if you want to become acquainted with the Dark Knight. I haven't mentioned many other fantastic stories including the creepy Court of Owls, the alternate reality steampunk Gotham by Gaslight, and one of my all-time favourite comics, Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum. Batman for eighty years has given comic book fans story after story to love, and has brought himself fully into popular culture. How many other comic heroes can claim to have such a cultural presence than Batman? Only perhaps Superman and Spider-Man. Everyone not acquainted with comics know many of the key details and aspects of his comics. To another eighty years!

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. 

Review: Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

Warning: Spoilers

The Killing Joke

One of the most controversial Batman stories was adapted into an animated film which saw a limited worldwide release on Monday. I am a huge Batman fan and despite the controversial nature of the comic The Killing Joke is one of my favorite Batman stories. Hence, I was fairly excited to see this film. Like always this review contains spoilers so please skip to the conclusion where I give my final verdict if you don't want any spoilers. Before I start though most of my opinions concerning The Killing Joke can be found in my Comics Explained which I did for this story if you are interested in reading it.

Plot

Unexpectedly this film does not only use the story of the comic. Instead it starts off with another story depicting Batgirl, (Tara Strong), and Batman, (Kevin Conroy), trying to take down a narcissistic mobster, (Maury Sterling), who has a perverse fascination about Batgirl. Following this is the actual The Killing Joke story, (please see here). Overall the plot of the film is very good. The second half is a direct adaptation of the story so it builds on what originally worked while the first half I feel could have worked as a standalone story. The pacing of both halves is done very well so this allowed the plot to not feel rushed, as well as both halves not feeling rushed as well. The Joker's song when showing Gordon images of a tortured Barbara was done very well also and it epitomizes the Joker; singing happily and cheerfully about the darkest of things imaginable. Although, I felt that the second half was stronger than the first, but that does not mean that the first half was bad.  

The first half I originally thought was just filler to pad out the film, unlike The Dark Knight Returns or The Long Halloween The Killing Joke is a somewhat shorter story, until the second half started. It served as a good way to build up to the overall theme of the story: can we bring ourselves back from the darkness. It delves much with Batgirl finding the strength not to permanently harm, or even kill, a sadistic sociopath who has been fantasizing about her and wants to make her his own. It very much helps set up the second half effectively which deals with not giving in to our own anger. I particularly liked the mobster who Batgirl wants to take down, Paris, and I could easily imagine him being one of the Bat family mobster villains like Black Mask. However, there were some things that I was not happy with. Largely the Bat sex. I shall talk more about this because to me and many others it seemed to ruin the first half.

For those who weren't aware Batman and Batgirl have sex and throughout the story it plays with sexual tension which Batgirl feels for Batman. I hated this aspect of the story. I have a feeling that Brian Azzarello thought that exploring a relationship between Batman and Batgirl this would create a bigger impact for the second half. As a comic book fan and a huge Batman and Batgirl fan I felt this was a complete misrepresentation of the characters, and from what people are saying on the internet I am not alone. I always felt Batman was like a father figure for Batgirl rather than a romantic interest and this could easily have been shown by the film. To me it would have been much better if Batman's protectiveness over Batgirl and her rebelling against him was meant to represent a father wanting to protect his daughter and a daughter wanting to show her father that she can do these things. Batman mentioning not giving in to the darkness could have worked into this as well. A scene in the second half has the Batcomputer which shows an image of a dying Robin. In the story Death in the Family the Joker beats to death Jason Todd who was the second Robin which Batman sees as his greatest failure. I felt maybe they could have used this and have Batman's protectiveness being about the fear of losing a daughter just as he lost a son. Thanks to this Bat sex issue it really messed up the first half of the story.

Voice Acting

Mark Hamill aka the Joker

One of the best things about the movie is the voice acting. The actors who voiced their characters in the DC Animated Universe reprise their roles in this movie. Kevin Conroy is by far my favorite Batman and he brings back that good performance in this movie. Tara Strong is back as Batgirl and she is really good as well. I find Strong's work to always be good and this is no exception. John DiMaggio, (Jake the Dog from Adventure Time and Bender from Futurama), is in this and I did not know until the credits, and he does a good job here also. However, all this is overshadowed by one actor: Mark Hamill. Hamill reprises his role as the Joker and he steals the show. He is once again fantastic and literally everything about him is done well. In this role he captures everything that makes the Joker: happy about doing the most evil things possible, suddenly going into a psychotic rage, then laughing immediately after the rage, singing gleefully about dying children and going insane, and all with a perverse charm. I had goose bumps when he gave the famous 'One Bad Day' monologue. He steals the show without a doubt. The joke he says at the end actually got laughs from some people at the end despite the dire atmosphere which shows his good performance. In his final performance as the Joker he definitely solidifies himself as the best Joker.

Animation

Both good, like this, and poor at times

The animation is a mixed bag. At times, such as the shot above, it is very well done very good animation. There's two times where it really stands out: one when the Batmobile pulls an armored car from a truck and another when the Joker's admiring his amusement park. During the final fight between the Joker and Batman it is really well done and the quick paced editing really adds to the effect. I particularly like how they've made it resemble the DC Animated Universe animation style which is a nice throwback. However, at times the animation is poor and the editing choppy. There's only one point when it stands out, when Batman is entering Arkham Asylum, but periodically throughout the film the animation quality drops as well as the frames per second. It is noticeable and it is really offputting, especially when it is really good at other times of the movie. As the budget of the film is only around US $ 3.5 million I have a feeling they purposefully gave the more important scenes the better animation which is a shame. It really wrecks the rest of the movie that some scenes has far better editing and animation. Although for just three and a half million it does have good animation and it is far better than Norm of the North with a budget around six times that of The Killing Joke. Although, I was a bit disappointed that they left out the two beams of light and one turning off that was at the end of the comic, (which started the theory that Batman killed the Joker), but that might just be me as it is my favorite panel in the comic.

Music

The music is phenomenal. Most Batman movies have good music and this one is no exception. As said earlier the Joker's song is really good and the use of a Broadway type song is very imaginative and fits very well with the Joker's personality. During the last fight as well it is very tense which adds to an already tense scene making a thrilling experience. From a technical standpoint this is the best part of the film. Nothing more to be said of it. 

Documentaries

The movie had two short documentaries with it: one before about Mark Hamill as the Joker and one after about the music. Both were good although I preferred the first one. It starts with Hamill in 1976 being cast as Luke Skywalker, then up to the 1990s when he became the Joker, then in 2008/9 when he reprised his role in Batman: Arkham Asylum and then 2016 with this movie. It was a good homage to the best Joker in my opinion.

References

Like all comic book movies it contains some references to the wider DC universe although with this one it is mostly limited to the Batman comics. John DiMaggio appeared who played the Joker, very well as well, in Batman: Under the Red Hood. Two Face also has a brief cameo when Batman arrives at the asylum where his scarred side is clawing at the front of his cell. Finally, on the Batcomputer there are several references to famous Joker stories including Death in the Family as a beaten Robin can be seen as well as referencing the Joker's very first appearance in one part of the screen.

Conclusion

With good animation at times, good voice acting, phenomenal work from Hamill and good music but thanks to bad editing at times, some poor animation, a weaker first half and that unforgivable Bat sex scene I shall give Batman: The Killing Joke a 7.1/10. Not as good as Under the Red Hood or The Dark Knight Returns and I doubt Alan Moore would be happy with it, but it is a good film regardless which I feel any DC fan will enjoy. Thanks for reading and please feel free to give me your own opinions on the movie.

Last week this blog reached 10,000 views and by the time of the writing of this post it has almost reached 11,000. For that reason next post shall be a very personal 10,000 view post and a thank you to you all for helping me reach this number.

Comics Explained: The Killing Joke

The Killing Joke cover

As of writing an animated adaptation of The Killing  Joke will be given a limited release in cinemas worldwide. For those who do not know The Killing Joke was written as an Elseworlds story; Elseworlds are DC Comics stories set in parallel universes to the mainstream DC universe. Created by Alan Moore, (of Watchmen and V for Vendetta fame), Brian Bolland and John Higgins this story has managed to become part of the mainstream DC Universe, however, it also remains as the most controversial and dark Batman story. For the intense violence and sadism done by the Joker in this story, as well as the trauma of his origin, this story gained fame for being the definitive Joker story. The creators have even stated that they went too far with what they did in the story. Most of the criticism is directed to the treatment of Barbara Gordon, which is extremely well justified, and Alan Moore has criticized it at least three times. For this reason before we begin I will give a warning that The Killing Joke contains many moments which people may find upsetting. At the most traumatic parts I shall not go into detail or show images from the comic but, it is still very graphic. All images shown are owned by their respective companies and authors with no copyright infringement intended.

Opening

'Two Guys in a Lunatic Asylum'

The story opens with Batman visiting the Joker in Arkham Asylum. Batman has been thinking about his relationship with the Joker; how two men who know nothing about one another could hate each other so much. Batman also has been thinking about the end of their relationship. Either the Joker will kill Batman or Batman will kill the Joker. Batman wants to help the Joker so this will never come to pass. However, Batman then realizes that the man in the shadows he had been talking to was not the Joker but instead a stooge put there by the Joker as a distraction while he escaped. While this is happening the Joker is buying a carnival, and killing the seller, to enact his plan. Batman returns to the Bat Cave pondering that his and the Joker's relationship is in an endless cycle. The Joker escapes then kills and mains before being taken down by Batman. Later the Joker escapes and the cycle continues. Batman wonders how many have been killed or could have been saved if this cycle was broken. Meanwhile, we see the possible origin of the Joker.

Making a Murderer

A failed comedian

Years ago a stand-up comedian is struggling to find money for his pregnant wife. His comedy career is failing as he fails to remember the punchlines, he misses his cues and the audience remains silent as he tells his jokes. To consul the broken comedian his wife says it doesn't matter as long as he makes her laugh. Desperate for money he plans a heist of the chemical plant he used to work at but during the preparation stage his wife is tragically killed in a household accident. Despite this the criminals force him to continue with the heist that night. The comedian is forced to dress up as the infamous Red Hood he would act as a distraction for the police. During the heist the police gun down the criminals but then a creature of the night arrives. Batman early on in his career arrives at the plant but the Red Hood fears him. He panics and jumps into a chemical waste pound lock. Later on he surfaces but sees that his face has become bleached, hair turned green and body has become disfigured. He starts laughing manically. One bad day was all it took to turn make him insane. 

One Bad Day

Years later he decides to show Batman this.

Another Bad Day

The Joker decides to test his theory on someone who should be able to keep his cool no matter what: Commissioner Jim Gordon. Gordon was visiting his daughter, Barbara, (who was the then Batgirl but Jim was not aware of this), at her apartment. The doorbell rings and when she answers it she sees the Joker standing there with two armed goons.

The moment that changed DC history

The Joker then shot Barbara Gordon in her sternum. Horrified at seeing his daughter shot Jim Gordon panics before being knocked out by the Joker's goons. Barbara later wakes in hospital with Batman standing worried over her. They both realize that Jim is missing and the Joker had left Barbara lying in her own blood which points to the idea that the Joker has plans for Jim. Batman sets off then to find the Joker.

Meanwhile, Jim Gordon wakes up naked in a demonic amusement park. Before him sitting on a throne on top of a mound of dolls, and surrounded by burning dolls, is the Joker. When Jim questions the Joker about what is happening he merely replies 'You're going mad'.

The Joker's Throne

The Joker has Gordon dragged to a room where he is shown pictures of his daughter stripped naked on the floor being abused and bleeding out on the floor, (thankfully these images in the comic are almost fully obscured). While this is happening he is being tortured and jeered at by the Joker and his cronies. Batman soon arrives and frees Gordon. At this moment Batman finds out that the Joker's plan to make Jim Gordon go insane. Gordon pleads with Batman to bring the Joker down as he normally does. Batman immediately tracks down the Joker who then has a brief moment of sanity, (the Joker briefly looks distraught that he shot Barbara Gordon and tortured her father), and then tries to shoot Batman only to realize it was a fake gun. He has realized that he has failed to turn Batman insane as well. The Joker then begins to tell Batman a joke: 

See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum… and one night, one night they decide they don’t like living in an asylum any more. They decide they’re going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moon light… stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend didn’t dare make the leap. Y’see… Y’see, he’s afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea… He says, “Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I’ll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!” B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says… He says, “Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You’d turn it off when I was half way across!

Surprisingly Batman laughs at the joke. He starts to keel over laughing and places his hands on Joker's shoulders. The last panel just shows one beam of light and the laughter stops.

'Two Guys in a Lunatic Asylum'

Legacy
The Killing Joke has a controversial legacy. Feminist comic book fans and writers have criticized the extreme violence that was done to Barbara Gordon and the fact that I could not show you or go into detail about the violence shows how justified this criticism is. The fact that even Alan Moore has said that he is not happy about what he did just shows how disturbing this comic is. The first time that I read The Killing Joke I found it that discomforting that I had to stop reading and to date it is the only comic that has managed to achieve this. Not even the Crossed comics caused this level of discomfort. Despite the controversy The Killing Joke was well received and was made part of the mainstream DC universe. Barbara Gordon remained paralyzed thanks to the events of the story but, remained a hero in the form of Oracle. With the New 52 reboot of the DC universe in 2011 Barbara Gordon managed to get become Batgirl once more. However, the events of The Killing Joke remained with her as Barbara occasionally suffers from PTSD during gun fights and the cover for Batgirl #41 which was inspired by the story had to be redone due to the horrific imagery on it.

The Killing Joke has greatly inspired Batman related media outside of comic books. The Joker's Hawaiian tourist outfit, which he wears while shooting Barbara, are available costumes in the video games Lego Batman and Injustice: Gods Among Us. The Birds of Prey TV series starts with the Joker paralyzing Barbara and The Batman animated TV series has two references to this story. Detective Ethan Bennett is broken, (and turned into Clayface), by the Joker in the same way the Gordon is as well as the Joker giving the same monologue about having 'one bad day'. Later on in the series there is an episode set in the future where Barbara has become Oracle. Also, every one of the Batman: Arkham games mentions in someway this story, (mostly as in all bar one Barbara appears as Oracle). In Asylum the Joker sits on a throne of mannequins, uses an alias Jack White, (used in this story when buying the amusement park) and he also starts telling the lunatic joke before saying 'you've heard it before'. In City Joker tells the story to Hugo Strange and in Origins you get to see his origin as he gives the 'one bad day' monologue. Finally, in Knight there are several: the Joker repeatedly mentions the story, Batman hallucinates and sees a, thankfully, less disturbing version of Joker paralyzing Barbara and in the DLC where you play as Batgirl the Joker shoots at Barbara, misses and then says that 'the next one won't'. Incidentally Knight also references another controversial Batman story; Death in the Family where the Joker killed Jason Todd who was the second Robin. Both Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan were inspired by The Killing Joke when creating their respective version of the Joker and, Nolan even gave Heath Ledger a copy of the story to read. The Joker's creation scene was also shown in the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, (incidentally the film shows Jason Todd's death). My favorite person to play the Joker, the incredible Mark Hamill, only agreed to play the Joker one last time if this story would be adapted, (he is in fact playing the Joker in the new film).

Finally, with the controversy is it worth reading? I would argue yes. In my opinion this comic is not about the Joker trying to break Gordon but rather the extreme lengths the Joker will go to show that he and Batman are the same. The Joker wants so desperately for Batman to kill him as it would show both of them that they are the same. Like the Joker one bad day made Batman go insane; seeing his parents shot in front of him propelled him to becoming the Batman. While Bruce Wayne's bad day led his mania to become a force for good the bad day for a nameless comedian propelled him into a life destined to end all that was good. The Joker, meanwhile, is infuriated that Batman has not acknowledged how similar they are and is willing to destroy Barbara and Jim Gordon to make Batman see this. Like Death of the Family years later this story effectively shows the unhinged obsession the Joker has with Batman. One last note there is a theory about the last scene's imagery, (shown earlier). Grant Morrison, (author of Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth where he took imagery too far with every page having some hidden artistic meaning on it), has theorized that Alan Moore and the other creators had Batman prove Joker's idea that they were so close to being one another true. The last two shots show the laughter ending and a light going out. Morrison believes that this references the joke the Joker told and that Batman snapped the Joker's neck.

Thank you for reading. The other sources that I have used, (I took some information from the links of the picture captions), are as follows:
-Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore
-DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle by Alan Coswill, Alex Irvine, Matthew K.Manning, Michael McAvennie, and Daniel Wallace
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a36V6oni9Mw