Batman: The Killing Joke

Comic books are for little kids right? You shouldn’t rot your brain with such stories of superheroes and supernatural happenings.

Well I’m out to prove all the doubters wrong…with one single edition…

Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you….

THE KILLING JOKE by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland.

If you ever wanted to read a comic that was different from all the rest then this is it, a delightful remastered special edition 46 page hardback book kindly introduced by the master of colouring in himself Tim Sale.

The book starts off with Batman taking a trip to Arkham Asylum to talk with the joker and finally try and put a stop to his manic chaos. However once there Batman runs in to a trap…With the joker on the run again it’s a race against time as Batman trys to follow his trial of destruction which leads to Gordon being kidnapped and his daughter Barbara being shot and paralysed.

Meanwhile we are shown how the Joker came to be, and more weirdly, who he was to begin with….

The Joker then takes Gordon to a fair ground, which he ‘bought’ to try and show him that any man can become a lunatic; all you need is “just one bad day…” Stripped naked and dragged through a ghost train Gordon is subsequently turned into a vegetable.

Just as planed Batman arrives in the nick of time after receiving a ticket and special invite to the Jokers fair ground. He soon finds Gordon who we find has not gone mad at all (oh how convenient!) and tells Batman to go after the Joker and bring him in “By the book” in a bid to stop them from killing each other…

Batman then captures the Joker a begs him to stop, offering that they “work together” and get the Joker the help he needs…




Without completely ruining the ending and stopping you from buying one of the most influential and best Batman books that I have ever read I will just say that I read the last 7 pages over and over again because the artwork and final last joke kept me smiling all the way to school and back again.

The only downside (if you can call it that) is that you don’t really know the Jokers fate, if Batman DID kill him (clue in the name anyone?) or if as I wanted it to end Batman took pity on the twisted man and simply let him go, certain that they would one day meet again.

Like I’ve said before this book pure gold in my eyes, I would recommend it for all fans of ‘The Watchmen’ and of course, other Batman stories. Please don’t read this book just because of the new Batman film because the film is NOTHING like this book, (apart from the of the first lines Batman has but the book was written before the film)

Once again I would like to thank all the people that helped write this book which will ultimately lead to my demise….




- Please stay in your seats and await further instructions.....

-Toasty*