The Killing Joke

By Alan Moore, Brian Bolland (illustrator), John Higgins (illustrator)

Book cover of The Killing Joke

Book description

Critically acclaimed author Alan Moore redefined graphic novel story-telling with Watchmen and V for Vendetta. In Batman: The Killing Joke, he takes on the origin of comics' greatest super-villain, The Joker, and changes Batman's world forever.

ONE BAD DAY.

According to the grinning engine of madness and mayhem known as…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Killing Joke as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Jim Alexander

Author

In the comic books (and films) Batman and Joker are locked together in the eternal battle between good and evil. Except, as The Killing Joke so brilliantly explores, that’s not quite how Joker sees it. For Joker, they are both sides of the same coin. If Joker is seen as evil incarnate, then why, he asks, is Batman considered the opposite? The story has since been disowned by writer Moore, possibly because of the interminable number of nihilistic-styled super-hero stories that followed in its wake. But sometimes I think the writer’s dissonance from the subject matter adds to the sense…

From Jim's list on unreliable narrators.