This 'Deluxe Edition' was the first time I'd read this famous Batman story and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s surprisingly short at only 46 pages, and this obviously restricts the possible complexity of the story, but I think it packs depth and information into its short length. It’s about the origin of the Joker and also about the relationship and parallels between him and Batman. Single events impacted and defined both their lives but it’s about how you react to grief and adversity that distinguishes people. "So maybe ordinary people don't always crack."

The artwork by Brian Bolland is really impressive and it’s a real shame that he and Alan Moore didn't do more work together. Scenes and characters are beautifully portrayed in great detail but there is real taste and restraint as well. I don't know about the original colour scheme but I think the re-colouring here suits the sombre mood of the story very well. (Surely it’s a good thing to be able to see how the artist originally fully envisioned the artwork ?) ( )

This is often cited as being one of the best comic books (or graphic novels, whatever you want to to call it). I can understand why! It’s only 46 odd pages long and it really packs a punch. If the Joker gets much more disturbing than this I don’t want to know! You get an origin story for The Joker cut between his present day endeavour to drive Gordon insane, as Batman ponders that all this can only end one way... one of them will have to kill the other.

It is disturbing. This is Joker at his most psychotic. This book features that life and career defining tragedy for Barbara Gordon (Batgirl)… it’s very dark, and brutal. I didn’t appreciate all his book/librarian puns! The Joker is out to try and prove that anybody can become him under the right circumstances (life gave him a pretty bad deal), and I thought it was a nice touch to try to humanise him. His plan is to drive the sanest man in Gotham (Gordon) insane.
Batman for his part is taking more steps to trying to understand his enemy than we usually see him do. He also from giving The Joker a beating in the end, rather doing things the right way as Gordon urges him to. At the end of the day the story questions the brokenness of humanity, do we give in to it or do we cling to the hope of building something better.

It looks awesome, the edition I had was coloured by the original illustrator I believe. It’s bright, almost lurid in places and the Joker looks really scary in some frames. The sleeve cover is gorgeous, but underneath I loved the shiny purple embossing on the hardcover even more! I love the whole book.

Five stars! I can total see why people rave about this one!
Obviously this is Alan Moore, and of what I’ve read of Alan Moore so far I’m obsessed. The Watchmen is one of my favourite things ever. This has reminded me I need to read more. I’m going to try to get hold of [b:From Hell|23529|From Hell|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327894621s/23529.jpg|191464] I think!
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A quick read, but a good one. Really dark, and I'm not sure how much of Joker's flashbacks are true. Very easy to be drawn in, both by said flashbacks and Joker trying to prove that everyone is a bad day away from being like him. Whether he's trying to convince Batman or himself...¯_(ツ)_/¯ ( )

The deluxe edition of the Killing Joke, remastered, recolored, redone of the original. One of the classics of Batman and comics in general. Top 10 graphic novels probably of all time (up there with Sandman volumes, The Watchmen, Batman Year 1, etc.).

This is probably the definitive piece on Joker and the cornerstone for his relationship with Batman. This is what all future movies and pieces on the characters are set and based on.


Read it today while drinking Athena by Creature Comforts and it will be featured in my beer review on my blog, http://thebeerthrillers.home.blog/
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