Batman: The Killing Joke

Title: Batman: The Killing Joke
By: Alan Moore & Brian Bolland
Published: 1988
Call #: YA Graphic Batman Moore. A

“See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum” and that’s how the joke starts. The Joker escapes Arkham Asylum and decides to cause chaos, as usual. However, this time he has a specific motive: to prove he isn’t so different from everyone else, that life and all human systems and values are part of a joke, that the line between sanity and madness is a thin one. All it takes is “Just one bad day” for everything to fall apart.

This story contains some moments that changed DC Comics from here on out. If you are strongly into Batman lore, you can’t miss out on this. This comic is such a big deal is because it changes some characters identity and gives a detailed origin story to the Joker. One of my favorite aspects is how Batman and Joker acknowledge that they are more similar than different, and that they are on the way to killing each other. This story is not for the faint of heart as some gruesome things do happen. Highly recommend – a definite classic.

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