Batman: The Killing Joke

In flashbacks, a man who quit his job at a chemical plant to become a comedian agrees to guide two crooks through a chemical plant to support his pregnant wife. She dies in an accident, the job goes wrong and, fleeing Batman, he falls into a waste tank and emerges with white skin and green hair: the Joker is born. In the present, Batman visits Arkham to offer an end to their feud, but the Joker has escaped. He shoots Barbara Gordon, paralyzing her, kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and tortures him at an amusement park to prove one bad day can drive anyone mad. Gordon holds on. Batman offers the Joker help; he refuses and tells a joke. The two laugh together as the police arrive.

1. Behind the scenesBolland and the colors

   Brian Bolland wanted the flashbacks in "muted November colors" and was unhappy with John Higgins's colors. He later recolored the story himself, the version in this Deluxe Edition.

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2. ReferenceTim Burton's favorite comic

   Tim Burton said of The Killing Joke: "It's the first comic I've ever loved." Its dark tone shaped the 1989 Batman.

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3. ReferenceMadness is like gravity

   Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight echoes the comic's idea that it only takes a push to go mad: "Madness is like gravity."

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4. ReferenceThe seed of Joker

   Joker (2019)'s premise, a failed comedian who becomes the Joker, was inspired by The Killing Joke.

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5. SetupThe ending nobody agrees on

   The last scene is ambiguous. Grant Morrison suggested Batman kills the Joker there; Alan Moore said he meant only a moment of lucidity before the cycle resumes.

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