One thing that I really don’t enough time for these days is sitting back with one of the many Comic Books that I have in my collection, but over Christmas, I treated myself to Batman The Killing Joke, a comic book that I had read many years ago but never got around to grabbing a copy of for myself, then I found out that I had lots of points on my Waterstones Plus card, so I popped over to the Graphic Novels section and looked for the book.
Now those of you that read the articles here on Blazing Minds will have seen me mention the animated movie based on the comic book, so to finally get my hands on the book is such a joy and even better is that I managed to pick up the Deluxe Edition of the Hardback book.
One thing that stands out about Batman The Killing Joke is the story is dark and very short, the comic book on has 64 pages, but in those pages, the story of such a disturbing relationship between The Dark Knight and Joker is so intense.
Alan Moore brought us a comic book that shows the moments of a man on the edge and pushing past the breaking point of madness as Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and sets his sights on driving him insane, but as we know Gordon is a strong survivor and fights Joker every step of the way as the Dark Knight fights his own battles in his journey to saving Gordon from the world’s craziest madman.
With such an intense and powerful story Batman The Killing Joke deserves the artwork to go with it and Brian Bolland supplies the amazing look of the comic book, from the iconic front cover of Joker taking a photograph with his twisted, crazy, looking smile to the first twenty-one panels of the book that have no words just the images as Batman heads to Arkham Asylum to see Joker.
Batman The Killing Joke Deluxe Edition has the artwork coloured by the artist himself, unlike the 1988 edition that many had some issues with, also in this edition, the flashback sequences are beautifully coloured or should I say “washed”, these sequences are very washed out and one object has been chosen to be in colour in the panels and it looks fantastic.
Combining the work of Moore and Bolland in this what can only be described as a masterpiece, Batman The Killing Joke is a must-have in anyone’s comic book collection, ignore the short length of the story, there are power, emotion and feeling, Batman The Killing Joke has always been a favourite of mine and I think it it’s going to something extremely special to knock it off its podium place.
It' no laughing matter!
Book Title: Batman: The Killing Joke
Book Author: Alan Moore
Book Edition: Deluxe Edition
Book Format: Hardcover
Publisher - Orgnization: DC
Publisher Logo:
Date published: April 1, 2008
Illustrator: Brian Bolland
ISBN: 9781401216672
Number Of Pages: 64
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
