Killing Joke

dave · Post by **dave** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:44:54 pm

OKay to start with, it's probably my favorite graphic novel of all time

BUT

(don't you just love it when somebody does that?!

)

In the opening sequence when the guy is playing cards the five of hearts later becomes a five of diamonds and the 8 of spades later becomes a 3 of spades!

now with all of the attention to detail that went into every aspect of this book...what is the deal? bolland recolored the book for the deluxe format because he didn't like the job on the original, but why leave this?

the WHOLE book was ruined. just kidding.

Zaphod · Post by **Zaphod** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:26:15 pm

I picked this up not too long ago and was quite disappointed. Perhaps it was just something built up too high for my expectations, but they fell well short.

As for the reason for your thread, I never noticed.

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:27:20 pm

it was ok just not m fav bat story

dave · Post by **dave** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:45:33 pm

i find the pacing to be incredible, and the transitions superb...man, everything about this book-and then the fact that barbara NEVER fully recovers. wow, that's pretty intense for DC.

JustCallMeAric · Post by **JustCallMeAric** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:28:51 pm

Does anyone have a reader copy for sale?

gavster · Post by **gavster** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:38:58 pm

I'm amazed that it is only in the last year or two that it has been revived and is in demand. Back in the UK this graphic novel was in the bargin bins for ever. It was as if regular comic book readers were affraid to embrace a graphic novel.

I also only find it so, so.

dave · Post by **dave** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:41:54 pm

i think it wasn't well received because everyone that doesn't like it is a great big dum dum head.

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:32:03 pm

I dug it.

Not my most favorite read, but very good.

I think the best character is Jim Gordan.

tanord · Post by **tanord** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:22:03 pm

I didn't get the joke at the end, the one that made both Batman & the Joker laugh. Something about 2 inmates escaping prison.

tarheelmarine · Post by **tarheelmarine** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:27:47 am

dave wrote:i find the pacing to be incredible, and the transitions superb...man, everything about this book-and then the fact that barbara NEVER fully recovers. wow, that's pretty intense for DC.

With the way everything has been undone lately in the DCU, I think she may be recovering soon.

nutflush76 · Post by **nutflush76** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:16:44 am

tarheelmarine wrote:
dave wrote:i find the pacing to be incredible, and the transitions superb...man, everything about this book-and then the fact that barbara NEVER fully recovers. wow, that's pretty intense for DC.
With the way everything has been undone lately in the DCU, I think she may be recovering soon.

I think you are on the right track with this one especially since the new Oracle mini series is called the cure http://dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=11283

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:22:40 am

ya i do beleave she is getting ready for a comeback

BloodOfHeroes · Post by **BloodOfHeroes** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:21:02 am

I'll bet that "the Cure" doesn't refer to Babs and that she'll still be in the chair at the end of "Cowl Wars: Suuure Bruce Won't Be Coming Back."

nutflush76 · Post by **nutflush76** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:54:13 pm

BloodOfHeroes wrote:I'll bet that "the Cure" doesn't refer to Babs and that she'll still be in the chair at the end of "Cowl Wars: Suuure Bruce Won't Be Coming Back."

Yeah we will never see Bruce Wayne again.

Steve Rogers either.

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:25:02 pm

nutflush76 wrote:
BloodOfHeroes wrote:I'll bet that "the Cure" doesn't refer to Babs and that she'll still be in the chair at the end of "Cowl Wars: Suuure Bruce Won't Be Coming Back."

Yeah we will never see Bruce Wayne again.

Steve Rogers either.

You guys are nuts! The next thing you know, DC will be telling us that Superman wasn't really Superman for the last decade+...

By... the..... GODS! I just figured out DC's next "big thing!"

-slym

Zaphod · Post by **Zaphod** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:34:38 am

tanord wrote:I didn't get the joke at the end, the one that made both Batman & the Joker laugh. Something about 2 inmates escaping prison.

I am embarassed to say I didn't either. It took my wife explaining it to me and usually I am quicker with those sorts of things so she took great delight.

I can't recall the exact joke in question though. Here is another version of the joke, same premise. It works better if you consider the joke between 2 insane asylum escapee's though.

http://www.cuentoseningles.com.ar/artic ... ecesB.html

Richard was not too smart, so everyone played tricks on him. One dark night, some of the boys dared him to climb up on the beam of their flashlight. Richard thought about it for a while. Then he said: You think that I'm stupid, but I'm not. If I climb that beam, you'll let me reach the top of it and then you'll switch the light off and I'll fall down.

steverino · Post by **steverino** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:52:51 am

I got the joke. What I didn't get is why Batman would laugh at it after everything the Joker had done to Batgirl and Jim Gordon. I'd have punched the Joker's spleen out.

It was a very strange and disappointing ending.

Zaphod · Post by **Zaphod** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:56:31 am

steverino wrote:I got the joke. What I didn't get is why Batman would laugh at it after everything the Joker had done to Batgirl and Jim Gordon. I'd have punched the Joker's spleen out.

It was a very strange and disappointing ending.

very much agreed. I get what Moore was trying to say. Batman = Joker. "The Dark Knight" did it much better.

From what I heard about the story I was expecting it ot be epic. It was a let down of a story but back when it was released, it probably held more resonance

tanord · Post by **tanord** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:38:17 pm

Zaphod wrote:
steverino wrote:I got the joke. What I didn't get is why Batman would laugh at it after everything the Joker had done to Batgirl and Jim Gordon. I'd have punched the Joker's spleen out.

It was a very strange and disappointing ending.
very much agreed. I get what Moore was trying to say. Batman = Joker. "The Dark Knight" did it much better.

From what I heard about the story I was expecting it ot be epic. It was a let down of a story but back when it was released, it probably held more resonance

Ok now I got the joke. Still, I also don't get why Batman would laugh though. It's a dark humor joke for insane people and Batman is not insane.

Crow331 · Post by **Crow331** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:45:26 pm

Wow, i guess I'm going to have to re-read this this. I can't believe all the hate for this book. I remember loving this when I first read it. Of course I do have a dark sense of humor. Haven't read this since it came out but I'm sure I still have a 9.9 copy around here somewhere

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:48:18 pm

good item to hold on 2

terreth · Post by **terreth** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:36:57 pm

I thought Killing Joke was supposed to be brilliant because of the structure and especially because of the closing joke. Wasn't it the first Batman book to explicitly hint (perhaps demonstrate) that Batman was possibly as crazy as the craziest of the crazy?

dave · Post by **dave** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:05:56 pm

Zaphod wrote:
steverino wrote:I got the joke. What I didn't get is why Batman would laugh at it after everything the Joker had done to Batgirl and Jim Gordon. I'd have punched the Joker's spleen out.

It was a very strange and disappointing ending.
very much agreed. I get what Moore was trying to say. Batman = Joker. "The Dark Knight" did it much better.

From what I heard about the story I was expecting it ot be epic. It was a let down of a story but back when it was released, it probably held more resonance

he wasn't saying that batman = joker

he was saying that there is a very fine line b/w batman and joker-and that one bad day would be enough to remove the line-except that jim doesn't cave in, and neither does bats.

i agree that it is somewhat improbable that batman would start laughing at any joke that joker told him, esp right after what he put gordon and babs through.

then again, how much does batman ever laugh?

tarheelmarine · Post by **tarheelmarine** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:00:49 pm

BloodOfHeroes wrote:I'll bet that "the Cure" doesn't refer to Babs and that she'll still be in the chair at the end of "Cowl Wars: Suuure Bruce Won't Be Coming Back."

I think she is going to go back to being Batgirl. DD has taken everything about DC and reversed it. GL, FLASH, the list goes on. I think Barbara returning will be another thing that gets changed.

BloodOfHeroes · Post by **BloodOfHeroes** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:34:26 pm

dave wrote:he was saying that there is a very fine line b/w batman and joker-and that one bad day would be enough to remove the line-except that jim doesn't cave in, and neither does bats.

Bats don't shiv!