Rating: 
Summary: The Joker is a psychopath.
Review: This has got to be one of the single best Batman comics that I've ever read, and trust me, I've read them all. Being a huge Batman fan, I was worried about this, but after reading it, I decided to check out more of Alan Moore's work.(Also recommended, V for VENDETTA.) The story is fantastic, the art is freaking brilliant, everything is everything. This is a great read for hardcore fans or non-fans. Joker is at his most vicious and funny, and the story of how he came to be the way that he is today is great. No faults here.
Rating:
Summary: Want the best Batman? Start here
Review: Not only is the story by Allen Moore compelling (not the usual adolescent stories you'd normally expect from comic books), but the artwork by Brian Bolland is RIVETTING, definitely in a class of it's own. You will want more, the only problem being that great writing and great art come together so rarely.
Rating:
Summary: Epitomy of Excellence
Review: The Killing Joke is one book that nobody should avoid reading. I would say that Batman is the secondary character in this book, for the main highlight of this book is Joker. In particular, his origin and how he transformed into the psycotic criminal that he exists now as Batman's arch nemesis. Let this be a warning though: Joker's origin in this is nothing like how it is in the animated series or in Tim Burton's movies. It is much more emotionally graphic and mature. I wont detail it here, as it must be read first hand to be believed. Without spoiling this book, I'll try to summarize this story's main theme in a nutshell: Batman and Joker were just once two ordinary people who just went to the opposite ends of a single curve after one bad day changed their way of viewing the world. As a result, they became each other's arch nemesis and are perhaps the most closely related characters in the Batman universe. The arch nemesis bond that this book shows is one that is very hard to emulate, even by works of English literature. Batman's "bad day" is witnessing the murder of his parents, while the "bad day" that made Joker a homicidal psycopath (read this book, and you will see that he is the epitomy of a psycopath) are the consequences that ultimately led to him seeing life as a pointless struggle against unconquerable odds - in a word, a joke. If my little summary left you confused, read the book, in particular, the final confrontation at the end and it will all make sense. I also strongly recommend reading Frank Miller's excellent The Dark Knight Returns, as it intricately shows how Bruce Wayne's "bad day" created Batman - not the super hero with the fancy gadgets and skills, but the essence of the character that sets him apart in the Comic Book universe. Reading it will surely make my summary above make sense. The level of excellence that the Killing Joke encases to provoke an analysis that I have written above shows that this is not some regular comic book - its a piece of true literature. Read it - you will not regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: It's alright
Review: Essentially, it's Joker being nastier than we've seen him before, it has his origin (which is unbearably weak). Batman is very kind in this, more understanding and helpful towards Joker, I like that. Commissioner Gordon's daughter is abused by Joker and he's taken through a disturbing (although not entirely artful) romp in an abandoned circus. Overall, this could've -and should've, been a better story. He was trying to deepen the character of the Joker, and I think it came out a little off and lacking psychology, maybe he's better off mysterious?
Rating:
Summary: Brooding and mean-spirited addition to the Batman myth
Review: Please don't call me a "wimp," but I am tired of the current trend in comicdom to turn Batman (and his enemies) into sympathetic and oh-so-neurotic souls. The Joker, while always a fruitcake, gets a makeover here, and is revealed to once have been a family man. OK, so what? Is that supposed to elicit a tear from the reader?Then, in the same story, he commits a crime so heinous to both Commissioner Gordon and daughter Barbara that the empathy one may have had for the fiend evaporates almost as soon as it appeared. Mind you, I don't like the non-Tim Burton-directed movie versions, either. And the 60's high camp of Adam West's series didn't add much. Only did the 90's animated version get the characters correctly. I, honestly, didn't find the "joke" worthy of my expenditure. Obviously, the majority of others represented here have different opinions...but, to each his own.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Tale...
Review: Forget all the hype and just pick up the book. It's entertaining, concise, and definately worth your time. It's the only work of graphic fiction I've read twice in a one night. Trust me you won't be dissapointed. Three cheers for Moore and Bolland or was that three Eisner's...?
Rating:
Summary: A Killing Story
Review: This is by far the best Joker story in the entire world. It gives the reason to why Barbara Gordon is in a wheelchair now, and it shows some of the Joker's past. By far, a great great addition to your Batman Collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow
Review: I can't believe the artwork! Brian Bolland did an amazing job with this book. Its a wonderful study in facial expression. Alan Moore wrote a good script, putting out a different take on the Joker. Every writer tries to take The Joker to a new extreme. Moore suceeds by avoiding gimmicks and gadgets, focusing on the motives and actions. I gave it 4 stars since it was a little too short. (That and shotting Barbara.)
Rating:
Summary: ... it's everyone else that's mad!!!
Review: This chapter in the Dark Knight's life was as grim as the events which spawned him. There is death and rebirth here - the Joker's history, Birth of Oracle and a wake-up call for the Hollywood writers of BATMAN: Year One.!!!
Rating:
Summary: Sympathy for the Devil
Review: The Killing Joke is one of the few Batman stories where you actually feel for the Joker as a character. In most stories he either comes off as a charicature of a killer or a sinister and dispicable murderer who you can't have any sympathy for. One of Alan Moore's masterpieces, it even has a song that you can sing. Its funny, but the tune just comes to your head. You automatically know how you should be singing it. The pacing is very cinematic and it is not overburdened with words. Wordless captions make the story more fast paced.
Bolland (why doesn't he do more interiors these days?) is the best Joker (and Batman) artist of all time. The expressions of dispair that he draws on the faces of Barbara Gordon, the Joker, Commissioner Gordon and others are among the most realistic I have ever seen.
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