Rating: 
Summary: Not Just Another Comic Book.
Review: Comic books are often dismissed by many people as having no real value. They are usually looked upon as a hobby for boys and nostalgiac entertainment for men who have never really grown up. However, comic books can be and are often much more. At their best, comics can become a moving work of art and a powerful piece of literature all in one piece. Such is the case with BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE.THE KILLING JOKE has become a comic classic for a variety of reasons. The book's illustrations have influenced a generation of Batman artists. The book offered insight into the Joker's personality. It changed the Batman universe (by what the Joker does to Barbara Gordon). It illustrated the strong bond between Batman and Joker and displayed the differences in world view that make the men who they are. It helped inspire a major motion picture. However, the comic is much more than a story about the possible origins of the Joker and how he and Batman are so strongly bonded together. The story is a reflection of two very distinct views of life: the tragic and the comic. The Joker, ironically, views life tragically believing that all it takes is "one bad day" to transform the most normal person in the world into a psychotic maniac. His is the world of chaos and injustice. He holds onto this belief even though he knows (as the last pages of the comic show) it is false. On the other hand, there is the world view of Batman. Batman's life was changed too, by "one bad day". However, Batman's view is comic. He had one bad day, too, but it turned him into a hero. His is the world of order and justice. In the end, good triumphs over evil and the tragedians are forced to laugh at all the comedy. Life truly is beautiful. I bet you believed a comic could never be so thought-provoking.
Rating: 
Summary: I agree, I agree, except...it's really not that good, is it?
Review: Yes, this book has one of the most bizarre, ruthless depictions of the Joker in comics history. Yes, there is a crucial Batman continuity event here. Yes, the creepy cover gets even creepier after you've read the story. But it's not Alan Moore's best work, it's not the best Batman story ever, and it's not the best Joker story ever. Yes, Moore and Bolland do a wonderful job of depicting the Joker's worldview and giving us insight into his motivations by fleshing out his origin. Yes, the Joker is so twisted that you'll find yourself agape at the perversions he thinks are humorous. And yes, his cry of "see what one day can do to a man" gives him a previously unrevealed pathos. But the story is sticky and difficult to slog through--it dawdles along and then comes to a complete stop when Moore indulges himself in something that he should have known wouldn't work in a comic book: the Joker sings. Page after page after page, the Joker sings about what it means to be insane and how you can be insane too if you just let yourself. It didn't work for me, and after two pages, I just started skimming the words and concentrating on the pictures. I may be recalling this incorrectly, but there's nothing happening in the panels while the Joker drones on and on that couldn't be depicted in a panel or two. For me, this sequence guts the whole story. Treasure it for its contributions to Bat-culture, but please don't call this one of the greatest Batman stories ever told.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest Joker story ever.
Review: I remember first reading this astonishing book about ten or so years ago around when I first got into comic books. Up until that point I had just read typical mainstream super-hero fare with stories where a bad guy is introduced, commits his crime, and the good guy takes him out. status quo remains in place and everybody goes home happy. Then I chanced upon this book, not even yet knowing who Alan Moore or Brian Bolland were and was completely blown away! This was a story that mattered. The event's of this book changed the character's in ways that they could never go back, and that's a very rare and good thing in comics. Never has a comic book so brilliantly dug so deep into the nasty bowels of the Joker's mind like this. You see the events that lead up to him going over the top and becoming the criminal who would one day be Batman's arch foe. Then we have Joker's confrontation with Batgirl which would forever change the character's in the Bat books and go on to really show just how insane and demented the Joker actually is. Personally, every time I read it, I can't wait to get to the end of the story when Batman get's his hands on the clown for one of my favorite fight sequences ever! You know a man can write when he get's you feel that much hate for a fictonal character! A first rate story, from a first rate creative team. This story is only second to The Dark Knight Returns.
Rating:
Summary: Earnest wish
Review: Oh Lord, I wish I could tell a story as good as that man.
Rating:
Summary: Batman : The Killing Joke
Review: Dramatic, Dark, and you see a side of the Joker not normally show shown.
Rating:
Summary: short, but sweet.
Review: this is a good book it shows the joker's veiw on the world, and a new orign, wether the orign is true or not I like it. everything else has already been said. note: no, The joker does NOT rape barbara, and as for the nude pictures, we just see barbara's butt and her chest, but the photo is not full frontle. the chest one, that is. heros: batman, jim gordan, barbara gorden, harvey bullock. villans: the joker, two-face {cameo,} the penguin {cameo.}
Rating:
Summary: There were these two guys in a lunatic asylum...
Review: This story is actually more about the Joker than Batman, but so much the better for it. It is more interested in WHO the Joker is and why he does what he does, rather than sensational fight scenes. That having been said, the Joker does do some rather gruesome things in this book. We find a possible explanation of the Joker's past and his involvement with Batman. This is great for anyone who's felt sympathy for the Joker and has rooted for him on occaision. In this, we do see that Batman and the Joker really are opposite sides of the same coin. They both exist because of the same thing: they each had "a bad day." Batman finally recognizes this, and tries to break them out of the "duel to the death" that they are both locked into. For me, the best part of the book happens when the two main characters call a time-out, put all the B.S. aside, and really TALK to each other. This is a very short novel, but having read it, it seems to have exerted as much influence over the movie Batman as The Dark Knight Returns.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy but you can't stop reading it
Review: I heard of this book for awhile. When I finally got it, I was shocked. It's a very disturbing story of the Joker's torment of Commissioner Gordon on one hellish night.
This book is very graphic, and you don't end it with a sense that justice is done. But, you will be satisfied by the quality of the story and the art.
Rating:
Summary: A Killer Comic
Review: Here's a cleverly written, well drawn Batman comic that's famous for the cover illustration alone. The story is about the Joker kidnapping the police commisioner and shooting his daughter, but it really centers around the character of the Joker. The dialogue fits the pictures like a jigsaw puzzle with clever word and picture gags that make you reconsider the potential of a comic book. Also of value, there is an interesting flashback story of the Joker that you will only find in this comic.
Rating:
Summary: Not for kiddies. Puts the "Dark" back in the "Dark Knight"
Review: This is one of the first comics to embrace the notion that comics aren't for kids anymore. The story has grit and realism unseen in most titles. The Joker isn't as cartoonish here as he is cunning, evil and without remorse. Batman here is rendered as the ideal counterpart to the Joker, a fellow tortured soul who deals with his own personal tragedy in a decidedly different way. Fantastic story and beautiful artwork. It's a MUST HAVE for any Batman fan. If only they would have used this title as the basis for a script, the audience would finally see Batman as he was meant to be seen!
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