The Killing Joke
Alan Moore was one of those comic-strip writers working in the eighties, who brought the broader mainstream narrative technique to the fore in the comic industry. the Killing Joke is a slight departure, in that the narrative is more comic-strip orientated. An example of this is the scene where Barbara Gordon encounters The Joker and its traumatic consequence. They just don't do things that way in other media, that's especially true of dramatic mediums like film and television. So, it was a bit of a surprise to learn they've actually made an animated feature out of it, then I watched this video teaser for the production and what did I learn? They've filled out Barbara Gordon's role of course, giving her a broader foundation in the drama. That's a bit of a shame really, because although I wrote, they just don't do that way..., it's not quite true, there are occasional examples, things like McGoohan's The Prisoner.
There's also that controversy over the ending, that's garnered some attention in recent years. I do recall, when I first read the book, a friend stated categorically that the joker dies, I don't see it myself and I've looked really hard for the clues in those panels. It'll be interesting to see how they interpret the ending in this feature.
FWIW, it never even occurred to me at the time that the Joker died in The Killing Joke. The question only seemed to come up years later, in fan magazine articles and/or internet blogs. And the character continued to appear in subsequent stories, without any mention of an apparent death and without any attempt to explain how he had survived.
ReplyDeleteThe same with the question whether the story was canon. I believe Moore later said that it wasn't, but DC evidently intended it to be. What happened to Barbara Gordon remained "true" (so to speak) in later Batman and Birds of Prey comics. Of course, it was wiped out in the New 52 reboot, but so were a lot of things that were originally canon.
I know what you mean, The Joker dying is not something that comes across at all to me. I can't help feeling too, that if it was intended to be ambiguous, Moore would've added some cue to pick up on. I suppose I could just be missing it but I've got a feeling it's just a controversy to spice up sales and keep the fans talking.
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