A really really bad day

So you've heard the news about the animated version of Batman Killing Joke and you're a little incredulous that anything could surpass Snyder's Batman and Robin in it's level of rubbishness? Well don't be, it really is that bad, it's so bad, that even after watching it, you're left doubting your own senses. There's the extra bit of course, which takes up a full half hour and bit of the, just over one hour, sixteen minutes running time. And my god, is the added material awful, it's not just tedious, it's a travesty, a festering appendix begging the immediate attention of a rusty scalpel blade. It not just that I'm afraid though, when it came to the actual Killing Joke part of the animated Killing Joke film, you know the bit that actually deals with the story from the book and not something spawned from the mind of a juvenile after they've awakened from a wet dream, is wholly inept. They couldn't even get the most basic elements right, those visual mnemonics that link the flashbacks are missing or unrecognisable; how does that happen for flip's sake?

Something went badly wrong here, the prologue embodied in the new material is so badly plotted and scripted, it's almost as if it's a case deliberate sabotage. I don't just mean the editorial interference, which is just so woefully evident and completely undermines Alan Moore's narrative but the execution is like an episode of Scooby Do or something you read on the back of a chewing gum card. No one writes that bad, not unless they're an underpaid scribe chained to a desk in the cellar, who only gets to see daylight once a year.

The iconoclasm is unrelenting, they don't even leave the ending alone, there's that little respect for the source material. Those responsible for this catastrophe should beg the forgiveness of everyone who ever bought a copy of The Killing Joke, just before being stripped naked and beaten with birch twigs that have stood marinating in chilly for a year.

Ever had one of those days when...

Oops, there was a video here, unfortunately it seems it was published without permission
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.