Review of The Killing Joke Graphic Novel and Update on Movie
|So a while back my friend, ComicGuy, challenged me to read the Killing Joke and not love it. So I countered with my own challenge, go guest blog on my site and I’d buy the book and read it. You can read ComicGuy’s article here. I picked up my Deluxe Edition hardcover book on [Amazon.com] as it was cheaper than buy-it-now listings on [eBay] at the time(copies have been going for $10-12 on both sites).
I gotta say. He was right, I did like it. Now as I’ve stated, historically I was more into [Marvel] books than [DC]
so I’m definitely not a [Batman]
fanboy who will insist that everyone needs to read this book and every Batman book you can get your hands on. But it was a good read. The story went into [the Joker]
‘s origin and this telling was different than any version I had heard. Different in a good way. In this story, the Joker is a struggling stand-up comedian with a pregnant wife. This story also involves the Red Hood Gang which was fun for me when I saw them mentioned on the new [Gotham]
TV series.
When I saw the 1989 Batman movie with Jack Nicholson as the Joker, I recall being told that the origin story of the movie was different from the comics. However, according to Wikipedia in 1951 a man wearing a red helmet known as the Red Hood is pursued by Batman at a chemical plant and the man ends up in a pool of chemicals which turn him into the Joker. I’m sure we could nitpick differences but that sounds pretty much like the plot of the movie to me.
On another note, I had to check eBay to see what [Detective Comics 168] was actually going for. There was only one available and after 30 bids [the auction ended at $1,850]
for the “Very Good” condition book. My Overstreet Price Guide (2013-2014) places the value at $514-$9500 depending on condition. That won’t be entering my collection just yet.
This article comes with great timing.  Last week I learned that this story is going to be turned into an animated series.  Mark Hamill has expressed interest in voicing the part.  That seems like a no-brainer to me as he did a great job on the Batman: The Animated Series winning awards and the adoration of fans around the world. (((Update: July 27, 2015.  Mark Hamill has been confirmed as voicing Mr. J!)))
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