Well, fellow Jokettes, today marks the momentous occasion that I, thanks to my marvelous and resourceful better half, have finally read that masterpiece that is ‘The Killing Joke’.
I like to consider myself an avid DC fanatic. I find myself lost in this world of tormented souls. The tragic darkness that shrouds every Batman story speaks to me in more ways than anything else I have ever read. The artists have inspired me and influenced my own work as well, especially Bruce Tim and Brian Bolland’s work. ‘The Killing Joke’ is a comic I’ve always wanted to read, but I was terrified to at the same time, because it commits the greatest of sins; it reveals the Joker’s back story. Now, I understand that the Joker’s origins, his true name, ect is something that we all would love to find out, but we all know that the whole point of the Joker is precisly that; a Joke. I have spoken to several…for want of a better phraze, ‘fangirls’ that speak of how awesome a movie that reveals Mr J’s child hood would be, that shows what made him ‘go insane’, or as I prefer to call it ‘super sanity’. As great as that sounds… It is better not to know. ‘When you have to explain a joke, then there IS no joke.’ Once we know his real name, his back story, ect he is no longer ‘The Joker.’ He’s just another average Joe that went crazy. Giving him a name and a back story ect destroys the essence of the character.
But ‘The Killing Joke’ did not do this. We aren’t told what his real name is, the flash back scenes are painted in a very dreamlike way, muted colours, murky line work. Is this a memory or simply a fabrication? I personally feel it is just another story, another lie, like how Mr J has several stories of how he got those scars. It’s just another version of the Joke. But that’s not to say that it isn’t still tragic, we know something major had to happen to this man to cause him to be this way. One Bad Day.
I write this because I need to get this out and Rancid Rainbow is a place where I am happy to express my love for all things Batman related and not feel like a total and complete idiotic air head as I am often reffered to in the so called ‘real world’. I have never read a comic that has stayed with me like this, and I have never read a book that makes me love it and hate it at the same time. I want to hug it and burn it. Why? Because I love the artwork, the story, and I know that no one other than the people on this website and other fan sites would understand the kind of connection I’ve had with this book. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie and been so involved and enraptured by the creativity and the passion that the creators of it put into it that you feel like that creativity is tangable, and that you wish you could latch onto it and be infected with their gifts and create something yourself that you hope impacts people the same way…? Have you ever read something so good that you hate it because it tears you up inside that you can never create something as good as it?
Anyway in an attempt to conclude this, I shall declare this; ‘The Killing Joke’ is the first comic I have ever truely fallen in love with, and I look forward to the day when I find something that has affected me at the same level, because truely, I don’t think that day will ever happen.
Munchkin. x
Even with my construction lines I get all tripped up, but…at least it looks like who it’s supposed to. I’m really thankful for Photoshop! I hope to work on this more today, and maybe have phase two to show. Read the rest of this entry →
