Assessment
What is your reaction to the text you just read?
I read The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore, and I was very immersed into the world of Batman, despite having only base background knowledge of the franchise. It is an interesting dive into the complexities of superhero and super villain personalities. It explores the past life of the Joker, which is something I usually don't see in superhero comics, where you're not meant to connect and side with the villain, but presenting the Joker's past in flashes as he commits his crimes to parallel why he loses his sanity and rationality creates a whole new image, as well as Batman's reluctance to continue the violent path the both of them have taken that will inevitably end in blood, which feels super uncommon a personality to give a superhero, a genre where the good guys are meant to kill the bad guys. It's an extremely humanistic approach to the superhero genre, which I really enjoy because it brings in elements of real life into the comics world, because no "sane" person would ever walk away from murder with a mind at peace, and you can definitely feel Batman ruminating about these ideals as he tries to figure out Joker as a person rather than a force of evil in The Killing Joke. In a genre I have found to get repetitive over years of use and the same tropes, The Killing Joke really offers a fresh perspective on the superhero genre, and really takes steps to explore the uncommented aspects of logic and life within the pages.
What connections did you make with the story you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
I really connected with Batman's inner moral conflicts that he feels throughout the story.
On the outside, being a superhero should be glamorous, but at the base of it all, it is still using violence to stop violence. You can really see Batman deal with this dilemma of the violent cycle between superhero and super villain, and how it will spiral into more and more violence until someone dies. Batman, like a person in real life, doesn't want to continue the suffering of one or both parties, and makes repeated efforts to do something about it finally. In the superhero genre, you expect the hero to beat up the villain and send them to prison or to their grave, and as an audience, you still accept and celebrate the hero's violence because you believe the violence is necessary and for a good cause. As his thoughts he'd been pondering on gets repeated throughout the entire story, you can see Batman's internal monologue really challenges this notion and surprised me through the unfolding of the story at how he never gives up on trying to do something different and better for both the Joker and himself in the long run this time around.
What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I would try and make Barbara and Jim more relevant and connected to Batman. I never got to really develop any attachment to them at all, and they were mostly just a victim prop to entice Batman to Joker. Although he is a vigilante with natural inclination to fighting crime, it would bring more depth if the victims were related personally to either Batman or the Joker, thus raising the stakes of the situation. I believe this story would work excellently as either a animated or live action film, though an animated film would make it more visual and easier to portray Batman's unrelenting internal monologue and moral turmoil at the choices in his life. A live action film could easily replicate the gritty feelings and realistic undertones emitted from the pages, but an animated film can also embrace the comics style of the story that makes it so visually interesting and stark and intriguing to watch. Being a much bigger fan of striking visuals, I would lean towards an animated film. I would make Batman's inner thoughts speak more loudly through his actions during his investigation and search for the Joker, because his dialogue and speech and thought bubbles are difficult to portray in a different medium besides comics.
I read The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore, and I was very immersed into the world of Batman, despite having only base background knowledge of the franchise. It is an interesting dive into the complexities of superhero and super villain personalities. It explores the past life of the Joker, which is something I usually don't see in superhero comics, where you're not meant to connect and side with the villain, but presenting the Joker's past in flashes as he commits his crimes to parallel why he loses his sanity and rationality creates a whole new image, as well as Batman's reluctance to continue the violent path the both of them have taken that will inevitably end in blood, which feels super uncommon a personality to give a superhero, a genre where the good guys are meant to kill the bad guys. It's an extremely humanistic approach to the superhero genre, which I really enjoy because it brings in elements of real life into the comics world, because no "sane" person would ever walk away from murder with a mind at peace, and you can definitely feel Batman ruminating about these ideals as he tries to figure out Joker as a person rather than a force of evil in The Killing Joke. In a genre I have found to get repetitive over years of use and the same tropes, The Killing Joke really offers a fresh perspective on the superhero genre, and really takes steps to explore the uncommented aspects of logic and life within the pages.
What connections did you make with the story you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.
I really connected with Batman's inner moral conflicts that he feels throughout the story.
On the outside, being a superhero should be glamorous, but at the base of it all, it is still using violence to stop violence. You can really see Batman deal with this dilemma of the violent cycle between superhero and super villain, and how it will spiral into more and more violence until someone dies. Batman, like a person in real life, doesn't want to continue the suffering of one or both parties, and makes repeated efforts to do something about it finally. In the superhero genre, you expect the hero to beat up the villain and send them to prison or to their grave, and as an audience, you still accept and celebrate the hero's violence because you believe the violence is necessary and for a good cause. As his thoughts he'd been pondering on gets repeated throughout the entire story, you can see Batman's internal monologue really challenges this notion and surprised me through the unfolding of the story at how he never gives up on trying to do something different and better for both the Joker and himself in the long run this time around.
What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I would try and make Barbara and Jim more relevant and connected to Batman. I never got to really develop any attachment to them at all, and they were mostly just a victim prop to entice Batman to Joker. Although he is a vigilante with natural inclination to fighting crime, it would bring more depth if the victims were related personally to either Batman or the Joker, thus raising the stakes of the situation. I believe this story would work excellently as either a animated or live action film, though an animated film would make it more visual and easier to portray Batman's unrelenting internal monologue and moral turmoil at the choices in his life. A live action film could easily replicate the gritty feelings and realistic undertones emitted from the pages, but an animated film can also embrace the comics style of the story that makes it so visually interesting and stark and intriguing to watch. Being a much bigger fan of striking visuals, I would lean towards an animated film. I would make Batman's inner thoughts speak more loudly through his actions during his investigation and search for the Joker, because his dialogue and speech and thought bubbles are difficult to portray in a different medium besides comics.
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