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TKJ is a great story, though, and this sets the stage for a lot of subsequent stories.

I agree. Up until the Killing Joke, no one really took the Joker seriously. TKJ led to the Tim Burton Batman flick and also The Dark Knight.

I don't like it better than Dark Knight Returns, but I do like it a helluva lot. Love the ending with Batman essentially pleading with him to stop being a maniac before they end up killing each other.

Kemper wrote: "I don't like it better than Dark Knight Returns, but I do like it a helluva lot. Love the ending with Batman essentially pleading with him to stop being a maniac before they end up killing each ot..."

My liking of this more than Dark Knight has less to do with the actual comics than my perception that Frank Miller is an asshole.

Don't tell me that Miller gave you a bunch of crap on your blog, too?

Kemper wrote: "Don't tell me that Miller gave you a bunch of crap on your blog, too?"

Miller on my blog? I'd wear that like a badge of honor. Most of my beef with Miller comes from the fact that he spends a lot of time complaining about how Marvel and DC handle creator's rights but it doesn't stop him from going to the big two and doing half-assed work for a fat check every couple of years.

The other thing that bothers me is that he sued the guy responsible for Hard Boiled Comics and made him change the name. Like anyone remembers Miller's Hardboiled miniseries from the early 90's. It's not like he invented the term.

I didn't know about the Hard Boiled thing. I haven't really kept up wiht him after reading the early Sin City collections, but you're right that what I've seen of his work returning to DC was terrible. That sequel to Dark Knight Returns was just awful.

Kemper wrote: "I didn't know about the Hard Boiled thing. I haven't really kept up wiht him after reading the early Sin City collections, but you're right that what I've seen of his work returning to DC was terr..."

Alan Moore is crazy as hell but at least he sticks to his guns about not working directly for DC or Marvel and not doing sequels.

True, but I gotta admit that I find Moore's ranting and raving kind of tiresome anymore. I know that he's got some valid points, but he signed the deals, he wrote the stories, and he took the money. I'm sure he got screwed over to some extent, but you'd think that being revered as a comics god because those companies published his stuff would be some compensation.

Kemper wrote: "True, but I gotta admit that I find Moore's ranting and raving kind of tiresome anymore. I know that he's got some valid points, but he signed the deals, he wrote the stories, and he took the mone..."

Good point. Moore's ranting makes it seem like DC gang-raped him while stealing the rights for Watchmen. He took the deal they offered. It must be miserable being one of the living gods of comics.

I also like how he claims that comics should NEVER be turned into movies. He refuses to watch any of them, but he knows they're all terrible. Uh...Alan? Dark Knight? Iron Man? Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World? X-Men II? Sin City?

I mean, I know League of Extraordinary Gentlemen sucked but don't take it out on the rest of the world. Hell, Watchmen wasn't that bad. Even V For Vendetta had a couple of scenes that I liked.

Watchmen was the last movie I got to pick in the theater. I think I mentioned that in Mariel's Watchmen review.

Besides, everyone knows it's video games that should never be made into movies...

I liked this one a lot also, Dan. It brought me back to graphic novels/comic books.

Kurt wrote: "I liked this one a lot also, Dan. It brought me back to graphic novels/comic books."

I actually didn't read this one until I was about 30. If I'd read it years earlier, I probably would have been a bigger Batman fan during my busiest years reading comics.

I disagree that the Joker was a buffoon whom no one took seriously until this story. Yes, "The Killing Joke" is fantastic, but I remember plenty of Batman stories from the '70s and early '80s in which the Joker was a really malicious, scary character. One of my most memorable Joker moments from my childhood was when he pulled a gun on a museum guard, pulled the trigger, and a flag that said "Bang!" on it popped out. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and then the Joker pulled the trigger again and the stick with the flag on it shot out of the gun and into the guard's forehead, killing him.

Not as disturbing as anything in TKJ, but still malevolent, in my opinion. And his first appearances in the '40s were fairly sinister.

In the '60s he was certainly a goofball, but Denny O'Neill definitely took him back to his homicidal madman roots in the mid-'70s.

I loved the ending too! It was the greatest ending of all time!

As long as we are praising The Killing Joke, let us not over look the incredible artwork from Brian Bolland.

Gary wrote: "As long as we are praising The Killing Joke, let us not over look the incredible artwork from Brian Bolland."

Brian Bolland definitely shouldered his share of the load. It's a shame he didn't do more in the US.

Batman has been drawn by so many quality artists over the years. From Bob Kane on it is a veritable who's who of great comic artists.

I’m a bit biased, but I prefer this over DKR simply because of how Moore almost seamlessly crafts a short, but sweet narrative. DKR is fine, but such things as the art as well as some moments almost ruin it for me. Killing Joke for the win!