Alan Moore, Brian Bolland & John Higgins
Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland & John Higgins (UK) 1988. In Italy, published in 1990 as an attachment (76) to "Corto Maltese"

Alan Moore is undoubtedly among the most brilliant geniuses in the history of comics: few have been able to revolutionize the world of balloons like him, thanks to an extraordinary inventiveness and a creative flair that, even in the few purely citationist snippets allowed in his career, has always maintained an incredibly original and very personal standard, knowing how to create real imaginative universes that rightfully place him alongside Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman in the Sacred Comic Trinity of the last 30 years of history (then it's up to individual sensibilities to choose who to prefer among the three...)

His work is so vast that choosing something to review would be a source of extreme embarrassment even for the most elegant of critics: imagine for the undersigned. Of course, having chosen to tackle this wonderful "inner" section of DeBaser with works from that fantastic world of "Otherliterature" which is the comic, sooner or later I would have to con- or dis- () encounter him (again, it depends on the points of view) so out with the tooth, out with the pain!

Of course, "The Killing Joke" is certainly not his most famous work (nor the most representative) but from an emotional standpoint and for at least three qualities, it’s the first that comes to mind every time his name is mentioned. I'll quickly mention the features I've just referred to because it takes me just three words: Batman, Nemesis, and 48.

Leaving aside the word "Batman" (my favorite superhero), because you can tell what I'm talking about from the title alone, the latter two words mean respectively the topic of the Comic Book in question (does this term work better, Ghemi?) and its length: in just under 50 pages, Moore manages to provide one of the most engaging and credible reinterpretations not only of the Dark Knight but, above all, of his relationship with his arch-enemy (you see him smiling beautifully on the cover): I think no one will object if I say that recent reinterpretations of the character (including cinematic ones) find inspiration (beyond the already mentioned and inevitable Miller) heavily in this small but great comic.

Moore, in fact, doesn't just tell a story but almost reinvents the Joker's tale from scratch, ultimately the true protagonist of the comic, giving him an emotional and "human" placement (before something described here makes him become "inhuman") that not only altered much of the adventures to come but also gives a new meaning to much of the past. It's fascinating to read chronologically earlier adventures while imagining the backstory created by the British author: Batman cannot exist without the Joker, and they would end up killing each other if the former didn’t have an obsession (on the edge of mental sanity) for the rules, and yet it is in the Bat's unstable balance that the will might arise to pull both from an endless spiral of violence. But of course, you can only save those who want to be saved, and the conclusive meeting leaves many questions open.

Questions like the Joker’s bitterness in realizing he is trapped in a destiny that forces him more and more over the edge: in the desperate attempt to trap Batman in the same madness. To unite them in the end, as what created them both is similar, and not realizing whether this project is an act of cruelty or extreme empathy is the true punishment he is condemned to.

"Joker: I've demonstrated that there is no difference between me and everyone else—all it takes is one bad day to turn the sanest man alive into a lunatic! That's how far I am from the world: just one bad day!"

Perhaps Moore has this bad day very clearly in mind...

C.G. (Girlanachronism)