History ComicBook / TheKillingJoke

->''"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} You]] had a bad day once. Am I right? I know I am. Why else would you dress up as a flying rat? You had a bad day and it drove you as crazy as everybody else. Only you won't admit it. You have to keep pretending that life makes sense, that there is some point to all this struggling. God, you make me want to puke!"''

''The Killing Joke'', first published in March 1988, written by Creator/AlanMoore and drawn by Brian Bolland, tells [[MultipleChoicePast one possible version]] of the story of how [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] [[StartOfDarkness became the Joker]], while simultaneously telling how he paralyzed Barbara "ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}" Gordon.

What follows is a particularly effective MotiveRant from the Joker [[StrawNihilist about how pointless the world is]], an admission of Joker's [[EvilCannotComprehendGood inability]] to figure out why he is the way he is, and a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking legitimately funny joke]].

Many critics consider the graphic novel to be the definitive Joker story and one of the best Batman stories ever published. The comic won the Eisner Award for "Best Graphic Album" in 1989 and appeared on The New York Times Best Seller List in May 2009. Elements of ''The Killing Joke'' have inspired or been incorporated into other aspects of Batman media. Along with ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns, Creator/TimBurton has mentioned that ''The Killing Joke'' influenced his [[Film/Batman1989 film adaptation of Batman]], specifically the origin of the Joker.

* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler:Batman's argument that normal people don't always snap and the Joker was already broken before his "one bad day" falls apart when one realizes that for all the torture Joker put him through, Gordon didn't really lose anything. Unlike the Joker who lost everything. In the end it's not that Gordon was stronger than the Joker but more as if, his one bad day wasn't bad enough.]]

->''"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once. Am I right? I know I am. Why else would you dress up as a flying rat? You had a bad day and it drove you as crazy as everybody else. Only you won't admit it. You have to keep pretending that life makes sense, that there is some point to all this struggling. God, you make me want to puke!"''
-->-- '''ComicBook/TheJoker'''

''The Killing Joke'', first published in March 1988, written by Creator/AlanMoore and drawn by Brian Bolland, tells [[MultipleChoicePast one possible version]] of [[StartOfDarkness the story of how The Joker became The Joker]], while simultaneously telling how he paralyzed Barbara "Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}" Gordon.

What follows is a particularly effective MotiveRant from ComicBook/TheJoker [[StrawNihilist about how pointless the world is]], an admission of Joker's [[EvilCannotComprehendGood inability]] to figure out why he is the way he is, and a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking legitimately funny joke]].

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: The Joker's "[[StartOfDarkness one bad day]]" proves to be this as they [[MultipleChoicePast neither know nor care if it actually happened]] and Batman confronts him on how is attempt to similarly break Commissioner Gordon failed.
-->'''Batman:''' "Despite all your sick, vicious little games, he's as sane as he ever was! So maybe ordinary people don't always crack. Maybe there isn't any need to crawl under a rock with all the other slimey things when trouble hits. Maybe it was just you, all the time!"

* NeverMyFault: According to Batman, this is what the Joker's FreudianExcuse boils down to: after his transformation, he became convinced that the world was a rotten place with no chance at redemption, and that by bringing his own sense of humor to Gotham, he could try to convince others to view the world as he does. But Batman tracks down the Joker in the hall of mirrors, and tells him that in spite of the latter's games, Commissioner Gordon refused to be broken into madness like him. Batman further demoralizes his enemy by telling him that while the Joker's view on the world might be true from a particular standpoint, that doesn't justify his attempts to break someone's sanity.

* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler:Batman's argument that normal people don't always snap and the Joker was already broken before his "one bad day" falls apart when one realizes that for all the torture Joker put him through, Gordon didn't really lose anything. Unlike the Joker who lost everything. In the end it's not that Gordon was stronger than the Joker but more as if, his one bad day wasn't bad enough.]]

** You can't help anyone who doesn't want to help themself. [[note]] At the end of the comic, Bruce offers The Joker help with his insanity, but the latter refuses and tells a story about two men who have escaped from an asylum. One suggests the other walk to freedom on the beam of light from his flashlight. The other thinks he's crazy because he'll turn off the the light when he gets halfway. The Joker is the second man and is so far gone that he thinks the world is so horrible that sanity is just false hope while the beam of light resembles Bruce's offer. Bruce realizes this and understands that there's simply no hope for Joker and is [[BeyondRedemption forced to give up on him]].[[/note]]

->''"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once. Am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed."''

* NotSoDifferent: As seen in the page quote, Joker accuses Batman of being as insane as he is - even if Batman won't admit it.

* WhenSheSmiles:
** In a very dark example, Joker finally smiles after going insane.
** Towards the end, [[spoiler:Batman is amused at the Joker's joke and laughs alongside him.]]

* LaughingMad: Joker, after his "[[TraumaCongaLine one bad day]]", starts laughing like a madman after seeing him own reflection in a poodle, signifying his mind breaking.

* NothingUpMySleeve: [[ILied Joker lied]] - there's a knife.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Joker's final joke is an obvious parallel between himself and Batman - it's a tale of a man who's insane but functional (Batman) and a man who's completely off the deep end (Joker).
** Also, Batman is insane for fighting for a hopeless cause and in turn offering a false hope. The Joker is insane for believing in the false hope, but is too cynical and distrustful of humanity to take it.

* SlasherSmile: This one's mandatory; it's ''the Joker'' we're talking about here.

* SpikesOfDoom: The only real DeathTrap that Batman encounters in Joker's funhouse before he confronts the clown face-to-face.

* StrawNihilist: Joker qualifies here and the main image for that trope. In the comics he thinks and wants to demonstrate that life is so ridiculously unfair that all it takes is "one bad day" to make any man a monster like he is. However, Gordon's example shows that no, some don't break under the pressure and that the Joker was in the wrong. To quote him, he states that "human existence is mad, random and pointless one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo".
* StuffedInTheFridge:
** Babs gets this treatment in ''Killing Joke'', being crippled by the Joker in an effort to give Gordon his "one bad day". Rumor has it that when Creator/AlanMoore asked if it was okay to shoot and paralyze her, editorial sent back a note saying "cripple the bitch." Later, John Ostrander and his wife Kim Yale, horrified at her treatment and determined to fix it, had Babs [[TookALevelInBadass take a level in Badass]] in order to become the [[HandicappedBadass uberimportant cyber superhero]] known as ComicBook/{{Oracle}}.
** Also [[spoiler:happens to The Joker's wife as part of his descent into madness... maybe.]]

** The end of the comic counts: [[spoiler:when Joker learns his attempt to break Gordon failed, he seriously considers Batman's offer of a possible redemption before declining. The Joker actually becomes ''sane'' for a few brief moments.]]
* VillainSong: The Joker busts one out when putting Gordon through the Ghost Train From Hell. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOb4fOGQHCE Many a fan has tried their own hand at singing it]].

** A more straight example would be towards the end, [[spoiler:which is when Batman is amused at the Joker's joke.]]

* WrittenSoundEffect: Almost completely avoided - there are a handful of exceptions.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Batman's as much to blame for the Joker's existence as the Joker is for his bad choices.
** In the Joker's memory, getting cornered by Batman with the only means of escape being to jump into polluted water and come out both physically and mentally distorted, with a newfound hatred of the man who forced this on him.
** Batman taunts the Joker's attempt to break Gordon's mind, stating that if the Joker could be driven insane by similar circumstances, then maybe he's just mentally weak. When Batman offers to rehabilitate Joker, he refuses, likely taking Batman's previous words to heart and believing that any attempt to fix him will be undone the next time he has a bad day.

* AllThereInTheManual: The entire script for the comic has been leaked online, and it identifies certain small details such as the fact that the guy who does business with the Joker is a criminal who ''specializes'' in selling hideouts to supervillains.
* AllThereInTheScript: The same script identifies the real estate agent as Mitchum, the two mobsters in the flashback as Vinnie and Joe, and Joker's three terrifying dwarf henchmen as Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Notably, Moore's script gives a name to a character who appears in exactly ''one'' panel of the comic -- the man seen retching in Joker's maybe-flashback is deemed "Lester".
** Funnily enough, Moore's script misnames ComicBook/ThePenguin as "Oscar Bumbershoot".

* BangFlagGun: [[spoiler:Unlike most times, the Joker's gun turns into one when it's EMPTY; and the flag reads ''Click Click Click'', not ''Bang''.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: Both the physiological kind (to Barbara) and the mental kind (to Gordon).

* MindRape: This is what the Joker does in his attempt to drive Gordon insane.
* MotiveRant: Joker's explanation of why he's torturing Gordon is one of these.

* MonsterClown: The Joker, clown-themed supervillain in top form for this story, trying to torture a man into insanity just to validate his own worldview.
* MultipleChoicePast: Joker is the TropeNamer, and it comes from this comic.
** In the original context, it's more the case that the accident damaged his memory and his recollection of the past. This was used by Moore as a HandWave to why the origin of ''The Killing Joke'' differs in significant details from Creator/BillFinger's "The Man Behind the Red Hood" (where the Red Hood is a criminal mastermind and former lab-worker who traded his old gimmick for a new one, rather than a good man who eventually became the Joker). Moore held that his origin story was welded to that rather than as a non-continuity story that outright contradicts it.
** Later comics had the Riddler pop up as a possible witness to the "bad day" which birthed The Joker - only to tell a different version of the story (one which isn't considered canon, too). In either case, the notion of a Joker as a good man before his fateful encounter with Batman and a vat of chemicals, which Moore certainly held to be true to his story, has never been established as definitive in later continuity.

** The French translation, ''Rire et mourir'' - "Laughing and dying", "To laugh and to die", or "To laugh and die" - botches this trope in the first scene when Batman, having discovered an impostor in Joker's cell, shouts "''Vous n'êtes pas le Joker!'' (You're not the Joker!)". The more recent translation corrects this, though.

* UpdatedRerelease: The 2008 twentieth-anniversary edition was completely recolored: new details such as [[TearsOfBlood the Joker's eyes bleeding]] were added, the flashbacks were made DeliberatelyMonochrome, and the yellow oval around the Batman insignia was removed (bringing the costume into line with ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', which was heavily influenced by ''The Killing Joke''). Brian Bolland ''hated'' the original coloring, which is intentionally garish and jarring. He approved of the re-release on one condition: he had to be allowed to personally recolor it. However, critics of the re-release like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsz-FC8RrCU In Bob We Trust]] noted that making ''The Killing Joke'' look like every other grimdark modern comic book removed the one thing that set the issue apart from its contemporaries and imitators of today.

''The Killing Joke'', first published in March 1988, written by Creator/AlanMoore and drawn by Brian Bolland, tells [[MultipleChoicePast one possible version]] of [[StartOfDarkness the story of how The Joker became The Joker]], while simultaneously telling how he paralyzed Barbara "Batgirl" Gordon.

** Imagine being a father [[spoiler:stripped naked]] forced to look [[spoiler:at naked pictures of your bloody newly paralyzed daughter.]]

** Funnily enough, Moore's script misnames The Penguin as "Oscar Bumbershoot".
* AmbiguousDisorder: Batman theorises that the Joker was always mentally unwell even before his transformation, hence why Gordon was able to go through similar ordeals and still maintain his reason while the Joker snapped as soon as he caught his own reflection. Pre-transformation he had poor judgement, was easily intimidated by other people and he had a habit of breaking down over any negative outcomes.

* BittersweetEnding: Gordon is saved and the Joker is carted away, but Barbara is paralyzed (and will remain so for several years).

-->She thinks she's a coffee table edition... Mind you, I can't say much for the volume's condition. I mean, there's a hole in the jacket and the spine appears to be damaged.

* TheCameo: Two-Face appears briefly at the beginning, as an Arkham inmate. The Penguin briefly appears later, in prison being questioned for the Joker's whereabouts.
* CanonWelding: This aspect is not quite well understood since it's usually seen as an One-Off and became part of the Post-Crisis continuity but Alan Moore wrote the comic based on the previous origin of the Joker, Detective Comics # 168 ("The Man Behind the Red Hood") which established the Red Hood and Joker's fall in a vat of chemicals.

** The Batcave in its brief glimpse is comprised of elements from the Dick Sprang era, namely a photograph featuring Bat-Mite who would otherwise not be welcome in such a story.
*** Both Batwoman and the first Bat-Girl appeared in the photo as well. While Kathy Kane exist in Post-Crisis, she was never Batwoman (until it was made canon again post-ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis). Also, Betty Kane was revised as Bette Kane who becomes Flamebird instead.

*** You can't help anyone who doesn't want to help themself. [[note]] At the end of the comic, Bruce offers The Joker help with his insanity, but the latter refuses and tells a story about two men who have escaped from an asylum. One suggests the other walk to freedom on the beam of light from his flashlight. The other thinks he's crazy because he'll turn off the the light when he gets halfway. The Joker is the second man and is so far gone that he thinks the world is so horrible that sanity is just false hope while the beam of light resembles Bruce's offer. Bruce realizes this and understands that there's simply no hope for Joker and is [[BeyondRedemption forced to give up on him]].[[/note]]

** When being dragged before Joker after regaining conciousness, a full frontal of Gordon is given. While he's mostly obscured by shadow, it appears that the artist left in a bit of detail.

* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Joker dons this outfit for maybe a page and a half when he shoots Barbara Gordon - but it's remembered to the point where it's one of his alternate costumes in ''VideoGame/LEGOBatman''.

** It occurs again, Hawaiian Shirt and all in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', when the scene is shown in a flashback.

* LaughingMad: Joker, anyone? Heck, this story provides the trope picture.

* MonsterClown: The Joker, clown themed supervillain in top form for this story, trying to torture a man into insanity just to validate his own worldview.

** Batman taunts the Joker's attempt to break Gordon's mind, stating that if the Joker could be driven insane by similar circumstances, then maybe he's just mentally weak. When Batman offers to rehabilitate Joker, he refuses, likely taking Batman's previous words to heart and beleiving that any attempt to fix him will be undone the next time he has a bad day.

* NoPreggerSex: Played with. While the Joker's [[spoiler: possibly nonexistent]] pregnant wife assures him that everything will be okay, she mentions that he is "good in the sack", but it isn't made clear whether or not they had sex while she was pregnant.

'''Batman:''' Because I've heard it before...and it wasn't funny the ''first'' time.
* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Batman's subsequent TheReasonYouSuckSpeech[=/=]PatrickStewartSpeech is based on this.
-->Maybe there isn't any need to crawl under a rock with all the other slimy things when trouble hits. Maybe it was just you, all the time!

** Alan Moore stated that this was a major issue for him in why the comic is not a complete success in that while he strove to give Joker a motivation and origin with some amount of psychological consistency that fit with his general characterization, he ultimately felt that it didn't resolve itself completely because both Batman and Joker were comic book characters whose larger than life gimmicks overshadowed any attempts at realism.

** Babs gets this treatment in ''Killing Joke''. Rumor has it that when Alan Moore asked if it was okay to shoot and paralyze her, editorial sent back a note saying "cripple the bitch." Later, John Ostrander and his wife Kim Yale, horrified at her treatment and determined to fix it, had Babs [[TookALevelInBadass take a level in Badass]] in order to become the [[HandicappedBadass uberimportant cyber superhero]] known as ComicBook/{{Oracle}}.

* SympatheticPOV: The Joker is given one via his flashback scenes, revealing him to have been a failed comedian turning to crime to support his expecting wife. It goes FromBadToWorse as he suffers a TraumaCongaLine that drives him insane.

* VillainHasAPoint: Joker at one point accuses Batman of having had "one bad day" that shaped him into who he is. Joker has ''no'' idea just how right he is. [[ShutUpHannibal Batman, however lets him know where he's wrong;]] [[NotSoSimilat He and Gordon handled it differently from how Joker did.]]

* VillainHasAPoint: Joker at one point accuses Batman of having had "one bad day" that shaped him into who he is. Joker has ''no'' idea just how right he is.

** Imagine being a father [[spoiler:stripped naked]] forced to look [[spoiler:at naked pictures of your bloody newly paralyzed daughter. Not to mention that it was implied she was raped.]]

* AmbiguousEnding: Brian Bolland discusses this in the Deluxe Edition, complete with TheUnreveal as he "runs out of words" just as he's supposedly about to explain it. [[spoiler:Batman and the Joker are both laughing at the Joker's last joke, and Batman reaches out to place his hands on the Joker's shoulders... That's the last we see of of what they're doing, but the laughter cuts off abruptly. So did he finally kill him? At least we know that not canonically.]]

** It's entirely possible to see the photos of Barbara as implying that the Joker [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped her.]]

*** Both Batwoman and the first Bat-Girl appeared in the photo as well. While Kathy Kane exist in Post-Crisis, she was never Batwoman (until it was made canon again a few years later). Also, Betty Kane was revised as Bette Kane who becomes Flamebird instead.

* NotSoDifferent: As seen in the page quote, Joker accuses Batman of being equally as insane as he is - even if Batman won't admit it.

* BeyondRedemption: Played with. At the story's end, Batman offers the Joker a genuine chance to reform and come back to sanity. The Joker refuses the offer, believing that [[IveComeTooFar he's too far gone to be saved]] and that the world is such a horrible place that he wouldn't want to be anyway. Then, after the Joker tells a joke, Batman appears to accept the conclusion, and is forced to give up on him.

* BeyondRedemption: Played with. At the story's end, Batman offers the Joker a genuine chance to reform and come back to sanity. The Joker refuses the offer, believing that he's too far gone to be saved, and that the world is such a horrible place that he wouldn't want to be anyway. Then, after the Joker tells a joke, Batman appears to accept the conclusion, and is forced to give up on him.

*** You can't help anyone who doesn't want to help themself. [[note]] At the end of the comic, Bruce offers The Joker help with his insanity, but the latter refuses and tells a story about two men who have escaped from an asylum. One suggests the other walk to freedom on the beam of light from his flashlight. The other thinks he's crazy because he'll turn off the the light when he gets halfway. The Joker is the second man and is so far gone that he thinks the world is so horrible that sanity is just false hope while the beam of light resembles Bruce's offer. Bruce realizes this and understands that there's simply no hope for Joker and is forced to give up on him.[[/note]]