Batman: The Killing Joke

To avoid having to watch some Redbox flick with Zimm, Jamie, and the Wife, I have escaped to comment on the Batman: The Killing Joke.

Alan Moore's story is engaging--although I am enjoying Miller's All Star Batman and Robin a bit more. The gentle compassion of Batman and Jim Gordon's friendship emphasizes their brutality and determination, their raw force--and that is what the narrative is really about.

The characters, the story, and the scenery are beautifully rendered by Brian Bolland. He includes a gentle, almost imperceptible 1940's touch that gives the storyline a depth that moves the story well beyond the written text. But then the Batmobile arrives. Smiple, flat, unimaginative, the car threatens to disrupt. It stands out and distracts--like Scooby Doo prancing into a Miyazaki flick.

As usual and is to be expected, I am behind the times. Either way, read the comic--but not for a history lesson on Joker (yawn).

Read it for an insight into Gordan and Batman's friendship, to learn the true power of a bromance. And once you have follow it up with (in the following order) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes. Finish with T.H. White's The Once and Future King.

Funny our discomfort in acknowledging the intimacy of two males. We can watch a bunch of middle-aged women yodel in a kitchen about the shortage of worthy men--but two men facing the vicissitudes of fate, relying on their strength and love for one another, makes us ponder, hesitate, and draw crappy cars.

Bayard