Historical text

Batman: The killing joke

Batman: The Killing Joke is a 1988 one-shot graphic novel featuring the characters Batman and the Joker written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Brian Bolland, and published by DC Comics. Set in the fictional U.S. city of Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke provides an origin story for the Joker, an established comic book super villain and nemesis of Batman. Taking place over two timelines, The Killing Joke depicts the Joker attempting to drive Jim Gordon insane and Batman's desperate attempt to stop him.This is my historical text as to being a relationship between a hero and villain, this is to symbolise the way batman doesn't want to kill the joker but he has no choice as to the horrific things the joker has done to people. The reason I compare this to Midnighter as to giving batman and joker this relationship where they are close and have a relationship where batman will not kill. This is the final moment that batman does show his care to the joker and that what hes doing is the greater good for Gotham.



This represents batman first time showing his care to joker that it can be different they can get along if he just doesn't do crimes or kill each other. This is like a relationship that people thought was a man and man loving each other as to showing a connection between. In the comics Batman main villain is the Joker and thats because he wants the Batman attention and he is always trying to get it.There are other texts too where Joker flirts with the Batman as to saying "aww you do think abouit me" that would be from the comic book Under the Red Hood which was a separate comic of this. In 1988 they were trying to show the connection between hero and villain, this would be portrayed as homosexual innuendo as to in this comic it does show batman letting the man who has killed over 500 people live and giving him the chance but the joker says he would never change  therefore making batman do what he has never wanted to do.

This compares to Midnighter as the relationship he has with Apollo as to the relationship now but in the killing joke it is shown different. This would be the way they talk at the end of the comic book saying that they have to do this and that it has to end .The killing joke is the connection which shows them together and gives the representation of man and man having so much respect and love between each other but shown in a different friendship kind of way.This was 1988 so they couldn't show the connection they have. From my research I also learnt that Batman need Joker and that Joker needs Batman. It goes without saying that Batman and The Joker are sworn enemies. The polar opposite nemeses have been at each other’s throats across various media since they first encountered each other in Batman #1 in April of 1940. Their rivalry is destined to continue for many years to come, if not indefinitely.

However, there’s actually a lot more to their relationship than the casual comic book fan might think. It’s the epitome of a love-hate relationship as, not only are they undoubtedly the proverbial thorns in each other’s sides, they actually require each other’s existence in order to function and go about doing what they do. The Joker wouldn’t be The Joker without Batman and Batman wouldn’t be Batman without The Joker. This is a fact that is evident across all Batman media. The Killing joke is a big example of this.

The political side of this would be the reason of relationship between man and man would not be allowed to show how close they are. We are suppose intentions that Batman is the man stereotype of not having emotions to show and that he does the job. In Midnighter it shows the difference of a gay superhero who is like Batman and has a gay lover who is like Superman. The difference between them is that in 1988 they were not allowed to show how Joker and Batman are close and they keep going because Joker does the crime to get Batman attention and Batman fixes the problem catching Joker.