Smile!

There are villains of whom most of the people has heard at some point. Either it is Darth Vader or Hannibal Lecter. But there is this one guy whose face (and this smile!) you will never forget once you see it. I present to you....

The Joker. Or as he is sometimes referred to - Mr J. The most recognizable enemy of the Batman and probably one of the most iconic figures in American pop culture. Joker appears in many comic books about Batman, but there is one specific one, which really gives the idea what kind of a mad man he is.

Batman: The Killing Joke was released in 1988 by DC Comics and it is a one-shot graphic novel with the main characters of Batman and the Joker. Written by Alan Moore and ilustrated by Brian Bolland it became an absolute masterpiece and a real artwork among comic books. The Killing Joke gives the reader the thing that all the comic book fans love - origin story. This time it concerns the Joker. It takes place over two timelines: Joker trying to drive Jim Gordon insane and Batman attempting to stop the clown. Not a lot of people realize it until they read this comic book, but the Joker is ironically enough, a tragic character. He is just a very unlucky comedian and what is more. a simple family man. As usual I don't want to spoil any of the fun which you'll deinitely experience reading this comic, but let me just underline that the Joker is far more of a complex personality than it looks. Many critics consider this graphic novel to be one of the best Batman stories ever published. It has won many awards and even got the movie adaptation from 2016, which to be honest was not nearly as good as a comic book. The Joker presented in the novel really gave the shape of other Jokers created in the following comics, games and of course in movies. Christopher Nolan actually claims that The Killing Joke is his favourite comic book and he transfered a lot from it to his Batman's Trilogy.

Just like The Long Halloween, The Killing Joke is an absolute must have in any fan's collection and it is simply a great thing to read. Find out more about the Joker and you won't regret.
Task for you: Try to discover Joker's true identity and to analyze what happened to his sanity.
See you in the next post!