Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 graphic novel “Batman: The Killing Joke” is a legendary entry within the Batman canon that has influenced numerous interpretations of the Darkish Knight. Not solely did it add main components to Batman lore, together with the capturing of Barbara Gordon and what’s now broadly accepted because the Joker’s origin, it influenced much more widespread depictions of the Batman mythos. Director Tim Burton cited “The Killing Joke” as an enormous inspiration for 1989’s “Batman,” even going as far as to say Moore’s graphic novel was the primary comedian ebook he ever actually cherished. Later, Christopher Nolan borrowed main components from the story for “The Darkish Knight,” most notably Joker’s hazy previous and unreliable narration whereby we by no means actually know if the villain is recounting his origin story precisely or not.
That is to say nothing of the way in which by which “The Killing Joke,” alongside seminal works comparable to Frank Miller’s “The Darkish Knight Returns,” helped re-establish Batman because the “bizarre determine of the darkish” that authentic creators Invoice Finger and Bob Kane had meant. Add in the truth that Moore helped introduce the now-popular concept of Batman and Joker being mirror photos of each other, and you have got some of the influential and necessary Batman tales ever written.
With that in thoughts, you possibly can think about that producer Bruce Timm was greater than a bit of hesitant to make an animated adaptation of “The Killing Joke.” In any case, doing such a seminal work justice was all the time going to be troublesome. However Timm had been given quite a lot of inventive management on his tasks ever since he and co-creator Eric Radomski spearheaded the now legendary “Batman: The Animated Collection.” “The Killing Joke” was no completely different in that sense. In reality, Warner Bros. Animation was prepared to let Timm go as darkish as he wanted with a view to make a worthy adaptation of Moore’s story. The ensuing movie represented the primary ever R-rated Batman film and the primary ever R-rated Warner Bros. Animation movie. Lamentably, it additionally proved controversial and did not fare too effectively with critics.
The Killing Joke ought to have been an enormous success
“Batman: The Killing Joke” regarded good on paper. Not solely was Bruce Timm producing, however Kevin Conroy, the definitive voice of Batman, was onboard to as soon as once more voice the Darkish Knight, having established himself as the best to ever do it with “Batman: The Animated Collection.” What’s extra, Mark Hamill, who turned what was initially purported to be a fast “BTAS” cameo right into a profession taking part in the Joker, had additionally signed on. Alongside Tara Robust as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and Ray Smart as Commissioner Gordon, the solid could not have been higher (although Conroy did recall the recording periods being absolute insanity).
In the meantime, Warners was clearly prepared to present Timm and his group the inventive freedom they wanted. As Leisure Weekly reported on the time, “The Killing Joke” acquired its R ranking and the studio supported the film being as mature because it wanted to be with a view to do justice to the unique story. Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation & Warner Digital Collection, was quoted in a press release on the time saying, “From the beginning of manufacturing, we inspired producer Bruce Timm and our group at Warner Bros. Animation to stay trustworthy to the unique story — whatever the eventual MPAA ranking.” Evidently, the studio was keen to supply an animated movie that “authentically represented” Alan Moore’s authentic story. Whereas the maturity of the graphic novel definitely wasn’t missing from the completed movie, whether or not Timm and his group managed to “authentically symbolize” that authentic story stays up for debate, as “The Killing Joke” proved controversial upon its debut — and never due to its grownup sensibilities.
Launched in 2016, “Batman: The Killing Joke” wasn’t simply the primary R-rated Batman film (except you rely the prolonged home-video model of “Batman v Superman: Daybreak of Justice”), it was the primary DC animated film to obtain such a ranking — which is stunning contemplating it was the twenty seventh DC Universe Animated Authentic Film. In that sense, it started a brand new period for DC Animated movies, with 14 extra R-rated tasks following in its footsteps (12 should you do not embody the “Watchmen” animated films). After all, we might additionally see a number of live-action R-rated DC films arrive in subsequent years, from James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” to “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” and “Joker.” However “The Killing Joke” was the primary. Sadly, that is about all it might declare by way of breaking new floor.
Darker does not all the time imply higher in the case of Batman
Directed by Sam Liu and written by Brian Azzarello, “Batman: The Killing Joke” premiered at San Diego Comedian-Con in 2016 earlier than a short theatrical run that noticed it herald $4.3 million on the field workplace. That did make it the one animated Batman movie to get a theatrical launch since “Batman: Masks of the Illusion” (a movie that incorporates Kevin Conroy’s biggest Batman second). However based on critics, it maybe wasn’t fairly worthy of such an honor.
At situation had been the adjustments made to the unique storyline, which, as Bruce Timm identified previous to the movie’s launch, merely wasn’t lengthy sufficient to adapt right into a characteristic size movie. As such, he and the writers launched new components, together with a relationship between Batman and Barbara Gordon that proved divisive to say the least. As Ben Travers of IndieWire wrote in his overview,
“Filling out [Barbara’s] function may have created a direct attachment between Barbara and Batman, however as an alternative of humanizing her, it turns Barbara/Batgirl into a comic book ebook cliche: The feminine character that feigns complexity, however, when given an expanded function, is just seen by a sexual lens.”
Different critics felt the prolonged first half was too disconnected from the remainder of the movie, and a few even criticized the animation for failing to stay as much as Brian Bolland’s celebrated artwork model from the unique graphic novel, all of which resulted in a 35% Rotten Tomatoes rating based mostly on 36 opinions. Not precisely what you’d hope for given this was the primary time the Batman animators had been afforded the liberty to go as darkish as wanted. That looks like one thing that might have been uniquely precious to a Batman film. Alas, “The Killing Joke” proved that darker does not essentially all the time imply higher in the case of the Darkish Knight.
