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- 797 VOTES. Batman: The Killing Joke. Story Found In: Batman: The Killing Joke. "Batman: The Killing Joke" is one of the most controversial Batman stories ever told, and it's all thanks to the visionary Alan Moore's use of the Joker.
- 373 VOTES. Batman: The Man Who Laughs. Story Found In: Batman: The Man Who Laughs. "Batman: The Man Who Laughs" is a one-shot comic written by Ed Brubaker with pencils by Doug Mahnke.
- 490 VOTES. Death Of The Family. Story Found In: Batman #13-17. A year after the Joker was brutally wounded when someone carved the skin from his face, he has returned, but the Dark Knight isn't his target now that he's back!
- 420 VOTES. A Death In The Family. Story Found In: Batman #426-429. "Batman: A Death in the Family" is another pivotal book in the Dark Knight's library as it details the death of none other than Jason Todd, otherwise known as the Boy Wonder, Robin!
Nov 4, 2008 · “Joker” is an incredible book, maybe the best one about Joker ever written – yes I’m including “Killing Joke”. Azzarello captures Joker’s voice and character perfectly, making all the right artistic choices with the other characters.
- (35K)
- Paperback
- Quench your thirst more more dark and brooding Joker tales.
- Batman: The Killing Joke
- The Dark Knight Returns
- Joker
- Batman: Going Sane
- Batman #23.1: The Joker
- Joker: The Bronze Age Omnibus
- Batman: Death of the Family
By Jesse Schedeen
Updated: Oct 5, 2019 2:45 pm
Posted: Oct 5, 2019 2:00 pm
It's safe to say the new Joker movie is unlike any other live-action DC film before it. Joker provides an in-depth look at the origin of Batman's most iconic foe, one that eschews the DCU's larger-than-life trappings in favor of a gritty, bleak origin story inspired by films like Taxi Driver.
Director Todd Phillips has made it clear by now that we aren't going to see a sequel or spinoff to Joker. So if you crave more grim and gritty Joker stories, you'll need to turn to DC's comics instead. Check out the slideshow below or scroll down to learn about the seven best Joker-centric comics to read after seeing the movie.
Caution: this article is mostly spoiler-free for the Joker movie, but it does reveal certain comic stories that inspired the movie.
The end credits for Joker list artist Brian Bolland as inspiration. That's hardly a surprise, as Bolland illustrated Batman: The Killing Joke, one of the most famous Joker stories ever published. The Killing Joke is also the most significant example of a comic attempting to explore the Joker's murky origin story.
The Killing Joke chronicles a formative showdown between the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime, one that infamously resulted in Barbara Gordon being shot and paralyzed. But even as the two eternal enemies battle it out in the present, a series of flashbacks show who Joker was before his descent into madness. We see a struggling comedian and family man driven insane by the worst day imaginable, which isn't so different from how the movie handles Arthur Fleck's character arc.
The Dark Knight Returns may well be the most popular Batman graphic novel in existence. It's certainly had a heavy influence on recent Batman movies like The Dark Knight Rises and Batman v Superman. And that influence carries over into the Joker movie, which features a scene directly inspired by the comic.
Written and drawn by Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns features an aging Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement and waging war on the criminals of a decaying Gotham City. And naturally, wherever Batman arises, Joke is never far behind. TDKR's bleak tone and visuals inspired countless Batman comics that followed, and it spawned several sequels (including the upcoming Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child). There's one Joker moment in particular from the new movie that is pulled directly from this classic comic.
Conveniently debuting alongside 2008's The Dark Knight, Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's graphic novel Joker presents what is quite possibly the bleakest take on Joker and Gotham City ever -- and that's saying something. In this story, Joker is released from Arkham and ventures back into Gotham's criminal underworld to rebuild his empire. Largely presented through the eyes of Joker's new chauffeur and confidant, Johnny Frost, this graphic novel downplays the superhero trappings of Gotham City in favor of painting Joker and his peers as gaudily dressed, emotionally unstable gangsters.
Tonally, you'll find no better companion to Joker the movie than Joker the graphic novel. It's also worth checking out Batman: Damned, a pseudo-sequel that's equally grim but more supernatural in nature. Damned, you may recall, was responsible for that infamous Bat-penis controversy in 2018.
Long-time DC creator J.M. DeMatteis is also credited as an inspiration during the end credits for Joker. While DeMatteis has explored Batman's world in a number of stories, we're assuming his work on Batman: Going Sane most directly influenced the movie.
Originally published in the monthly series Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Going Sane explores what happens after Joker seemingly kills Batman. With no arch-nemesis left to inspire his criminal rampages, Joker unhappily retires and takes up a new civilian identity as Joe Kerr. Obviously, that retirement is short-lived, but Going Sane offers a unique look at Joker's mindset and his co-dependent relationship with Batman.
This standalone Batman comic from writer Adam Kubert and artist Andy Clarke offers another possible version of Joker's origin story. Here, Joker reminisces about his childhood and growing up under the tyrannical reign of his abusive Aunt Eunice. Hellbent on ridding her nephew of his attachment to a monkey puppet called Gaggy, Eunice went so far as to scrub his skin with bleach. In the present, Joker forms a fleeting attachment to a gorilla he names Jackanapes.
In terms of plot, there's not much crossover between this story and the Joker movie, although there are some elements that may have informed Arthur Fleck's life experiences as revealed in the film.
Joker is a difficult character to cast as a protagonist, hence why even books like Azzarello and Bermejo's Joker end to rely on an everyman character like Johnny Frost as a narrator and buffer. With that in mind, DC's short-lived 1975 series The Joker serves as an intriguing case study. It didn't last long, but every issue shows the Clown Prince of Crime causing mayhem and rubbing elbows with another DC hero or villain. Because of the restrictions imposed by the Comics Code Authority, the series focused more on the comedic side of Joker's antics than his homicidal side. Series writer Irv Novick was listed in the credits as inspiration for the movie.
The recently released Joker: The Bronze Age Omnibus is the best way to read this series, especially because it's the first book to include the previously unpublished Joker #10.
Few DC creators have done as much to define the direction of Joker in the modern-day DCU as Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. That process really began with "Death of the Family," a Batman crossover that showcases the iconic villain as his most inhuman and terrifying. One of the very first Batman stories in the New 52 featured Joker cutting off his own face and nailing it to the wall of GCPD headquarters. Death of the Family uses that plot point as a starting point, with Joker resurfacing, reclaiming his face and waging war on both the police and the Batman family.
Death of the Family is about as dark and violent as Batman stories get in the mainstream DC Universe. It also introduces a novel wrinkle to the traditional Batman/Joker dynamic. Joker is motivated not by a desire to destroy the dark Knight, but to prove to him that he's a better hero when he isn't being held back by his partners. The reason we're recommending this one has less to do with its similarities to the movie and more with how it tells an enthralling Joker story that shows him at his most maniacal and dangerous.
Click here to buy Joker: Death of the Family.
For more on the Joker movie, find out why Joker isn't connected to any of the other DC movies and won't cross over with Robert Pattinson's Batman.
Joker is receiving critical acclaim, winning the top prize at the Venice Film Festival and will be in the running for an Oscar according to the film festival's director. The movie is also tracking to break Venom's October box office record.
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
- The Killing Joke. The Killing Joke is often considered one of the best Batman comic book stories ever, and it's certainly one of the most influential. With a tantalizing possible origin story presented by legendary comic book writer Alan Moore, it's been adapted into animation and informed modern live-action portrayals of the character.
- A Death In The Family. Another seminal but very dark Joker story is "A Death In The Family." One of the most consequential Batman stories ever, Joker inflicts what is arguably his greatest injury on Batman by killing the second Robin, Jason Todd.
- Emperor Joker. The Joker was truly without limits in one of his best comic books ever, Emperor Joker. In this story, the Joker acquires the multidimensional power of Mr. Mxyzptlk, becoming one of the best versions of the Joker in DC Comics.
- The Beginning. The Joker is one of Batman's best villains in the comics, and in all of comics, and he was right from the beginning. One of his best stories remains Batman #1, which establishes his iconic look and character right from the very start of the Golden Age of Comics.
Oct 4, 2019 · Phoenix’s Joker is a heavier, more brooding and introspective figure than that of Heath Ledger in Nolan’s The Dark Knight. He doesn’t have Ledger’s quicksilver energy. He moves more slowly.
- 2 min
- Geoffrey Macnab
Oct 3, 2019 · “Joker” is a supervillain origin story, involving a character whose big-screen résumé already includes three Oscar winners (two for other roles, but still). It’s not hard to see the appeal.
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Oct 9, 2019 · The Joker is the most recognizable villain in all of comics, and as such, there are as many takes on him as there are creators who have worked on a Batman comic. Fortunately for us, for every...
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