Is The Killing Joke overrated?

A little over rated.

Mhhm. It's good, but not the Holy Grail that it is sometimes made out to be.

I didn't like it as much as people made me think I would.

No. It's a triumph of comic story telling and it is, IMO, the true definition of beauty. It's a masterpiece; and should be lauded as such. As far as the ending I think it's meant to be implied that he killed the joker.

And this is the sort of thing many people hear before picking it up. So it's easy for expectations to fall short of this.

@greatcaesarsghost:

I heard the same type of praise and I was still blown away. To each his own I guess. I just view it as brilliance.

Exactly, not taking anything away from your opinion by any means. :P Like I said, it was good, but anywhere near Moore's best work with DC, nor anywhere near my favourite Batman story.

@greatcaesarsghost:

Fair enough. What is your favorite? My favorite Batman story is Year One.

No. Probably one of the best Batman/Joker stories if not THE best. Alan Moore also write some of the best dialogue for the Joker.

I can't really say as I've only read a bit of it. What I read was really wonderful though. So no for me.

It's not "Frozen" levels of overrated, though my friends definitely overhyped me slightly. Still a satisfying and powerful story, though...

should have NEVER been canon.

Not at all. Also the ending? Batman kills the Joker. Look up Grant Morrison's interpretation, makes perfect sense to me.

No.

It was really badass when it came out an it holds up.

Let's just say every Batman book ever is overrated.

No

No, it's without a doubt on the greatest and most iconic Batman stories of all time

Yes. After hearing so much good things about it, I checked it out at the library expecting the greatest Batman story ever told. It was pretty average and I didn't really care for it once I finished it.

No, I'd say it's appropriately rated.

Everything is overrated, and nothing deserves its praise.

Couldn't pick one to be honest. Long Halloween sticks out because I love the artwork, and story. A Death in The Family was well written, and I remember caring a lot when Jason died, this was back before they brought him back that I read it originally.

It's not Moore's best work but it's pretty great.

Nothing Batman has ever down was as good as The Killing Joke. Alan Moore simply did not have enough pages.

Outside of a couple of comments above, I've never had the Killing Joke hyped up that much. People have told me it is good, no one has ever told me it's incredible, the quintessential Batman story, the greatest comic ever, a defining piece of 20th century literature, or the reason humankind juxtaposed images with words. It's a good comic that people say is good.

No, it's aptly rated, I like how the Joker is portrayed, I like his "backstory" I like how it changed Barbara Gordon's life forever before the New 52 unchanged her life forever, and I love seeing Batman laugh.

Huh?

It's a little overrated. Great story, but I expected more with the praise I heard from it.

the ending.....can't really explain it. I like it though, but it's just confusing. I mean it would've been better if THAT was the Joker's official death, but it wasn't.

I think that yes some people do over rate it but its not over rated in general. Dark Knight Returns on the other hand is massively over rated, its a fairly good Batman story but people act like its god's gift to modern literature despite the crappy dialogue, paint by numbers story and Frank Miller generally not having any god damned idea how to write Superman properly. You want Supes to be the bad guy, that's fine but at least give him better dialogue or y'know some basic motivation for him defying everything he's stood for throughout his entire history.

It was great but not "The-definite-Batman-story" that some people present it to be. Even Alan Moore has stated that it was his less imaginative and original work. That's because there wasn't some new ground to be explored or smthing like that. It was just a story of two people and their relationship. Still Moore's least original work is ten times better than 90% of the things that come out these days.

Yeah, it's okay. Nowhere near Moore's or Bolland's best work.

BB

No, just because the artwork and design is that extraordinary. Moore's written better but so what. It is the definitive Joker story the same way year one is the definitive batman origin. It so changes the way you think it's like when someone says pink elephants. I can't not think pink elephants. I can't not think of the Killing joke when I talk about Joker.

I read it how it was meant to be read.

It was okay.

Well it might not be quite as good as Watchmen nor The Dark Kinight Returns (Yea I know Frank Miller was the one who wrote this comic but still) but it's still better than most comic books out there.

@billy_batson: what is bollands best work?

BATMAN IS OVERRATED! That's right i said it.

Maybe a little. Still one of the best Joker stories out there, IMO.

I think its a great example of the comic medium: the story, the characters and art work. It also makes no compromises which is always interesting. And the ending is fantastic but I admit it took me a few days to get it.

I LOVE THE KILLING JOKE! HAHAHA!

I liked it, but it definitely didn't live up to all the hype critical praise I had heard before. Not sure I entirely understand the ending either.

@legacy6364: Lel, you keep telling yerself dat, skrub.

A little. Very little actually happens in it and Batman really does very little if it comes down to it.
Joker escaped(thats new)
Babara gets shot(neither was she Batgirl at the time, nor was her future story planned at this point)
Gordon gets kidnapped
Batman saves Gordon
Batman gets Joker
Of course there is more to the story than the individual parts on this list make it seem, but yeah it might get a little overrated.

I know this is an old thread, but yes its extremely overrated. Its probably the worst joker story I've ever read. It leaves me wondering if Moore had ever even read a Batman comic before writing The Killing Joke.

@greatcaesarsghost: I have NEVER heard or read anyone say it's the 'holy grail' of anything. But it is a very definite Joker origin story and Brian Bolland's art is pretty much 'greatness' as far as comic book art. Especially at the time it came out.

It's the best Joker story out there, and the Brian Bolland art is incredible. Though it is true Moore has done plenty better work.

Its a good read for a western comic. Nothing spectacular but i never heard people claiming it is. So no, its not overrated.

Not nearly as overrated as The Dark Knight Returns.

I'd have to agree with Alan Moore himself and say that it isn't that amazing. It is a decent Batman story, but it isn't transformative like Watchmen or Year One.

The biggest thing that came out of it was Babs becoming Oracle and that wasn't even though of at the time. As I understand it, Babs wasn't really being used at the time and they were probably just planning on throwing away the character. It's pretty clear by the 'Cripple the bitch' story that no one at DC cared about the character at the time.