Batman: The Killing Joke is typically regarded as one of the best comic book stories ever written. On the surface, it's a great Batman story that fans old and new can both enjoy equally, but when you really start to dig into it, The Killing Joke reveals itself as one of the most layered stories in the medium.
It's about Batman and the Joker, it's about doing what's right versus getting things done, it's about having one really bad day - basically, The Killing Joke is everything a Batman fan could possibly want from a comic book.
Speaking of comic books, The Killing Joke is intrinsically tied to its medium: this is a story that's designed to be read panel by panel, with a very specific format and flow. Alan Moore clearly wrote the story with the page itself in mind, and it's one of the reasons why the original book is still so effective today - but what happens when something that's so clearly designed for pen and paper suddenly jumps onto the screen?
On paper, DC's R-Rated adaptation of The Killing Joke sounded like a dream come true, especially with stars like Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprising their iconic roles - but a lot of what made the story so engaging nearly three decades ago has been lost in the transition between the page and the screen.
