Ninetoes vs Batman Noir The Killing Joke

Darren concludes his revisits to the classic Batman story Killing Joke by cleansing his palette and going black and white…

TITLE: Batman Noir: The Killing Joke

AUTHOR: Alan Moore; Brian Bolland

GENRE: Crime Drama/Batman

PAGES: 112

FORMAT: Ebook

PRICE: $6.99

Hey there book lovers! It’s your old pal, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes Loves Books Headquarters. Today, I have for you my review of Alan Moore’s Batman Noir: The Killing Joke. I have coffee in my system, and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

Some of you will ask if I just reviewed this book; the short answer is yes. I did indeed review it, and I also reviewed the movie for another group. So, why am I doing another review of The Killing Joke? because I discovered a new version of the book.

Here’s the deal with the Batman Noir line of books (the reprints of earlier classics). It is the same exact book, minus the colors. Everything is literally black and white. A few years ago, DC did an experiment with a mini-series “Batman Noir” and every Batman fan went totally banana pants bonkers over this series. I guess the next step in the Batman Noir evolutionary chart is to reprint a lot of his popular stories (The Long Halloween, Hush, The Black Mirror, Gotham By Gaslight, and The Dark Knight Strikes Again.) and see if the fans want it. Oh, we want it, DC, WE WANT IT!

The story is the same exact one as in the colorized version. The Joker wants to prove that a single bad day can break any man and turn them bad. To do so, he shoots Barbara Gordon, Commissioner James Gordon’s daughter, in front of him and kidnaps him to begin his grand experiment. Of course, Batman is in hot pursuit of the Joker, and in the end, they have the traditional knockdown drag-out fight with one exception. Gordon wants the Joker brought in by the book.

What sets this book apart from its colorized counterpart is the lack of color. It adds a depth that you would not think possible. The lack of color adds a texture of grit and grime that you would find in traditional noir movies like THE MALTESE FALCON. It also added a bit more gravity to the story. I took notice of more details I took for granted in the colorized version. One example of this is when The Joker becomes the Joker; being knocked into a vat of chemicals and coming out the drainage pipe into a puddle of sludge and then seeing him in stark black and white, with his hands in his hair, laughing maniacally stood out in my mind. If it was a black-and-white movie, it would have scared the pants off of me. Another aspect the lack of color adds the book to the streets of Gotham City; the overall filth is even more pervasive.

If you are a fan of the original book, you will definitely love this one!

I give this one 5 very enthusiastic bookmarks out of 5!

Happy Reading!

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.