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Batman: The Killing Joke
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Plot Summary of Batman: The Killing Joke
"Batman is a vigilante in Gotham City. He realizes that his battles with the Joker will eventually lead to their deaths, and wants to prevent that. He goes to visit the Joker at Arkham Asylum to talk to him about it, but discovers that the Joker has escaped.

Meanwhile, the Joker is out to prove that any normal person can turn insane from having one really bad day. He tests his theory on Police Commissioner Gordon by kidnapping him, stripping him, and torturing him by subjecting him to photographs of his daughter Barbara naked and suffering from a debilitating bullet wound. This book has flashbacks to Joker's memory of his past and how he turned from being a struggling comedian with a pregnant wife to a psychopathic killer.

Batman discovers that Barbara has been shot and Gordon has been kidnapped and follows clues to try to find Joker's location and rescue Gordon."

Sarah Bastin, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Batman: The Killing Joke
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - depressing/sad
Time/era of story: - 1960's-1970's
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - escape/rescue from kidnappers
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here? - finding a known killer

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - champion of justice
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental: Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric - obsessed
How much violence does he/she use? - a significant amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Genius (really!)
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - killer
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed - wild - eccentric - mentally ill - emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist - insanity
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
City? Yes
City: - Dirty, dangerous (like New York)
Misc setting - prison

Style
Person - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
How many deaths? - 3-4
Unusual forms of death - poisoning
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - mostly dialog
Most similar books to Batman: The Killing Joke
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Alan Moore Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Sarah Bastin  

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