Comics in the Curriculum

Heroes and Antiheroes > Batman and the Joker

Batman: the killing joke. Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, 1988.

Butler PN6728.B36 M66 2008

The Joker had no formal origin story when he was created by Jerry Robinson, a former Columbia University undergraduate; the first such attempt would not come until 1951.  In the 1980s, Hollywood gave the Joker an origin that linked him directly to Batman’s own origin, in the murder of young Bruce Wayne’s parents.  As depicted earlier by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland in their 1988 graphic novel, however, their paths still appear inextricable.

 

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