The best thing about Dark Knight Returns

The best part about The Dark Knight Returns so far is that it constantly addresses the issue of 'is Batman a vigilante or a hero?' and the morality of what he's doing. There are entire pages dedicated to newscasters and correspondents discussing the morality of what Batman is doing. Honestly I'm surprised more superhero cannon doesn't do this. Sure cops chase after Spiderman and he's huge in the press but they don't go that far in depth. Metropilous just gracefully accepts a dude flying around trying to save the earth. But that's because his girlfriend is a reporter. Then again so is Batman's, and the ninja turtles. Princesses and reporters can never stay out of trouble that's why I'm pro news-less democracy. For the safety of the people. But anyway what looked like it should have been a problem for the Batman universe was manipulated by the writers into interesting subject matter.

The Killing Joke Review

So a few weeks ago I read the graphic novel The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, the author behind small works such as V for Vendetta and Watchmen, which is basically the closest thing we have to a Joker origin story. I loved the graphic novel for two primary reasons. 1) the Joker is one of my favorite characters of all time to the point where I can name all the actors who played him: Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill (that's right, Luke Skywalker was the Joker!) and the most recent and best from the bunch Heath Ledger. But I digress. If the movie The Dark Knight took from anything its this and The Long Halloween (which is also awesome). The Killing Joke is praised as the best Joker story of all time and for very good reason. In the Adam West TV show and the early comics (from my understanding) wasn't a violent character but as you can probably tell he has changed over the years. This novel is very dark and the Joker spends the majority of the novel trying to make Commissioner Gordon go insane like he did. And it shows this really interesting motivation for the Joker beyond 'just cause' that I can't talk about without entering spoiler territory. 2) The other reason I really like this book is because of the dark tone. The first Batman movie I've ever seen is Batman Forever and it was very childish but I will always have a special place in my heart for Jim Carey as the Riddler. But the first Batman comic I've ever read had the first panel being a guy shoved into an iron maiden and that triggered the, "holy shoot Batman isn't for kids" and this comic does the same thing. My only problem with it is it is too short. Like every Joker story is too short but this is only 46 pages long. But besides that, its a dark  psychopathic story involving one of my favorite characters and I suggest you check it out