Batman: The Killing Joke -- crap

[Bullgrit]

I just read Batman: The Killing Joke for the first time. I've always heard of this story spoken/written of as a great story in the Batman canon. But I was left completely, "WTF?"

For my full review, read it on my blog: Batman Comic – The Killing Joke Total Bullgrit

But this gets me to thinking:

Have you read a comic book or graphic novel that was supposed to be some great landmark story, but you found it very weak? Or dumb, or insipid, or anything other than great. I was really surprised by B:TKJ, by how bad it was. But apparently I'm singular or of only a very small minority in this thought.

What are the worst "great" comics stories?

Bullgrit

 

[Spatula]

I think that, when it came out, the Killing Joke stood apart for its brutality and the psychological aspects, which these days are both old hat in the superhero world. So in that sense it's somewhat unremarkable by today's standards. Like if you go back and look at controversial comedians, musicians, artists, etc. from the past and wonder, what was all the hoopla about?

Worst "Great" Comics.... Hmm...

I found Mark Waid & Alex Ross' Kingdom Come to be shallow and boring, despite the great art.

 

[Janx]

I wasn't as impressed with the Dark Knight. I won a copy of Absolute Dark Knight a few years back.

It was alright. The sequel was worse.

I am not a reader of DC comics, mind you.

 

[Redbadge]

I thought the same thing about Watchmen when my brother-in-law got me to read it a few months before the movie came out. I thought it was obvious, trite, and predictable, things it was supposedly famous for not being. Quite honestly, I was bored. The movie was worse.

 

[Ghostwind]

The thing that separates Killing Joke from the rest of the pack is the fact that it was the first book to really take a look at the psychology of the Joker. You see his origin and how he was really a small time hood who wanted out of the mob until getting dropped in a vat of chemicals turns him insane. You get a little understanding as to what makes him tick. Until Killing Joke, no one had really tried to flesh him out but rather, portray him as a cookie cutter villain.

 

[Welverin]

What are the worst "great" comics stories?

Watchmen, I think it's because what made it stand out at the time has become the norm in the intervening decades so it didn't seem as revolutionary as it would have to people who read it when it was new.

 

[Kzach]

I don't read comics but for many TV shows or movies, this happens to me as well.

Taxi Driver is the one that comes to mind right now. Every movie-buff I ever talk to raves about it. I consider myself a pretty damn big movie-buff. I've studied film and script-writing and editing and one day dream of making my own movies. I've been a movie-buff since I was a kid and spent all my spare stolen money on renting Beta (yes, we were a Beta family... this probably explains a lot to many people) cassettes. I'm such a movie-buff that I even (stupidly) invested all my money and a bank loan into buying a DVD rental store and ran it for a year and a half before losing everything.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that when it comes to evaluating or critiquing movies, I'm no chump. And so I eventually got around to watching Taxi Driver and thought, "Are you kidding me? This is crap."

 

[Krug]

I thought it wasn't one of Alan Moore's best works, but the art work lifted it up a notch. I still prefer his American Gothic series for Saga of the Swamp Thing, and think those comics are even better than Watchmen.

 

[Starman]

The Joker stuff is definitely stronger than the Batman parts of The Killing Joke, but I still really like it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Book: Game of Thrones - crap