Taking a break from reviewing John Grisham's novels. I decided to review a classic graphic novel that was banned in Nebraska. The book is about one night in Gotham when Batman receives a call from the Arkham Asylum that Joker has escaped. The following events show Joker’s damage to the city. I read this novel last year and did it for my banned book project. I found the book very interesting, but I do see how gruesome it was.
The main reason it was banned was because of the sexual violence displayed when Joker started to undress and do some heinous things to Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Deputy Commissioner Jim Gordon. Realistically from my point of view, the book didn’t even show any violence or nudity in that scene. The panel only showed Joker creepily standing over Barbara with her crying, then it fast-forwarded to her in the hospital where she is mentally and physically scarred from Joker raping her. The only questionable part is after when Joker captures Jim Gordon and makes him remember and watch what Joker did to his daughter. This was pretty cruel when reading, as Jim’s face goes into pure insanity and horror. The book itself is pretty messed up and even the ending is very confusing. As Batman and Joker are both beaten and holding each other’s collars, Joker gives a joke which is very cryptic leaving the two maniacally laughing in the final panel.
The whole book doesn’t feel like a standard Batman or superhero story. For me, it fits in the genre of psychological horror because of the actions Joker does to Barbara and Jim Gordon, which he considers his “revenge” on the Gordon family. Despite the horror of the book, I don’t support the ban on it in public libraries because any comic book fan would want to read this due to the infamy of the Killing Joke. I do propose we keep this book in the teen and adult section as it is not meant for kids. Overall Batman: The Killing Joke is one of my favorite comics of all time despite all the violence. Even casual Batman fans like myself would enjoy this book because of its simple and short storyline mixed with tons of action and twists. So if you are ok with a little gore and enjoy Batman tales, I suggest you give The Killing Joke a try!
With the batman novels many of the evil things that thye depict there villans doing are simply there to show just how insane the villian actualy is. They use it to show the legnth that the villian would go to just to ruin the heroes day. Now with the batman books they do not hold back. So I can see this type of topic being in a batman book. So in this book review I agree with your choice on keeping it in the teen section due to the graphic nature. i do not understand why it wasn't there orginaly.
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ReplyDeleteNice Post! The genre of phycological horror seems pretty interesting, I also think it should not be in the kids' section of the library and I agree with your suggestion of putting it in a teen section.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure this is Darshan's post, because I remember him reading this last year. I feel like any Batman book, no matter how far "off track" it goes doesn't need to be banned. If you think it's too much, just don't read it. I'll check this book out but I don't know where to find it.
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