If you ask the average comic fan about the greatest Joker story ever told, they’ll point to a slim, 48-page book from 1988. It’s the one with the purple suit, the camera, and the rain. But if you ask the man who actually wrote it? He’d probably tell you it’s a bit of a mess. Honestly, Alan Moore on The Killing Joke is one of the most awkward relationships in pop culture history. It's like a world-famous chef being remembered solely for a spicy burger he threw together on a lunch break and now thinks was way too salty.
Moore doesn't just "dislike" the book. He’s spent decades essentially disowning it. For a story that redefined the Caped Crusader for a generation, that’s a hard pill for fans to swallow. But why?
Why Alan Moore Thinks The Killing Joke Was a Mistake
Moore’s beef with his own creation isn't about the sales or the fame. It’s about the "weight." He’s frequently argued that he put way too much "melodramatic weight" onto characters that were never meant to carry it. To him, Batman is a guy who dresses up as a bat. The Joker is a colorful anarchist. By trying to inject them with high-concept psychological trauma, Moore feels he might have accidentally broken the "toy" for everyone else.
He once told Inverse that the story was "too nasty" and "too physically violent." He wasn't kidding. The treatment of Barbara Gordon—shot, paralyzed, and photographed to torture her father—remains the book’s most radioactive element. Moore has admitted he asked editorial if he could cripple her, and the response he got was, "Yeah, okay, cripple the bitch." Looking back, he sees that as a low point for the medium’s maturity. He wanted to push boundaries, but he ended up creating a template for "grimdark" comics that he now finds exhausting.
The "One Bad Day" Fallacy
Everyone quotes the "one bad day" line. It’s the Joker’s entire thesis: that anyone, given enough trauma, will snap and become just like him. But Moore’s actual script suggests the Joker is wrong. Jim Gordon survives the ordeal and still demands Batman bring the Joker in "by the book."
Moore’s regret stems from the fact that people took the Joker’s philosophy as the book's philosophy. He wanted to show a moment of lucidity between two lunatics—that famous final laugh—but instead, he accidentally gave birth to the "brooding psychopathic avenger" trope that has dominated cinema since 1989.
The Brian Bolland Factor
We can’t talk about Alan Moore on The Killing Joke without talking about Brian Bolland. This book was actually Bolland's idea. He wanted to draw a story featuring his favorite hero and villain, and he wanted Moore to write it. Bolland’s art is meticulous. It’s cold, sharp, and haunting.
Interestingly, Moore still praises Bolland’s work even while trashing his own script. He thinks the art is "absolutely beautiful," but he feels his writing didn't live up to it. There’s also the famous coloring debacle. The original 1988 release had psychedelic, neon purples and oranges. Bolland hated it. Decades later, he went back and recolored it into the "Deluxe Edition" we see today—muted, gray, and far more somber. Moore, true to form, didn't really care about the change. He’d already moved on to magic and 1,000-page novels.
Facts vs. Fan Theories: Does Batman Kill the Joker?
This is the big one. Grant Morrison famously claimed on a podcast that the title "The Killing Joke" is literal—that Batman reaches out and strangles the Joker while the "light" (the flashlight/sanity) goes out.
Moore has basically debunked this.
In his original script, he describes the ending as a brief moment of "lucidity" where both men realize they are trapped in a "probably fatal relationship." They aren't killing each other; they're sharing a funeral laugh for their own sanity. But the fact that people still argue about it proves that Moore, even when he's "trying" to write a simple licensed story, can't help but be too interesting for his own good.
The Legacy Moore Wants to Escape
It’s weird to think about, but Moore actually prefers the "smiley uncle" era of Batman. He’s gone on record saying the 1950s Dick Sprang era—with the Zebra Batman and Bat-Mite—was actually more "brimming with imagination" than the dark stuff. He thinks modern comics are stuck in a "depressive ghetto of grimness."
If you’re looking for "The Real Moore," don't look at the clown. Look at Watchmen or From Hell. He sees The Killing Joke as a minor work, a "regrettable misstep" that had an outsized influence on a world that forgot how to have fun with superheroes.
How to Approach The Killing Joke Today
If you’re going to read it (or re-read it), don't treat it as the "Gospel of the Joker." Treat it as an experiment that went further than the creator intended.
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- Read the script: If you can find the original script, do it. Moore’s descriptions of the panels are often more evocative than the dialogue itself.
- Compare the colors: Look at the 1988 original and the 2008 recolor. It completely changes the mood of the "One Bad Day" flashbacks.
- Acknowledge the flaws: It’s okay to love the book while admitting the treatment of Barbara Gordon was a lazy plot device. Even Moore agrees with you on that.
The best way to respect Moore’s perspective isn't to stop reading his DC work, but to stop treating it as the only way these characters can exist. Batman can be dark, sure. But according to the man who made him the darkest he’d ever been, he doesn't have to be.
Next Step: You should check out Moore's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" if you want to see him handle a legendary character with a bit more of that "imagination" and heart he felt was missing from his Batman work.