By now, you probably have seen the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke, or at least have heard of it for some time. Otherwise, I will provide a brief summary of The Killing Joke, it's legacy in the Batman mythology then and now, and my quick thoughts on the animated adaptation.
The Killing Joke is, of course, one of the most famous, or infamous stories of the history of Batman, depending on your point of view of it. Written by Alan Moore, the creator of Watchmen, the one-shot graphic novel provided two significant scenarios in the Batman mythology - the first being a look into the life of The Joker before being the Clown Prince of Crime we know today. And the second on how he cripples Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl, which led to the latter becoming the Oracle.
Although Barbara's involvement in The Killing Joke is very short, she becomes the Oracle in the aftermath, who oversees much of what's going on in Gotham and gathering info for members of the Bat Family, to compensate for her paralysis. It's similar to the role of Felicity Smoak in the Arrow TV series. Barbara would continue playing Oracle until the New 52 era, of which she resumes the role of Batgirl.
The Killing Joke is praised for its psychological analysis of Batman & The Joker and how the two handled their tragedies differently, becoming the very characters we know today. Both the graphic novel, and Moore himself has won accolades since its release. However, it is also heavily scrutinized, in particular by feminists groups, for its brief, yet violent depiction of Barbara by The Joker. The criticism of this is very much loud nowadays that the story itself was virtually erased by the writers of the New 52 Batgirl comic. That may change, however, with the ongoing DC Rebirth Event.
The synopsis of The Killing Joke goes like this - after escaping Arkham Asylum, The Joker wants to prove a point to Batman that anyone can unleash their inner madness with the right trigger scenario. All it takes is, as Joker puts it, "One Bad Day". To accomplish this, he invades the Gordon home and critically shoots Barbara, paralysing her from the waist down. He then kidnaps James and tries to mentally torture him by stripping him naked, placed in unsanitary conditions, and then on a ride showing pictures of a naked, and bloodied Barbara - all to drive the Commissioner to insanity.
Ultimately, James persevered and retained his sense of morals. When Batman finally arrives to rescue him, James blatantly tells Batman that, in spite of everything that's happened, Joker must be apprehended, not killed. After The Joker is defeated once again, Batman tries to reach out to him in hopes that they don't end up killing each other, as the two are kindred spirits somewhat. The story ends with The Joker telling a joke, to which Batman laughs at.
Alan Moore once said that the reason he never liked Watchmen ever getting an adaptation is because the story is best told in comic book format than anything else. The same applies to The Killing Joke. Even though the adaptation is almost 100% directly from the comic, the actual presentation failed to live to the hype. In fact, at some points in the film, it actually got boring.
Bruce Timm said in an interview he's not particularly a fan of The Killing Joke, but rather than put his own spin on it, he presents it like it is. Nonetheless, he did self-censor himself with regards to what happened with Barbara. While some may think Timm should present the Barbara scene in which she was sexually assaulted by The Joker, and not just shooting her and strip her naked, to me in won't make much of a difference because of how small her role is in the film, and that virtually everything else just falls flat.
Speaking of Barbara, prior to the story proper, we are given an original story by Bruce Timm that serves as a prequel and to allow the audience to form an attachment to Barbara before her inevitable tragedy. To me, the prequel was completely unnecessary and is just "filler" material as nothing in the prequel ever transcends to The Killing Joke proper. So I'm with the notion that the implied sex scene between Bruce and Barbara is completely way off.
I mean, it would make sense if Batman got pissed over what happened to Barbara because the two had sex in an earlier story, and that would drive him to really beat the crap out of ThE Joker. But because the two are totally separate stories, it never works.
Historically speaking, Bruce and Barbara were never romantically involved and Bruce always sees Barbara in the same manner as Dick Grayson, the first Robin. The only time in DC's history where it depicts otherwise is in Bruce Timm's animated universe. In the movie "Mystery of The Batwoman", it is heavily implied that Bruce and Barbara had a history together as the latter flirts with the former on the phone and Bruce avoids her advances.
In the comic book version of Batman Beyond, which officially continues where the animated series left off, Barbara reveals in a flashback that she was seven weeks pregnant and she and Dick only got back together for three weeks. This pretty much confirms crystal clear that Bruce is the father. When Dick finds out the truth, he violently attacks Bruce, while Barbara intentionally forced a miscarriage by letting a local thug hit her hard in the stomach. It's, no pun intended, gut wrenching to see this happen and leads to the dissolution of Bruce and Dick, which is portrayed in the Batman Beyond series.
The R-rated part of The Killing Joke is due to the amount of blood and death. The blood understandably from how Barbara was shot, but it's mainly in the prequel where one of the thug's head gets shot on-screen. No F-bombs, no on-screen nudes, no on-screen sex. I mean c'mon. If this movie isn't supposed to be for kids, you might as well throw those in. But because it's Batman and how much of a huge brand it is, it can never be done.
So in closing, the prequel is completely unrelated and totally unnecessary. Whatever Bruce Timm intended to do with that prequel, either to give the audience an attachment to Barbara, or to appeal to feminists, or whatever, it just didn't work and is made worse by making Barbara and Bruce go totally out of their character. And The Killing Joke itself, despite being a virtually direct adaptation, and with much of the Batman: The Animated Series staff producing it, it wasn't as good as I thought it would. You're better off enjoying this story in its original comic format than anything else. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give the animated version of The Killing Joke, a 2 out of 5.
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