Week 13: Batman The Killing Joke Question Response

1: What is your reaction to the text you just read?

I thought this comic was amazing and I really enjoyed reading it. The artwork is something I thought of first, it's so beautiful. Having never heard or read The Killing Joke, but really liking Batman & The Joker I was really interested in the storyline. I feel like all we see with the two is just them fighting and trying to kill each other. But to see each character have their own struggles with identity or how they feel about certain things really humanizes them. It's almost like you push to the side that they're actually a superhero & villain.

2: What connection did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to connect.

Since I really enjoy learning about The Joker and who he is as a character I think I connected with the flashbacks that were in the comic. Not in the fact that I related and connected to what he was going through. But knowing that The Joker is portrayed as this bad guy and then showing how he wasn't all that bad before he was The Joker is something I really connected with. Personally, I tend to put up this strong woman, "I don't care" attitude when I'm around other people. However, I've been through stuff too and it's actually what has made me the person I am today. Whether people don't like the way I am or not I'm only this way because of what I've been through. And that's something I connect to with The Joker in this comic. Sure he may be portrayed as a villain, but that's all you see when he shows in movies or other comice. You never see the struggle he had to go through before and that's why he is who he is now.

3: What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

Personally being a photo major I think it would interesting to make this comic series into an entire photo series. The way I'd originally think of creating the series would have to be using locations and lighting those different locations so you get the same effect as the comic. Using different color gels to manipulate the lighting of the photo would have to be done as well, in order to get different colors like the harsh reds while they're in the mirror maze and blues during the night. I don't think there would be anything that I'd change to create this series of photos, but I would definitely have cut down on some scenes. I feel like that'd be the only one I'd have to make. I think maybe two photos to represent the interrogation part, a couple where you're introduced to The Joker, somewhen he's at the amusement park, etc. Now the flashbacks are obviously really important to this series so that's something you can't leave out. With that I think using the same style that is used in the comic, using just gray and black colors instead of full-blown color would work. However, that would have to be done in post, transforming the photo to Black and White or even just making the color a little dull would work too.