A podcast by Dr. Andrea Letamendi & Brian Ward, dedicated to the psychological analysis of Batman: The Animated Series.
"The Killing Joke"
The Arkham Sessions (the-arkham-sessions-episode-88-the-killing-joke)
THE ARKHAM SESSIONS, by Dr. Andrea Letamendi and Brian Ward, is a weekly podcast dedicated to the observation and clinical analysis of the characters in BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.

This one's a doozy and one we've all been waiting for. Love it or hate it, The Killing Joke is one of the most influential and consequential books ever written about Batman and his arch-nemesis, The Joker. The animated adaptation is equally controversial, for some of the same reasons, as well as some different reasons altogether; including a passionate relationship between Batman and his protege, Batgirl. Dr. Andrea Letamendi discusses this story, its characters and what we can learn about having "one bad day" in this very special episode!




I think I enjoyed this episode more than the actual film, haha. Great work as always.
Don’t really have too much else to add, but I will say this: At the end, Batman offered his help to the Joker and it would seem as though he is actually considering the offer, before ultimately suggesting that it is 'too late' for him. Do you guys and gals think that it is truly ‘too late’ for the Joker to reform at this point? How would you even begin to rehabilitate someone with so little regard for human life as he has?
i love Brian Azzarello's contribution. The first 31 minutes and the Oracle Stinger (gotta be)
I'm overthinking this, but in the joke at the end, the gap between buildings is the abyss/Batman's line-you-do-not-cross/sanity, the light is the "help" that Batman and the Joker are offering each other; Batman's attempt to make peace between them, Joker's... whatever he actually wants from Bats, understanding, or for him to become like the Joker, or even just to become a killer. Each would view themselves as the one insisting the other will turn it off in the middle, while also being self aware enough to realize that's an insane idea, that the light being turned off isn't the danger here, it's that there is no crossing that line for either of them, no Joker becoming "sane" or Batman becoming a killer. If they try to cross, they fall. They're also smart enough to realize that the other thinks of themselves as the one refusing the help. (Or it could work just as well if they both imagine themselves as offering the light to the other and being refused.)
I don't think I've ever heard this mentioned, but it might just be obvious or tinfoil hat stuff.
okeeday
I bought Killing Joke fresh off the rack when it came out. I never questioned "why" Babs became Oracle or why that assault stuck "In Continuity" until someone mentioned on the Internet, "didja get the joke?". That it was "Elseworlds". Gotham By Gaslight came out right around this too. Prestige Format one-shots.
That Batman kills the Joker. S'why we end with only Batman's laughter.
Joker laughs. Batman doesn't (I think he'd be amused, snicker, chuckle). That's a switching of values. And in a Story I believe in Opposites create "Push/Pull". Drama. So I believe in the Killing Joke and I'm really "wow"ed it took me so long to "get it". Cheers!
wow. I had a tough childhood. Now I'm wondering how many Aces are in My Deck? Cheers! Once again...in my best Spock Vox, "Fascinating..." (re: 1hr09m mark).
Ask the Author: Alan Moore.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/3961.Alan_Moore/questions
Q: For YEARS we have been left to wonder, due to the wonderful ambiguity of the sound effects, shadowplay, and action happening off-scene in The Killing Joke. what the ending really means and if Batman actually kills the Joker. Now they are making a movie. If you are directly involved, will you finally answer the question?
Alan Moore: As with all of the work which I do not own, I’m afraid that I have no interest in either the original book, or in the apparently forthcoming cartoon version which I heard about a week or two ago. I have asked for my name to be removed from it, and for any monies accruing from it to be sent to the artist, which is my standard position with all of this...material. Actually, with The Killing Joke, I have never really liked it much as a work – although I of course remember Brian Bolland’s art as being absolutely beautiful – simply because I thought it was far too violent and sexualised a treatment for a simplistic comic book character like Batman and a regrettable misstep on my part. So, Pradeep, I have no interest in Batman, and thus any influence I may have had upon current portrayals of the character is pretty much lost on me. And David, for the record, my intention at the end of that book was to have the two characters simply experiencing a brief moment of lucidity in their ongoing very weird and probably fatal relationship with each other, reaching a moment where they both perceive the hell that they are in, and can only laugh at their preposterous situation. A similar chuckle is shared by the doomed couple at the end of the remarkable Jim Thompson’s original novel, The Getaway.
I always thought Batman killed Joker at the end. It was always such a trippy story anyway that it made sense and considering they were putting out so many on-shots at the time that they didn't really care what stories were being told because they were intended to be self contained.
Need to get caught up on the podcasts guys. I just know this killing joke one is good!