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Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
2016 | Action, Animation, Drama
Visuals on par with the comic (2 more)
True to the source material
Superb voice talent
Using R rating incorrectly (1 more)
Batgirl
Missed opportunity
Contains spoilers, click to show
I remember reading the source graphic novel when it was first released in 1988 thinking "this would make a cool movie". This was even before the 1989 Michael Keaton-Tim Burton film in 1989.

In the modern world of the R rated Logan and Deadpool, it's now possible to push the envelope; however, not sure about an animated film. The character of Batman certainly is very dark and some of his emotional issues and those of the Joker could venture into those realms, but the tone of this film seem wrong.


The character of Batgirl seemed to be a victim rather than the strong character she is normally, and the "sex" scene between them seemed a little unusual. The brutality inflicted upon her at the hands of the Joker also was a bit much.


The highlight of the experience was listening to Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their now infamous Batman and Joker characters once again.


Overall, the film may have been better off to take "inspiration" from the novel rather than trying to reproduce it 100%.
  
This is a short story, that seems to follow the usual Kevin Hearne's strategy of setting a short story between the 'main courses' of his full novels: a taster, if you will, of what those novels are like.

In this particular case, this story is set after the events of [b:Tricked|106843|Tricked|Alex Robinson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347400465s/106843.jpg|102982] but before (I believe, not having read it yet!) of those from [b:Trapped|8428140|Trapped|Michael Northrop|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395769555s/8428140.jpg|13291342], and deals some more with the aftermath of Atticus's trip to Valhalla in [b:Hammered|10443590|Hammered|Mark Ward|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328728608s/10443590.jpg|15348265].

The Two Ravens of the title refers to Odin's birds Hugin and Munin, while the One Crow is the Morrigan, who appears to Atticus six years into training his apprentice Granuaile and insists that he must go on a journey with her.

If I'm honest, I found the previous full-length novel ([b:Tricked|106843|Tricked|Alex Robinson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347400465s/106843.jpg|102982]) to be a bit of a let-down; thankfully he appears to be back on form in this short story.

:-)