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<facepalm>

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Even better - respond seriously, but make sure it shows up in the questions below. And include as much of the plot summary as possible, just to ensure you address any of his potential questions.

 

Plot summary

The plot revolves around a largely psychological battle between Batman and his longtime foe the Joker, who has escaped from Arkham Asylum. The Joker intends to drive Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon insane to prove that the most upstanding citizen can go mad after having "one bad day". Along the way, the Joker has flashbacks to his early life, gradually explaining his possible origin.

 

The Joker, before his accident, with his pregnant wife; by Brian Bolland.The man who will become the Joker, an unnamed engineer, quits his job at a chemical company to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, Jeannie, he agrees to guide two criminals through the plant so that they can rob the card company next door. During the planning, the police inform him that his wife has died in a household accident involving an electric baby-bottle heater. Grief-stricken, the engineer tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his commitment to them.

 

At the plant, the criminals make him don a special mask to become the infamous Red Hood. Unknown to the engineer, the criminals plan to use this disguise to implicate any accomplice as the mastermind and to divert attention from themselves. Once inside, they almost immediately blunder into security personnel, and a violent shootout and chase ensue. The criminals are gunned down and the engineer finds himself confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance.

 

The Joker, after emerging from the canal of chemical-waste.Panicked, the engineer deliberately jumps into the chemical plant's waste pound lock to escape Batman and is swept through a pipe leading to the outside. Once outside, he discovers, to his horror, that the chemicals have permanently bleached his skin chalk white, stained his lips ruby red and dyed his hair bright green. This revelation, compounding the man's misfortunes of that one day, drives him completely insane and marks the birth of the Joker.

 

In the present day, the Joker kidnaps Gordon, shoots and paralyzes his daughter Barbara (a.k.a. Batgirl), and imprisons him in a run-down amusement park. His henchmen then strip Gordon naked and cage him in the park's freak show. He chains Gordon to one of the park's rides and cruelly forces him to view giant pictures of his wounded daughter in various states of undress. Once Gordon has run the maddening gauntlet, the Joker ridicules him as an example of "the average man", a naïve weakling doomed to insanity.

 

Batman arrives to save Gordon, and the Joker retreats into the funhouse. Gordon's sanity remains intact despite the ordeal, and he insists that Batman capture the Joker "by the book" in order to "show him that our way works." Batman enters the funhouse and faces the Joker's traps while the Joker desperately tries to persuade his old foe that the world is inherently insane and thus not worth fighting for. Batman responds to the Joker's arguments by pointing out that Gordon has survived everything the Joker had to throw at him, suggesting that it was the Joker himself who was flawed rather than him being an example of what every man would do in his situation. He tracks down the Joker and subdues him. Batman then attempts to reach out to him to give up crime and put a stop to their years-long war; otherwise, the two will be eternally locked on a course that will one day result in a fight to the death between them.

 

The Joker declines, however, ruefully saying "It's too late for that...far too late." He then tells Batman a joke that was started earlier in the comic, to express his desires and fears in the form of a story about two criminals. When the joke is finished, Batman's stoic exterior breaks down as he approaches the Joker and the two laugh together. Their shadows converge as the police sirens approach.

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eBay listing

 

Details about item: paullogan90 sent a message about Batman: The Killing Joke 1 High Grade First Printing #400193540023:

 

Hi. Is this copy from the original first print in 1988?

 

What are you holding back for?

 

Post the question to the listing, answering as politely as possible.

 

Something like "yes, as noted in the listing and title, this is the original first printing. Thank you for your interest!"

 

Not that it'll do any good, but at least someone might get a laugh out of it.

 

lol

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This reminds me of a restaurant a friend and I went to many years ago - at the end of the night the waitress was taking our dessert orders and my friend simply asked for "strawberry ice-cream" to which she asked "what flavour" - so he answered "vanilla" and that's what she brought out.

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Details about item:

 

codeares sent a message about Batman: The Killing Joke 1 High Grade First Printing #400193540023

 

Hello

Is this the 1st print?

 

:whistle:

 

Dear codeares,

 

Yes, as stated in the seventh and eighth word of the listing title, and the ninth and tenth word of the description, this is, indeed, the "First Printing".

 

- flying-donut

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