The Killing Joke is one of the most divisive Batman stories of all time. Alan Moore’s graphic novel remains a thorny topic for some fans, who feel as though Barbara Gordon’s treatment is despicable, while others have lauded Moore’s work as an iconic installment in the ongoing saga of Batman and The Joker. Further raising a few eyebrows is DC Comics’ animated adaptation of the story, which now has an official teaser along with a 12-minute sneak peek to show you how they brought this particular tale from page to screen.

Above you can watch the short teaser for Batman: The Killing Joke, directed by Sam Liu with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their voice roles as Batman and The Joker, respectively. Regardless of how you feel about Moore’s book, an animated adaptation of such a violent story feels a bit…strange. Animation has an inherent amount of levity, while The Killing Joke is anything but, and if you’re curious as to how DC plotted out this project, a 12-minute sneak peek sheds a little light on the production:

As you can see, The Killing Joke has sort of updated the aesthetic of Batman: The Animated Series, arguably the best Batman series to date because it accomplished what few others could, deftly combining the darker elements of the Dark Knight’s canon with some of its more cartoonish and humorous aspects. That said, The Killing Joke has none of the latter, but the animated version does make a few changes that should (hopefully) address the issues fans have with Moore’s story. Barbara Gordon will have an expanded role, while the film incorporates a new prologue.

That’s not to say that the more controversial aspects won’t remain, but if anything, I’m curious to see what Liu and his team did with the story.

Batman: The Killing Joke will arrive this summer.

A History of Batman On Screen, In Pictures

 

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