Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: jock, killing joke

The Killing Jock? Jock & Batman: The Killing Joke, What Does It Mean?

The Killing Jock? Jock and Batman: The Killing Joke... what does it all mean? Let the speculation commence!

Comic book artist Jock likes teasing things just as much as Scott Snyder. They are both reunited on Batman again with Absolute Batman #15, but there is more to come, it seems. Jock posted the following video on X that, if pieced together, reveal that he is working on a cover for Batman: The Killing Joke.

I mean… what? Batman: The Killing Joke? Are we getting a new Batman: The Killing Joke? A facsimile? A sequel? Something else with the exact same title? I mean, many other versions have turned up over the years.

Batman: The Killing Joke was a 1988 DC Comics one-shot graphic novella by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland that provided a new origin for The Joker, loosely based on the 1951 story The Man Behind the Red Hood written by Bill Finger. The Killing Joker is told in flashback, as the Joker attempts to drive Jim Gordon insane after shooting Barbara Gordon through the spine, as Batman and the Joker examine their relationship and leaving a very ambiguous ending.

Since then, Oracle: Year One: Born of Hope told the story from Gordon's perspective in 1996. In 2007, Geoff Johns wrote a companion story No Joke for Booster Gold, trying to go back in time to save Barbara Gordon. In 2010, J. Michael Straczynski and Cliff Chiang told a Zatanna and Wonder Woman story in Brave And The Bold after Zatanna has a precognitive dream about Barbara Gordon's Killing Joke fate. The DC New 52 saw Barbara Gordon recover from paralysis, but the cover to Batgirl #41 by artist Rafael Albuquerque that took its inspiration from The Killing Joke was heavily criticised for being at odds with the comic, and the comic would later go on to imply that the events of The Killing Joke were implanted memories, before returning for DC Rebirth. In 2020, Batman: Three Jokers by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok featured the Joker's pregnant wife, Jeannie and a son that The Joker did not know about. This was later picked up in 2024's Joker: The World. In 2022, DC also published the One Bad Day series of graphic novellas, each trying to do a Killing Joke-style story with a number of Batman's rogue galleries, gathering them all together. And still we get more reworking of the original, from Chip Zdarsky to James Tynion IV to Tom King.

The Killing Joke was also cited as an influence by Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan and Todd Phillips on their Batman/Joker films. It was adapted as a flashback scene in the DC animation Batman: Under the Red Hood, and gained its own animated adaptation in 2016 with Batman: The Killing Joke, and versions of the comics' scenes ended up in the Birds of Prey and Gotham TV shows. It always comes back…

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #15
(W) Scott Snyder (A) Jock (CA) Nick Dragotta
SCOTT SNYDER REUNITES WITH LEGENDARY ARTIST JOCK! Alfred reveals to Bruce the story of the man he's been chasing for years. Enter: Joker! Scott Snyder and Jock reunite for an epic tale in the Absolute Universe! $4.99 12/10/2025

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