BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Animated Film to Premiere at SDCC; Changes Will Be Made to The Story

One of the projects revealed by WB Entertainment at SDCC 2015 was an animated adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s seminal Batman story The Killing Joke, to be helmed by legendary animator Bruce Timm, one of the masterminds behind fan-favorite series such as Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited.

The Killing Joke tells the tale of The Joker as he attempts to drive Batman’s ally Commissioner Jim Gordon to insanity to prove that all it takes to break a person is “one bad day”, while also examining the psychology behind Batman/Joker feud and presenting a possible origin for the Clown Prince Of Crime. An animated adaptation has long been awaited by DC Comics fans, and the announcements months ago sent shockwaves of excitement throughout the fan-base.

Recently, at Wizard World Comic Con New Orleans, Timm spoke on The Killing Joke, revealing it will be premiering at SDCC 2016 (much as his previous DC project, Justice League Gods and Monsters, premiered at SDCC 2015), while adding he and team behind the animated The Killing Joke have added a good deal to the source material’s narrative;

“The one big difference about it, as opposed to those other projects (The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 & Part 2), is The Killing Joke… the source material is really not long enough to make an entire feature film out of, so we actually had to add a lot more story to it. Which is tricky. But I think we came up with a really good solution on how that worked.”

Watch Timm himself speak on the subject in the video below. Further details about The Killing Joke’s wide release have yet to be revealed.