A Killing Joke: No Punchlines

In The Killing Joke storyline, Joker wreaks havoc on Commissioner Gordon’s life in an attempt to show that the Joker is not alone – every person has the capacity to reject all reason and rationality. Yet Gordon does not accept Joker’s invitation to use “madness [as] the emergency exit”, instead finding a way to stay true to his beliefs and refusing to avoid his own pain by inflicting it on others.