This short and quick read presents one of the most notorious incidents in the history of the "Bat-family." The tale starts with the Joker escaping from Arkham Asylum. As usual, he is out for revenge against his nemesis, the Batman. Everyone knows that it is sometimes easier for a villain to strike out against those the hero cares about. The Joker decides that the best target would be the Gordons.

Upon arriving at the Gordon home, the Joker quickly shoots Barbara Gordon, a librarian with the secret identity of Batgirl. It is a shot that hits her spine, crippling her. The Joker takes her father Commissioner Gordon to his amusement park lair only to torture him with horrifying pictures of Barbara lying on the floor shot and in the nude. The hope is to drive the Commissioner crazy and over to the dark side.

The Joker than tells the story of how it was just one bad day, like this one has been for the Commish, to make him the mad and evil villain that he is. At one time, he had a dream wife and a family on the way before things went horribly wrong, and he became the Joker. As you can imagine, the Batman was involved. This version of the Joker's start really causes the reader to have some compassion for one of Batman's most evil villains.

As I have mentioned with some earlier works, Alan Moore did much to reinvent comic books. His gritty tales helped redefine superheroes to highlight their human flaws while also making villains more sympathetic. In his eyes, no one was really all good or all bad no matter how much they seemed to exemplify the idea of hero or villain. This read definitely fits that mold. That is not surprising because Batman was always the darkest of DC's heroes.

The question is whether he will be able to jump in to save the day before Commissioner Gordon falls from his own heroic perch as a victim to the Joker.

The illustrations wonderfully capture the horror of the Joker's actions, bringing on a sense of crisp, detailed realism. Similarly, that is evident while the Joker is looking back on his past. This is really a must read for those with an interest in the Bat-family mythos.