I saw this recently, and I think that this is actually a pretty good interpretation. My memories of the comic itself are pretty fuzzy, aside from the last third, but I really like the idea that this is the last Batman story, and that he kills the Joker at the end. That's what I see when looking at those panels after seeing the video, especially how the laughter gets cut off so quickly, even as the sirens continue. I also like the idea of those last panels being a bookend of sorts; Batman was born in an alley at night, and his last story ends at in a silent, rainy night.

Well... I have my own view of what happened but I do agree that morrison's interpretation is quite good and holds itself pretty well

with that say..as strange as it sounds I think joker and batman........ hug

here => http://comicsbeat.com/wp-content/up.....2013/08/kj.jpg <=

if you look closely at the 5th & 6th panel you can see the body language doesn't suggest and aggressive situation or violent act but instead a friendly and welcoming gesture of open arms

and to support this, Im going to point out the one thing I think morrison's interpretation got wrong "the light getting cut as symbol of hope dying" this doesn't hold that well when we analyses joker's last joke

a joke which punchline revolves around the two insane men lack of comprehension of their situation..

one wacko thinks that his friend can use a beam of light as bridge and the other one thinks the reason he is going to fall to his death is because is friend is going to turn the flash light off...

simply put.. neither Batman or Joker have any idea of what they are talking.. both fail to comprehend a world that is more complex than their black and white silly points of view....

gordon didn't went insane over one bad day but Harvey dent did ( who appears at the begging of the comic as a threatening figure haunting jim )

even more absurd ...Batman and Joker themselves are prove that both of them are wrong.. Batman Did went crazy over one bad day but Joker didn't.. in fact joker went insane over a compilation of bad stuff that happened through several days and culminated in a reality so horrifying that lovecraft could have wrote it ....y'see the killing joke is not about how much people can take before going insane but about life itself and how absurdly complicated it can get

at the end of the comic .. both batman and joker have a moment of clarity and finally found themselves in a situation where they both share one point of view, finally closing the gap between the 2 friends that where trying to escape the asylum which is society itself


there is one other thing that that most be take on account... if batman did kill joker at the end of the comic..then he is giving Jim Gordon that one last push he need to break his spirit and drive him insane ...

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads.....-40_page38.jpg

the only reason he was not drive insane was his ability to hold on to his believes as a cop
..this is way is extremely important that batman brought joker by the book.. it not only to prove to joker that he is wrong but also to prove to himself joker is wrong ... if batman kills the joker then he is taking a really big risk of killing jim is sanity

so yeah thats. my interpretation of the ending .. though ...some of the things I mention can also be use as evidence that batman kill joker .. do you think its worth it..though.. risking the sanity of a friend to stop the joker.. or heck could batman actually even commit the act of murder ... stories like the dark knight returns or Lovers & Madmen even implied batman can not even handle attempting to do .. of-course this is alan moore we are talking of.. the guy who made Clark kent say Superman was overrated .. so who knows .. what do you think?

You make a lot of good points, and I agree on some of them; the more and more I look at that final page, it really is amazing how there are many different ways there are of interpreting it. Yours is a good one, especially the idea of them hugging at the absurdity of it all.

I think that, traditionally, Batman does not kill the Joker, and his timeline goes on as normal. But I do lean more towards the idea of this being Batman's last story, as that adds a lot more emotional weight, especially if he kills the Joker. I think that, at this point in his life, after all the fighting and struggling, Batman has realized that no matter what he does, and no matter how hard he tries, the Joker simply will not stop, and that letting him go free time and time again will leave him to murder people over and over. Having Barbara be shot, and Gordon be kidnapped is the last straw; he decides that enough is enough, and that he'll give the joker one final chance to turn around, and if he doesn't, he'll kill him (my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think when Gordon tells Batman to bring him in alive, Batman doesn't actually say he'll do so).

Batman tries to have the Joker come around, but realizes that he's failed, and that the Joker's time is up. But even then, he still finds the joke funny, because of the reasons you've said: that the whole world is crazy, and that, in a way, they're both crazy. He even realizes the common ground between him and the Joker (the hug). But at that moment, he decides that there'll be one less murderer in the world. Thus, he breaks Joker's neck, and where he goes from there is anyone's guess. Will he continue to fight crime? Fight crime but go crazy? Or will he realize the futility of it all and give up, retreating into the darkness to let the world go on being crazy as always?

That's how I personally see it. But as said before, there are plenty of ways to view it, and that's the sign of great fiction.

you know... you left me thinking.... that scene of the dark knight returns when joker dies ... have you ever notice that joker's dialogs balloons turn the same color tone of grey that batman's thoughts rectangular ...I wonder if that is suppose to mean something => http://stwww.geekexchange.com/wp-co.....ns-600x977.png <=

I personally don't think it means anything, except that perhaps it might have been a better idea to have the Joker's dialogue be a different color then Batman, to make it easier to differentiate between the two.

maybe you are right.. but studying design makes me (or force me ) to start considering this kind of things... though this wouldn't be messing with my imagination so much if in the next part of the story when joker corpse is burning it looks just like the visions batman keep sees of the burning bat

=> https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6268502784/h861D7738/ <= & => http://comics.gameology.org/sites/c.....20page%202.jpg <=