In 1988, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE offered a violent, literate, and controversial take on the Joker's origins and his relationship with Batman.Now, Dr. Julian Darius examines it in the context of the high-art ambitions of 1980s super-hero comics, exposing the narrative's ambiguities and secrets. From Sequart Organization. After graduating magna cum laude from Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin), Dr. Julian Darius obtained his M.A. in English, authoring a thesis on John Milton and utopianism. In 2002, he moved to Waikiki, teaching college while obtaining an M.A. in French (high honors) and a Ph.D. in English. His controversial dissertation became the novel NIRA/SUSSA. Darius has authored other works of fiction, including WATCHING PEOPLE BURN, a screenplay based on the true story of the deadliest school massacre in U.S history - which occurred in rural Michigan in 1927. In 1996, while still an undergraduate, Darius founded what would become Sequart Organization (sequart.org), an organization devoted to promoting comic books as a legitimate art form. He writes for Sequart's website, has authored books on BATMAN BEGINS and classic DC Comics stories, and has produced documentary films for the organization. He currently lives in Illinois.