Brian Bolland on The Killing Joke Remastered
Posted by: Jon Haehnle on April 7, 2009 at 5:40 pm
This week’s Wizard has a short, two page feature with Brian Bolland’s thoughts on “remastering” The Killing Joke for the special edition hardcover.
Our previous post, with side-by-side scans from the original versus the new edition, has drawn a lot of reader feedback for and against the new coloring.
Here’s Bolland on the removal of Batman’s yellow oval, which — judging by the level of the aforementioned comment activity — was apparently a big deal to many:
“You’ll notice that I got rid of the yellow oval round the bat-symbol on Batman’s chest,” notes Bolland. “It was introduced in 1964, and I could never see the point of it. In 2007, it looked kind of anachronistic and I got rid of it. I made the choice without consulting naybody. I could have enlarged the black bat-symbol to the size it is today, but that would have involved too much work. Objections to my decision run along the lines that it’s sacrilegious to rewrite history — as if the original Killing Joke is some kind of sacred document written on tablets of stone. Alan, admittedly, does look a bit like Moses, but it’s just a comic book, and I had the freedom to make it the way I thought looked best.”
Bolland offers a number of other interesting tidbits, including rendered colors vs flat colors and the Joker being “the one who brings the color to an otherwise drab world”.
Wizard #211 is out today.
MaGnUs May 20th, 2009
Looks good, but I think they muted the colors a tad too much, particularly the green in Joker’s hair.
Geoff May 23rd, 2009
I agree, it does look but they seemed to go overboard with the new look. It’s not so much re-colored as it is DE-colored.
timothy b May 27th, 2009
trying to be a frank miller movie… why change something great…..
el lco carlos May 30th, 2009
bien mas de batman
Omar F. June 15th, 2009
Original Colors were Great! Of course new technologies added a lot to the industry, and we could make a greater colorig on this art piece, but without changing the original intention of the story. And I feel that this color key changes too much the atmosphere of the tale turning it to a another different direction. As an example, the Water/Tears of the Joker when he comes out of the Acid, now it turns into Blood??? Why??
Thanks!
O.
AstoX June 17th, 2009
I think that the re-mastered version is much better. The flashbacks and Red Hood have much more impact and I always thought the yellow oval made him seem like a Golden-Era hero when I imagined Batman as a dark, brooding character, the oval doesn’t suit him but I feel that the Joker reveal would of been better if it was left untouched. (All the colors are dull until you see the Joker’s face) It would of had much more imact and effect.
Patrick M. July 7th, 2009
The colors in the scans are washed out compared to the re-mastered version in person. The gray flashbacks are the only time you truly notice the difference, and everything just feels more muted, less flamboyant, like it’s taking a step away from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns.
I was hesitant, but purchased the Deluxe Version anyway. The addition of “The Innocent One” and the colors the way they were meant to be are worth the price.
