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Killing Joke Remastered

March 20th, 2008 by Jon Haehnle Bookmark this post

The $17.99 price tag is kinda hefty for a slim hardcover like this, but the new coloring — by artist Brian Bolland himself — on DC’s just-released Killing Joke Anniversary Edition is really impressive! Check the scans below and you’ll notice that the new coloring is often a subtractive process, making everything look less gaudy and more refined. Interestingly, the yellow oval on the Bat logo has been removed everywhere.

I might just have to buy this (especially since I gave my copy away years ago…)!

ORIGINAL	RE-COLORED

ORIGINAL	RE-COLORED

ORIGINAL	RE-COLORED

Filed under: Blogs, Brother J Says Yuck, Scanlog, Alan Moore, Batman, Brian Bolland, Joker

16 Comments Add your own

1. Ernie Estrella | March 23rd, 2008 at 12:10 am

Yeah it went from a coloring book to something dynamic and with real mood and excitement!
2. Jeffrey | March 25th, 2008 at 8:03 am

Wow, that IS impressive. Looks like Bolland really put a lot of thought into his choice of colours. This alone might change my mind about picking the book up.
3. Marco Milone | March 25th, 2008 at 8:41 am

Awesome!
4. Pj | March 25th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

I have to say … I’m on the fence. As a big fan of the original, it seems some of the boldness of the colors really defined the style and era … especially with the last big Joker reveal panel there. I can see Bolland cut back the colors for the flashback sequences, assumably to distinguish them from the “present” sequences, but … I dunno.

Plus, removing the yellow oval? That’s not recoloring — that’s Greedo shooting first. I’m no fan of the yellow oval suit, but it’s WHAT WAS THERE. Unless there’s some revisionist editorial mandate …
5. Kayode Kendall | March 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm

People really seem to frown on the oval for one reason or another. It sucks that they feel compelled to omit it as if it never existed. I definitely agree, it’s Greedo shooting first, most definitely.

On the whole, I’d say the recoloring is okay. I definitely agree with the sentiment that it thankfully no longer looks like a coloring book. Especially the page with Batman smearing the white makeup of the joker imposter’s face. I always hated the skin looking so yellow. And the flashback scenes really benefit from the muted colors, while the red is still fairly vibrant. Not to mention the added shading and lighting effects.
6. camilo | March 27th, 2008 at 9:25 am

It was a Joker’s story. With Joker’s colors. The colors now are more like a story about Batman. With “Batman Begins” colors, and “X-Men - the movie” uniforms.

…and the lighting effects are just crap.

The original is better.
7. Jeff | March 27th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

Er, I’m not convinced…the original book might have been a bit garish (with good reason, considering that it was the Joker’s Big Moment), the colors were beautifully applied, vivid, and even cinematic.

The new version = dullsville, at least to this reader.
8. Martin | March 29th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

“Pimp” Gordon don’t look all that flash in the new version.
9. Richard Starkings | April 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm

I can tell you that when I was working with Brian, ahem, TWENTY years ago, he often talked to me about how he visualized each page being coloured � the way they look now is exactly as he described. I�m so glad he has had this opportunity now to present his artwork the way he always intended.
10. Sean McCoy | April 2nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm

I think the new colors, as subtractive as they are, are the worst kind of artistic retconning. The book comes from a beautiful period of comics history and I think should stand the way it is. Alan Moore is an impeccable writer when it comes to obsessively controlling his artists and I don’t think “The Killing Joke” is any different. I think he get exactly the look he was going for, and I think to change it to meet today’s standards of post-Dark Knight Returns desaturation and disenfranchised heroes is an abuse.
11. Kristian donaldson | April 4th, 2008 at 1:27 am

i color my own linework, and being in that position i see how colors relationship to lines shapes what you see in regards to where your eye moves, settles, etc. the new colors are much more beneficial to the line art. there’s open spaces, depth, restraint, benefit to the storytelling and mood. lotta pluses, if maybe a bit too subdued for my particular tastes. i dig 80s colors for the same nostalgic reason as everyone else, in fact i incorporate alot of the look into my own work for some impact and effect here and there. but really, it’s a crude way of coloring, and if the artist has the opportunity to go back and do what he sees as a greater service to his work, which in his heart is a greater service to the reader, let’s celebrate his work for the good reasons, and let the subjective purism go. you now have two options=)
12. Edu | April 6th, 2008 at 8:52 am

I like both.
13. Felipe Sobreiro | April 12th, 2008 at 12:22 am

I like both too, but the first one is clearly cruder, I think the new one’s mood is very subtle and since it’s Bolland himself doing it, I really can’t see what the fuss is about…
14. Jason A. | May 8th, 2008 at 2:00 am

camilo said it perfectly. The new one blows.
15. Jubi | June 5th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

I didn�t like. The original colour is more dramatic, more shocking, add more insanity to the art, to the history… but maybe it�s just because I read the first one first and am a great fan…
16. jamie | June 30th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

it went from bad to….meh. would of much rather see bolland invest time into something new,color is not his strong point. Im a huge fan of his work otherwise……

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