Comments on: Killing Joke Remastered

By: James

James — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:53:58 +0000

10 | Sean McCoy – Actually, Moore reports that he suffered a breakdown of communication with the artists over this one, and the colouring ended up nothing like what he wanted.

By: steph

steph — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:03:03 +0000

I am on your side. It makes me think of the debate on Moore and Gibbons “Watchmen” colors. Remastering leads to a new book, with new trends and comics-anachronia. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it s just a usefull way to sell books.

By: Ian Hainsworth

Ian Hainsworth — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:26:40 +0000

Overpriced when first issued, a mediore story by Alan Moore great visuals by Bolland,
Why recolour should hve been rewritten sorry Alan
Overall a dissapointing example of DC comics greed.
do not buy,Batman would be trying to bring down this type of exploitation

By: Shawn Garrett

Shawn Garrett — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:51:38 +0000

Well, I like the original. New one is way too monochromatic. I like my funnybooks with touch of seriousness, not seriousbooks that forget their funny origins!

By: Trinity

Trinity — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:50:36 +0000

Hmm. I’ve been trying to find The Killing Joke for a while, and I was glad when I heard that they were re-issuing it. I’m a little bit iffy on the new colours, though. They do look cleaner, and more realistic, but I do think it makes the comic look less dramatic, especially the last panel with the Joker laughing. I think the old colours make it look more insane. But at least Bolland got what he wanted…

By: Anders Gabrielsson

Anders Gabrielsson — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:43:45 +0000

I for one will gladly have both.

By: crackwalker

crackwalker — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:44:46 +0000

Of course there will be a lot of people that like the new colouring job – it’s following the current trends.

Maybe ten years from now, when it looks dated, it can be re-remastered again.

:-P

By: crackwalker

crackwalker — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:28:00 +0000

This smacks of ‘New Coke’ – recolouring is unnessessary, and diminishes the impact. The garish colours make the world seem strange and surreal, the way the Joker might see the world, and the way he’s trying to make Batman and Gordon see the world. That approach maybe isn’t in vogue at the moment, but Killing Joke is a classic. I’m glad I have my original.

And I’m totally against removing the oval – very Greedo shoots first. Boo!

What about the big dorky batman face on the front of the batmobile? Maybe we should replace it with the ’scrambler’?

I always thought that the hokey looking batman things in this story added a lot of depth to the story – it visually reinforces the notion that Batman is just as crazy as the Joker.

By: rachel

rachel — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:45:08 +0000

I wish they’d left the jokers gloves alone. The purple gloves make it more sureal, he doesn’t look like any regular psycho with them. But i’m glad they fixed gordon. he reminded me of paddington bear before

By: Harvey Vasquez

Harvey Vasquez — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:20:46 +0000

I’ve never read either, yet but I have to say, I thought from first glance that the recoloring hit the spot but comparing them closer, the garish colors were more effective. It even made the words from the page pop off the page more for me where as the recoloring left everything to flat for me. I am an artist though not by trade. I aspired to be a comic book artist for a short time so in my wanna be opinion, the garish colors are far more effective.

By: SM

SM — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:15:08 +0000

Not impressed at all. The garish, nauseating colours in the original are vital to it’s atmosphere. I don’t care if Bolland prefers grey, for this story I prefer garish! Agree with other posters who say that this is a Joker story not a Batman story and should have been left alone.

By: Fabio Ciccone

Fabio Ciccone — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:23:47 +0000

*Waiting for DC to do the same with Watchmen”

By: DEIVID

DEIVID — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:21:52 +0000

@camilo - I AGREE

By: Josh Lumitao

Josh Lumitao — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:00:30 +0000

I totally agree with D.Knight!

I just bought The Killing Joke Deluxe two days ago, and have just completed it an hour and a half ago. From these pictures above, I kinda think that the original had a more ‘cartoony’ look to it (though I don’t necessarily believe a bad thing). The new version has a far more mature feel to it, and it seems more serious and a lot grittier.

But I agree with D. Knight that the panel where The Joker goes insane looked better in the original. The bold colors made him look totally crazier. The entire page didn’t have to be colored, just that picture with his hands on his hair. Don’t you think there would have been a sharper contrast that way?

I guess I should admit that I haven’t read the original yet. Looks like I’m gonna go look for it now! :)

Oh, and just a little side-note. I bought it at sale price at $16.99. I say sale because it had a special yellow sticker on the plastic covering saying “SALE!”.

By: Andreas Faaborg Nielsen

Andreas Faaborg Nielsen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:28:17 +0000

Im a huge fan of Batman. I’ve begun writing/drawing a Batcomic myself (fan fiction if you like) and I often have discussions with other hardcore Bat-fans about adventures of the dark knight.

One of the frequent subjects was The Killing Joke, which we all love but at the same time hated for it’s coloring.

Reasons:

1. It looked ridicules. The story was so dark and evil. The coloring should resemple this.

2. It wasn’t the way Bolland had intended it. In my book the artist should ALWAYS decide the coloring of his work.

When I heard that a new version would see the light of day I had to yell: “Holy great remake, Batman!”. I bought it and Im thrilled.

It’s much better than the original. I love the new coloring and the way it has been redrawn. Im also thrilled with how Bolland has managed to remove the 80’s tone the original possesed. It made it seem very locked in the time which is sort of annoying today. I think the new version will be easier to read again in twenty years.

By: Carmen Cotelo

Carmen Cotelo — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:32:15 +0000

As much as I like Alan Moore’s work, I don’t know if I am willing to buy another copy of a comic I already have just because they released a revamped version.

I’d rather use that money for buying comics I have not read yet. Not to mention the amount of shelving space I’d need if I get all the remastered versions that have been released lately of comics I already have!.

Hum. That said, I DID buy Neil Gaiman’s Absolute Sandman. And this version looks really good so…
I guess I will end up giving up my bedroom to Alan et alia. Doh!

Oh, well…

PS: Do you really find this comic pricey at 17 dollars? :D

Never ever move to Spain then. It’s very unlikely to buy a comic (any comic) for less than that here. It’s actually cheaper for me to order my comics directly from the US (even after adding the shipping and handling fees).

By: Batman: The Killing Joke | bluemechaoxide

Batman: The Killing Joke | bluemechaoxide — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:44:29 +0000

[...] of the original. The color palette this time around is much colder and less… 80s. Seriously, see for yourself. Brian Bolland did a fantastic job of going over John Higgins’ old work, for [...]

By: the_elan

the_elan — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:49:57 +0000

I like some of what’s done in the original and some ove what’s done in the new. I think they should’ve just color corrected the old version instead of redoing it.

I really hate the reflective light on the Red Hood’s cape. And I prefer the original colors on that last page/last panel.

It loses some of that organic feel.

But it isn’t as bad when they recolored Moebius’s work on The Incal.

By: rgbFilter » Fan Expo: Brian Bolland Interview

rgbFilter » Fan Expo: Brian Bolland Interview — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:47:41 +0000

[...] and Animal Man. They discuss the recolouring of The Killing Joke for the recently released ‘Remastered‘ edition, Mr. Bolland’s process, including drawing on a Wacom tablet, as well as the [...]

By: legionserial

legionserial — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:21:59 +0000

Useless fact: Originally there was no yellow ellipse. Batman’s suit was modified around 1964 to incorporate it.