Removing the yellow oval from Batman’s insignia was a rather cheap attempt to shoehorn TKJ into the current DC continuity. In all the post Zero-Hour retcons right up to now Batman has never had the yellow oval insignia.

Though I was a huge fan of the original, I personally like the subtler colours in the new edition. It really makes Bolland’s inks stand out much more clearly, and IMHO his line work certainly should be the focus in anything he draws.

BTW, Brian Bolland was interviewed at Fan Expo this year, and talked about the recolouring process, and a few other topics, here.

http://www.rgbfilter.com/?p=155

It’s not “akin” to those changes. If Bolland changed the artwork to make the Joker shoot Barbara only after she attacked him first, it would be fair to compare it to Greedo shooting first. But removing the yellow oval, which changes nothing in regards to story or character, isn’t even in the same galaxy as Greedo shooting first.

Greedo shooting first changed Han Solo’s character. It changed his motivation for killing Greedo. He originally shot Greedo in cold blood, and Lucas changed the scene to make him kill Greedo in self-defense. Removing the yellow oval changes a small part of Batman’s costume.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that the original version of The Killing Joke is still in print, unlike the original theatrical versions of Star Wars. So if you don’t like the new version, fine, but nobody’s rewriting the history books.

I’ll bet if someone forced Frank Miller to watercolor Sin City and he took the opportunity to reissue it b/w in the wake of the movie, you’d hear an equal number of whiners.

“Greedo shooting first.” Man, grow up. Lordy, no wonder people have such a negative image of the net community. I’m going to Border’s right f’n NOW to get this edition.

I think the reasoning people aren’t liking the change is that it appears Bolland changed his line art to remove the oval.

This becomes revisionist editing akin to Lucas making Greedo shoot first or changing the conversation between Vader and the Emperor in Empire Strikes Back to reflect Episode III’s version of events, or putting Hayden in the final shot of Return of the Jedi.

In the comics, Batman was still wearing the yellow oval suit when it was originally published. He doesn’t now (that I am aware, I haven’t read Batman comics in a long, long time), and he didn’t have the oval in the flashbacks because of the time it was supposed to be set. So it seems more akin to the changing of the art to make it seem more relevant to today’s Batman instead of just recoloring and keeping the line art the same.

The new coloring, however, suits my tastes much more. The colors look more natural, which helps inmerse the reader much more, atleast I think it does.

In the end, I like both takes, but if I had to choose, I’d go with Bolland’s take.