The Killing Joke: Original vs Recolored

[cyberghostface]

With the rerelease of 'The Killing Joke' a few years ago Brian Bolland opted to recolor the original art to his liking as John Higgins' coloring wasn't what he intended the book to look like. This of course has proven to be controversial and has been compared to George Lucas messing around with Star Wars.

I'm in the minority but I actually prefer the new recolors with some exceptions. The big difference is that the original is much more garish and psychedelic whereas the new colors are much more stark and muted.

My only real issue is that the original coloring is technically out of print and not at all available in a digital format. DC is rectifying this somewhat with 'The Absolute Killing Joke' which contains both coloring so hopefully the original will be available in some capacity in the near future.

The one bit where I prefer the original colors are the scenes with Joker's funhouse at the end.









So yeah I think given the surroundings and what Joker's trying to do the garish colors work better and the more muted look doesn't capture the insanity as well. The "throne" with Joker doesn't have that oompf with the plain colors.

Another big change was the flashbacks; in the new recolor they're all black and white except for the color red culminating with the helmet and cape of the Red Hood.





Ultimately I really like the black and white coloring with use of red but Joker bleeding from the eyes as opposed to just crying was in my opinion an unnecessary change. I prefer the idea that Joker is laughing and crying at the same time.

I think the ending scene between Batman and Joker works better with the new colors.









From a visual perspective I just think the scene works better with the more gothic coloring over the garish one. I think it's a powerful moment and one of the best Batman/Joker scenes and the psychedelic coloring doesn't suit the story as much when we're out of the funhouse.

Curious as to which colors you prefer and why.

Comments

[lucean]

Looking through these I suddenly realized I haven't read the Bolland version of TKJ, will have to fix that some time soon.

Based on the examples here and what I've seen from elsewhere, I think I would prefer a mix. The original colors work when we are in Joker world, which is the garish colorful place, but the more muted colors work better in the 'real' world setting. For example, that birth of the Joker would work better for me if the first half was in the new colors, but that final Joker image in the old colors.

[alicemacher]

I agree with you on pretty much all points, except for the Joker's face in the iconic "HAHAHA" panel. Although the Higgins-coloured version does as you say have that poignant "simultaneous laughing and crying" effect, I prefer Bolland's take on it. First, it makes sense that with the high concentration of blood vessels in the eyes, chemical damage would result in at least some bursting and bleeding. Second, whether or not it was Bolland's intent, I think the eye-bleeding fits with the nightmarishly red filter through which the Joker sees everything while wearing the hood, as well as with the cruel and violent way in which he perceives the world once he's removed the hood and seen his disfigured face.

Edited to add: I'm glad that the forthcoming Absolute edition will feature not only both coloured versions but also Moore's complete script. (They may as well publish the script because it was leaked a few years ago on Tumblr and before that, hard copies were readily available on eBay.) The script is a fascinating read in its own right, as it sheds light on Moore's intentions for the story, puts to rest the question of whether Batman kills Joker at the end (he doesn't, unless we insist on "death of the author" interpretations), and gives us yet more tidbits of Moore's dark humour (e.g. in the script the three sideshow dwarves are nicknamed Huey, Dewey and Louie).

[zachbeacon]

It is funny how fickle Fandom is with this kind of thing.

Recolor Sandman: Huge selling point for Absolutes.

Recolor Killing Joke: BURN IT! BURN IT WITH FIRE!

Having said that, I also mostly prefer the new version. Sure I don't like the new take on the Joker laughing while holding his head panel (for a bunch of reasons) but I do like that the new images looks like less of a rainbow nightmare.

Oh well, can we all at least come together as a fandom and agree that the cartoon adaptation is an abomination?

[cyberghostface]

It’s heartbreaking how much they dropped the ball given how a Hamill/Conroy version was the Holy Grail for so many. I thought Mark Hamill singing was great though.

[alicemacher]

I liked for the most part the portion that adapted the book itself (the less said of the Batgirl prologue, the better), although some parts, such as the Joker's removal of the red hood and reaction to his new face, were a bit rushed for my liking, and Hamill's delivery was "off" at some points ("So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?" in a furious tone rather than a sad, weary one). On the other hand, I liked some of the new touches added to the main story, such as the Joker's creeeeeeeepy look of delight when the carnival lights are switched on, and the gangsters' reactions to the cop having words with the proto-Joker ("Somethin' you wanna tell us?" with a hand on the gun in the holster, and such.)

[cyberghostface]

Yeah I think those parts worked. I agree the "why aren't you laughing" bit was the biggest misfire for me in terms of Hamill's performance.

If I were to do it I'd probably have something more similar to BTAS for the art style. They were trying to find a compromise between Bolland and something that would be easier to animate but it just looked cheap at times.

Someone on YouTube did this edit with the original color and I think it might have worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_r-qsxGiKY

[alicemacher]

Ooh, I like that. Kudos to the recolourer.

Not sure what I'd think of using the B:TAS style for the animation, but I agree it's pretty much impossible to really capture the spirit of Bolland's meticulously detailed line art in a cartoon adaptation, unless they were to use the anime (or John Kricfalusi) technique of painted stills for key moments. They could do all the cross-hatching they wanted in those. :D

[silverzeo]

Hmmm....

Intense vivid and wild colors to represent pure surreal insanity and nightmarish setting...

Verus a dull and dark tone to suit the the sense of dread and hopelessness....

[flint_marko]

Is there much of a difference with the versions of Sandman? I thought the art was just cleaned up a little.

[alicemacher]

80s through early 90s colouring, at least within DC (I'm not familiar enough with that of other publishers from that time), tended toward the garish, for some reason. It's visible not only in The Sandman original issues and early trade editions, but also in Eclipse's original Miracleman run (both the colourized Marvelman stories from the Warrior magazine era and the new issues). In the case of both titles, digital recolouring has toned things down so the colours, while still vibrant, aren't gaudy as such.

[bj_l]

Now if only they could do something about the writing.

[janegray]

Agreed that the over-the-top garish colours work best for the scenes where Joker is trying to make Jim go crazy, normal colours for the normal scenes, and black&white with splashes of red for flashbacks.

[kore]

ZING

[kamino_neko]

Garish, and rather monochromatic...so much detail lost in vast fields of single colours.

IME, it's, if not entirely restricted to, then at least most common, in 'mature audiences' books. At DC, mostly the ones that would become the first wave of Vertigo books. The more mainstream, or particularly kiddy books, had standard colouring.

[starwolf_oakley]

So, is Alan Moore really trying to say something about mental illness with TKJ? I've mentioned I don't like stories where characters say someone went crazy from a moral failing, like Carol Danvers did about Wanda Maximoff.

Still, there's a difference between "Someone goes through horrible stuff and it affects him or her" and "Someone goes through horrible stuff and he or she goes insane."

Rolling back the clock, I see Batman hating Hal Jordan for going insane after Coast City was destroyed BECAUSE of the Joker's "One Bad Day" theory. That makes more sense than "Batman hated Hal for not being afraid of him."

[lego_joker]

Well... yeah. It's not like DC has a single office for digital recolorings, and execution varies across the board. You ever see what the digital remasters for Perez's Wonder Woman (past the first dozen or so issues) are like? Jesus Christ, I've seen three-year-olds who could stay in the lines better.

Sandman gets the red-carpet treatment because Gaiman is probably THE most high-powered author willing to take DC's calls on a regular basis. Though even then, there are quibbles to be had - CBR did a quick overview on some of the artists' remasterings a few years back:

https://www.cbr.com/comics-you-should-own-sandman/

And as I mentioned a few weeks back, recolored Moore Swamp Thing is a pretty big letdown compared to the murky, crinkled atmosphere of the original.

[lego_joker]

I think he said in the script that he was "just" futzing about, looking to see whether he could add depth to the single shallowest character in Batman's rogues gallery (survey says: no, but it was a good try, Alan).

[cyberghostface]

I don’t think Moore intended for there to be a meaaage regarding mental illness at least.

One of the reasons why he’s pooh-poohed TKJ is he says it doesn’t have a greater message beyond “Batman and Joker are more similar than they’d like to admit” which according to him is only profound to Batman fans and meaningless to anyone else. To me that’s kind of a silly criticism, a story about the Batman and Joker doesn’t need to have something new to say on the human condition but he’s entitled to his opinion.

[cyberghostface]

Idk I think he succeeded, to me the problem is other writers missed the point and tried to top it by making Joker more and more despicable to the point where he cut off his own face and wore it as a mask.

IMO the final joke about the two escaped patients is one of the most tragic and poignant takes on the Batman/Joker relationship.

[lego_joker]

If nothing else he probably regrets spending 46 pages and Brian Bolland slaving two years over a message that probably could've been knocked off in a four-page farce. IIRC it's the longest single thing he wrote for DC that's "just" about DC.

[alicemacher]

Also, subsequent writers tried to top TKJ simply by turning Joker into a killing machine, sometimes with god mode powers. Which misses the point because in TKJ he kills only (heh... only) one person, the co-owner of the carnival. What was new about Moore's take wasn't the lethality of the Joker's crimes but their visceral and horrific nature, not to mention the motive behind them.

The changes for me messed the Timeline up a bit

[steverodgers5]

This will sound so trivial. But what got to me the most about the recoloured version was the removal of the yellow Bat octave on Bruce's costume. It was like they said, 'oh this story's too serious for that.'

However the story was set in a very specific time frame with it effectively setting up Barbara's transition into becoming Oracle. Bruce wouldn't lose the octave for a while yet in the old continuity. Plus you want the distinction of that 'present' day Batman contrasted to the early one in the Red Hood encounter.

So changing his costume just to make it more 'grimdark,' without even considering the time period it's set in, just undermines it all for me, for the silliest of reasons. So unnecessary.

Re: The changes for me messed the Timeline up a bit

[lego_joker]

Are you... are you him? That guy from the old CBR boards with the Lex Luthor avatar?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I swear I'm not making fun of you, but I know only one guy who's ever had that complaint.

[zachbeacon]

I totally get why they didn't go with the BtAS style. A lot of people would have assumed that it was a continuation since they were already using the same actors for Batman and the Joker.

Before the movie came out I saw a lot of people complain that they didn't just use Bolland's art style. I see this complaint nearly every time they do one of these movies.

After the movie I think most people just focused on the part I don't like; the gross Batgirl retcon they added to pad out screen-time. I didn't like it when it was implied in the Batman Beyond show (or when they confirmed it in the spin-off comics) and I still don't like it here. I'm not sure what's worse; that she's his student, that she's his adopted son's ex, or that she's his friend's daughter. It takes a lot to make me hate Conroy's Batman but this relationship manages to do it.

[cyberghostface]

In addition to that it was just boring. They should have just (if they had to have a half hour with Batgirl) adapt the first time she met Joker or something or scenes from 'Batgirl: Year One'.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, I no longer have my original trades to compare the new art to but I remember the colors being unworthy of the caliber of artists that were working on Sandman.

Its hard for me to look at Beasts of Burden or The Little Endless and not think about how Brief Lives would have looked if Jill Thompson had colored herself or just had a colorist with more modern sensibilities and technology.

[zachbeacon]

I sort of feel like the only reason they added the Batgirl stuff is so it hits you harder when the Joker shoots her. The thing is, the story isn't about the Joker assaulting Batgirl to get at Batman. The story is about the Joker assaulting Barbara to get at Jim (in order to get at Batman). If they'd replaced the disgusting Batman/Batgirl romance with some father/daughter stuff with Jim and Babs then maybe they could have added something to the story that wasn't completely pointless.

[thatnickguy]

Aside from the page with Joker's "birth," I really don't like the recoloring. It looks too...plain...without the filter. It looks like any other Batman comic. The filter gave the whole thing a gritty film over the art. The reds and oranges make it stand out, like how the torches light up the doll mounds.

The recoloring is...fine, but it makes the whole thing look too clean and samey. The originally coloring makes the book stand out from other comics.

[wizardru]

Looking at it now, the original coloring job feels much more garish that I remember it being. While I can see Bolland's new coloring job being viewed as blander, I also can see levels of detail that the old coloring job seems to obscure. It's like an HD remix of the original material.

On the one hand, I get the idea of crazy colored lights and perhaps the one place I think he went too subtle in the 'dark ride' scene, where the outlandish colors worked much better. I'd prefer more fun house colors there, but still preserving Bolland's detail work.

[kamino_neko]

Oh, more of Babs and Jim would definitely have been an improvement. I like that.