Comic Book Resources

As long as the original remains available somewhere, I’m fine with this sort of thing. That was the key thing with the Star Wars special editions, for me- they’re cool and all, but it was important that the originals came out on DVD as well, for a more accurate record of the movie that actually spawned the phenomenon and garnered the praise. Now that they’ve done that, Lucas can play in his sandbox all he likes and history can’t really argue.

The way Bolland has moved away from the ‘gaudy’ colours in the remastered edition is interesting- he’s like the reverse Ted Turner.

Given how much I’ve spent on songs from the Black Mages, I’m OK with remastering of old works. I do agree that it’s important to have the originals.

I suspect that any changes are second thoughts about the work, which either come from seeing the original work in print or by reanalyzing the work when not pressed by a deadline. I’d like to think a good artist is constantly looking for changes in his work and analyzing ways he can improve things.

Of course, the example of Lucas shows that an artist’s second opinions aren’t necessarily correct. With the exception of Empire Strikes Back, which really needed some really bad special effects fixed up [compare the the stuff with Luke on Hoth, there’s no question the remastered version is better], the new versions are weaker then the originals.

Bolland didn’t color the original. I much prefer the moody, restrained remastered version.

I say, let’s judge it on a case-by-case basis. In this case? I don’t like it. I don’t own the original Killing Joke, but it is reprinted in my copy of DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore.

Releasing this book as a black-and-white book with sparse color makes it an entirely different book. Part of the fun, for me, is the mindbending hallucinogenic appearance of the original pages. There we get psychosis from the rainbow, instead of greyscale with accent coloring that invokes blatant pointing in the reissue.

It seems to me like people always like whichever version to which they were originally exposed when it comes to stuff like this (remasters, reedits, covers of old songs, etc.). Like others, I don’t really care what they do as long as the original version is still available. In this particular case, it seems like DC is just rereleasing its back catalog to make some extra bank. This seems like an attempt to make older work look “hip” by making it look more like the upcoming Batman movie.

Now that I’m looking at the link and the other pages, I’m really unsure which I like better. The reduced palette didn’t do much for me at first but it kinda looks like it fits the material. I do like the coloring in the bottom panel on the page you show here better in the original.

Some people might consider this blasphemy, but what I’d really like to see recolored is…Watchmen. When I reread it a while ago I thought the coloring was one of the things that made it seem really dated.

I’m not a fan of the remastering, but yeah, as long as the original is still out there, whatever.

I’m wondering if they did it to make it more “realistic”? Maybe it’s to play up the way Ledger portrays the Joker in Dark Knight. It kind of makes sense, gaudy and over the top (in a good way) for the Nicholson version, subdued and realistic for Ledger.

My opinion on it? As long as the story is the same, they could do it in different shades of brown, it would still be a great story.

“Some people might consider this blasphemy, but what I’d really like to see recolored is…Watchmen.”

John Higgins already did that for ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN.

One of the best cases FOR “remastering”, in my opinion, was the re-release of GRENDEL: DEVIL BY THE DEED last year that had the book recolored in the now-standared “red, white, black” motif of Hunter Rose. It really does make the book a lot more striking, visually.

The way I understand it Brian Bolland had worked for two years on The Killing Joke without any solid deadline. He intended to do the colouring all along but DC announced a ‘88 release date in the fall of ‘87 on the heels of the sales succes of theThe Dark Knight. He started putting the finishing touches on the artwork and John Higgins was brought in as colour artist to meet the deadline. The deluxe rerelease in conjunction with the movie allowed Bolland to finally do the colouring as he originally intended.

I don’t think Higgins did a bad job on the original but I like the cinematic vibe the new artwork is giving off.

Both definately have their benefits. Provided I can still see the original, as it was released, and as it became a classic, I’ll probably end up buying the new version over the old, to be honest.

Context is everything. You can’t judge the overall effect from three pages in isolation—everything has to serve the story. Based on the preview images, Bolland seems to be using the black-and-white approach only for the flashback sequences—which makes good aesthetic sense, and could very well make the narrative stronger.

I think it should be up to the artist or artists who did the original work. If they want to do it, but you don’t like what they do, well, don’t buy it then. If they choose to withdraw the original, that you loved? I agree it’s a shame, but I don’t see why an artist should be under any obligation to make something available to the public if they don’t want to.

Regarding this one: I’ve always really loved the original colouring job, because I’m a huge fan of Higgins’ work anyway; but Bolland has stated repeatedly in interviews that he always hated it, and thought it ruined his work. I won’t be making a critical judgement of what he’s done with it till I’ve seen the whole thing (which yes, means I will be buying it and putting it on the shelf next to the other three versions I have of this comic), but I’m really glad he finally got to do it.

As an aside, any time I think about the Joker, this is always the first image that comes to my mind. I can’t think of any other comic book character who is so permanently associated with a single, iconic picture - for myself at least.

I’m of two minds about recoloring. I got the Absolute Sandman volume 1 for Christmas and, by and large, I love the new colors. The redone issues look a lot more vibrant and detailed then they originally did. But at the same time, it annoys me to no end that Death is now colored Caucasian instead of colorless like Dream. The white skin and black clothes always seemed to be such an integral part of the character design to me, and I don’t like seeing it changed. Sure, the rest of the recoloring looks fantastic (and I can’t wait to see that big coloring mistake from Brief Lives fixed in volume 3), but that one change really damages the look of one of the characters for me.

I’m glad they are doing this. The coloring was the worst thing about Killing Joke. This looks like a big improvement.

I think I prefer John Higgins’ colours, actually. I think one of the great things about the original 1988 book was that the choices Higgins made were actually pretty daring and fascinating and different at the time and still stands up well. This wasn’t workmanlike but a great piece of colour art. Bolland clearly disagrees.

But, yeah, as long as it doesn’t lead to the original disappearing I don’t have a problem with Bolland recolouring it.

Recolouring happens all the time– the Absolute Editions are a good example (and I liked John Higgins’ job in Absolute Watchmen), even collected issues in trades like the Englehart/Rogers Batman (which I hate because they used Rogers’ gaudy recolouring from the ’80s instead of the more muted palate used in the ’70s) or Batman Year One (one of the reasons I’ve been on the fence about buying it is that I actually prefer Richmond Lewis’ original colouring– I think he did more with the limited pallate available to him in 1986). I don’t know why one would make an example specifically out of this.

I wouldn’t say taking out the yellow oval is a ‘Greedo shoots first’ moment but I’d say it was pretty dumb because the bat emblem is still curved at the sides so it looks like a mistake!

Is John Higgins getting paid for this?

His work is not in the book, and although he may have some contractual protection in the event of something like this, I doubt he’s getting anything from this.

That sucks if he went from a regular source of residuals on The Killing Joke to nothing on the new, improved version that will be the only one in print.

I’m not commenting on whether or not it’s better. That will be judged on a case by case basis. But when you start releasing different versions of your product, I think it hurts the integrity of it.

Example: I would have bought the Kill Bill DVDs a long time ago, but I just can’t bring myself to do it because they’re always going to release a newer, better version.

I don’t want to buy something if I’m not sure it’s the finished product. And once stuff like this starts happening, I have more doubts and a sense of higher risk with each purchase. When my risk is higher, either your prices will drop, or my purchases will.

I’d need to see more pages before I can make a decision: the ones chosen to show off are a somber scene in Arkham, a flashback, and another flashback; in other words, all things that could have a simple, logical reason for a muted palette. Is it like that through the whole book, or do the colors fluctuate through the story?

That said, even in a flashback, I’d have made the initial “reveal” of Joker pop out a bit more, to reflect how disconnected he is from the “real” world.

But still, as long as both versions exist, I’m good with it. It’s like the new dvd release of The Mist, which has the movie both in full color, as seen in theatres, and entirely in black and white, to better suggest the atmosphere of a ’50s horror flick - you get the choice. And it’s not like The Killing Joke has been in short supply over the years, so everyone’s had a shot at the first, “colorized” version…

Looking at the example above, I prefer the original. But I am going to give it a chance and check out the entire work before I reach a conclusion.

Wow, I didn’t know that the recoloring was going to be that dramatic. I’m not sure what to think. As others have written, I would need to see more to decide which is better.

Chris: You’ve got to be kidding. The BW&R Devil by the Deed was at least as much of a prismatic abomination as anything ever perpetrated by Ted Turner. It’s a dead thing, where the original was vibrantly alive.

As for the Killing Joke remix, I’d have to see more than just three pages to pass judgment.

I guess they can do what they want, but did it really need it?
Were people sitting around going ‘man, I really want to love Killing Joke, but that colouring just keeps me away from it?’

If it hadn’t been for this, and me reading an interview where Bolland mentioned being unhappy with it, it never would have crossed my mind it needed fixing.
I won’t be shelling out cash for this (already got the damn thing twice!).

New versions are funny though, I hated the Star Wars ones - it was always a nostalgia watch, so changing it to make it kewl kinda took away any reason to watch it (except for Billy Dee!) - but Apocalypse Now Redux is a much better film than the original - by adding more, it seems to go faster, and the slip into insanity is more noticeable.

For me it’s always a case-by-case thing. I’m not crazy about the new version — I liked Higgins’ approach better — but I completely understand how it can eat at you to have a piece of work out there that you aren’t happy with and want to fix, so I sympathize with Mr. Bolland. And it’s not as though they’re recalling all previous versions and pulping them. Certainly, I’m not going to be running out and replacing mine. These high-end books are nice enough but I think they are aimed squarely at the OCD collector. I spent too many years trying to beat the obsessive-compulsive streak OUT of my comics buying.

The annoying part of it for me is that it’s ramping up this new trend of the overpriced hardcover. This is a book that Alan Moore himself has shrugged off as a lesser work, that’s almost never been unavailable as far as I know, that just got reprinted AGAIN last year, and now here’s a new edition that offers… what? Is there anything besides the recoloring? I think The Man Who Laughs, another egregious example of DC catering to the collector market’s worst OCD traits, at least threw in some new pages.

Oh well. My gut feeling about the whole enterprise is that if fans want to spend their money on this sort of thing, it’s stupid of DC not to take it. I’m just sort of appalled at the idea of a page count that used to barely rate a 50% increase or so in the newsstand price in an ‘Annual’ format is now suddenly saleable as a high-end hardcover. For God’s sake, how much disposable income is out there to cut up on this sort of thing?

In fairness, I should add that I was first in line for the Richard Donner cut of Superman II, so I’m not against this sort of re-mastering at all. I’m just kind of appalled at the idea of these skinny little books suddenly showing up as hardcovers and that people actually pay those gouger’s prices for them.

I personally welcome the chance to view the story in a new light. I’ve always thought that the original colors had a bit of an “outside the lines” look to them that didn’t match the crisp artwork. Also, if you are complaining about the price of the graphic novel in a hardcover format, that’s why the internet is so wonderful. Go to amazon, ebay or other online outlets instead of paying the full price for it at your comic retailer.

I met Bolland at Dragon Con in 1990 or 1991, and he expressed dissatisfaction about the coloring to me then, so I’m happy he’s finally gotten the chance to do it how he wanted. I haven’t seen the new hardcover, but it looks very well done to me.

I go back & forth on these things. Sometimes you’ll get cool things like the Donner Superman II cut, sometimes you’ll get abominations like the Star Wars Special Olympics Editions. I think the artist should always have the right to control the work as he/she sees fit, but it is nice to see the original version remain available.

An example of reworking being done badly (to my mind, at least) is in the recolored collected version of Batman: Year One. There’s a great splash page at the end of part 3, where Jim Gordon is sitting on the edge of his bed, holding his gun while his pregnant wife is asleep on the bed. In the original, the bedsheets were a pale yellow. But in the collected edition, Richmond Lewis put a pattern on the bedsheet, so when I look at that page, I don’t see Jim Gordon, I see that damn stupid peacock Richmond Lewis put in.

Oh, and Richmond Lewis is a woman. David Mazzuchelli’s wife, as a matter of fact.

I’m on the fence about remastering an old work. But I did enjoy the Richard Donner cut of Superman II. I can’t stand the Star Wars special editions, though. In a comic I don’t think dialogue should be changed, but I don’t mind recoloring, for the most part. The recoloring work of Batman: Year One was a real improvement in my opinion, and the recoloring of Absolute Watchmen was fantastic. In the case of the Killing Joke I feel like I need to look over the whole book and compare it to the original before I can make a fully valid judgment. I’m disappointed they took out the yellow oval, but that’s not a make or break thing for me. The insane brightness of the colors worked for me with the story in the original version, so it’ll be interesting to see how Bollard handles them himself. Could be better, could be worse.

I think The Man Who Laughs, another egregious example of DC catering to the collector market’s worst OCD traits, at least threw in some new pages.

I agree with you about The Killing Joke, but The Man Who Laughs is completely different. Firstly, the prestige format jobby is out of print and fetching high prices on eBay now and Secondly, they’ve put some other related issues in the book to bulk it out to a decent size. The Man Who Laughs is on my Buy list when it comes out in TPB.

An example of reworking being done badly (to my mind, at least) is in the recolored collected version of Batman: Year One. There’s a great splash page at the end of part 3, where Jim Gordon is sitting on the edge of his bed, holding his gun while his pregnant wife is asleep on the bed. In the original, the bedsheets were a pale yellow. But in the collected edition, Richmond Lewis put a pattern on the bedsheet, so when I look at that page, I don’t see Jim Gordon, I see that damn stupid peacock Richmond Lewis put in.

Yeah - I agree with you on that one. I loved the colouring in the original, but the patterns on duvets and wallpaper in the TPB just provides an annoying distraction. That said it’s still one of the most beautiful books I own.

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“Is there anything besides the recoloring?”

There’s a story Bolland did for “Batman Black & White” which is colorized; as far as I understand, it’s a quasi-sequel to ‘Killing Joke’.

I think the old coloring had problems, I think the new coloring has problems, but I lean towards the new.

Also, I thought the Richard Donner ‘Superman II’ completely ruined Zod’s character, and that alone made the new version a net-negative for me (even though the “morning after” scene involving Brando’s head rolling his eyes at Lois-in-S-shirt was the best thing in any Superman movie ever).

I don’t see the point in doing it on anything from the mid-70s onward, basically anything where the colorist was credited. But new collections of material from the Golden and Silver ages when the colorist was someone around the office with extra time on his or her hands should be recolored.
Of course, this is also a case where the colorist was changed at the last minute, so the new version really is Bolland’s original vision. I see this as more of a Director’s Cut. That being said, I do prefer the old version to the slightly Sin City splash of color version.

Wow, I didn’t realize Killing Joke was recolored.

Judging by the pages above, I’m a bit torn. I love the recolored look and understand it’s artistic choice by highlighting the green and red. But I also love the original version since those colors are amazing…

There’s a story Bolland did for “Batman Black & White” which is colorized; as far as I understand, it’s a quasi-sequel to ‘Killing Joke’.

No, it’s a story by itself. It doesn’t really tie into any other Batman stories at all… and Batman isn’t even in it, really. It’s very good though.

Although, I’m surprised to hear that that’s been coloured as well, since it was originally intended to be presented in black and white…