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Omg that's so brilliant. I totally buy it. The circus they fight in is the same one and there's a panel of Pyg's mask in a puddle which is colored similar to the famous rain puddle at the end of the book. God, that's so good, look at the eyes.

I buy there's some kind of face going on. The cover always threw me because when you look at the thumbnails in previews, the two prominent dollotron heads always struck me as eyes, so whenever I enlarged the image I was surprised to see the actual cover. Never thought to turn it upside down.

Seems unintentional to me. The way the human mind works is, you can find hidden faces in almost in any picture if you stare at it long enough, but that doesn't mean they were originally there. The only thing that might hint it was intentional is that the colour of the Batman & Robin logo was changed to purple from the black logo of issues #1 and #2. However, that might be merely because purple fits the colour scheme of the cover picture nicely. If they'd really wanted to evoke the Joker picture, they would've made the logo red, right?

The more I think about it, the more I realize that this cover serves as a perfect visual metaphor for the entire first half of the story. Distinct parts which on their own don't warrant any special attention but which together sum up to a great big Killing Joke satire/homage. If you think about it, Pyg captures Robin (filling in for Commissioner Gordon), shows him horrible sights, dances a little cabaret number for him ("Loony! Like a lightbulb battered bug!"), and then Batman rides in on the Batmobile and beats him down. The "identity destroying" disease - and here's where I might be going off the rails - is an allegory for realism and "grim 'n' grittiness" in comics, something about which Morrison has shown some animosity towards Moore in the past. The solution, Morrison suggests, is trivial ("the one w/ the word antidote printed on its label"), simply don't write these stories any more.

Man, B&R is so cool. I wish I could notice stuff like that cover nod. ::starts flipping around all his Quitely comics every which way to search for hidden meanings::

Frankly, that's quite brilliant.

I think it was intentional. I was wondering why the cover was so ugly. Quitely's work is usually a lot more spare, simple, and elegant.

Given the amount of time noted perfectionist Quietly takes on his pencils, my money is on intentional. Though his first 3 issues were incredible, I really cant wait to see how Grant and him finish the story in 10-12.

-neil

That cover's not just upside-down....

@onion: good catch. It's possible, though, that Quitely flipped the design as further level of obfuscation, or DC may have flipped the cover art he submitted for whatever reason. I'm going with intentional on this.

Weird. In sort of a subliminal subversive Morrison way.

Unintentional

I took it (right-side up, of course) to be a riff on the opening of the 60s show, where Batman and Robin fight off that long line of crooks who come at them in a straight line. I can see the Killing Joke comparison, too.

The Batman & Robin cover is just ugly, so I guess this would be an excuse. Still, I don't see it.

I'm going with unintentional. If he was shooting for an homage, it probably would've sat right-side-up, I imagine.

With all due respect. Brian, I think that's quite a reach. Just don't see it.

How the hell do you even notice something like that?

I'd say intentional. If it's not a homage to the Joker image, I'd stil say Quitely's doing some kind of trick with the cover, and I can't think of what else it might be.

Are we going to see the result of this poll, Brian?

Yeah, but the cover is not only upside down but also REVERSED! Screw that as a homage. So Quitely expects everyone to hold his covers upside and up to a mirror in order to see a homage to another cover? I guess weirder things have happened. But I go with no.

You don't see it? Even if it's coincidental, the similarity is pretty obvious.

Unintentional. I think if this cover was done by any other artist no one would even be questioning if it was intentional. As someone else mentioned, you can find faces in almost any picture if you try to.

I don't think it's just the resemblance to a face, though. The crossed fingers at the top, and the purple-and-green logo add to the theory. Cass makes a good argument for the issue being a reference to the Killing Joke story, too.

There's no option there for "it doesn't even look liked the Killing Joke pic" so I went for "unintentional" which is the closest option.

I never would've thought of that if I wouldn't have seen this. After I did though, it looks completely intentional and obvious to me. Nice.

Actually, this image is simply flipped vertically. Or to put it another way, it's flipped along the horizontal centerline. The leading "B" is still on the left side of the page.

I had to think that what most people would call "upside-down" means rotated 180 degrees around the center.

How the hell do you even notice something like that?

It's a Morrison/Quitely book, so people give it a level of scrutiny they'd never give normal book. It gets stress tested in washing mashines and dryers, put in blenders, read in reverse for secret messages, held up against the light to check for hidden watermarkers, reversed in photoshop and examined upside down, read to children in intensive care to see if it can cure terminal illnesses...you'd be surprised.

Well, when a writer and artist both have a history of intentional symbolism and subtext in their work, people tend to keep an eye out for that sort of thing.

Eh. All Grant Morrison ever did is ride on the coattails of Alan Moore...

Unless Quitely and/or Morrison actually speak out about it, I'm gonna go with "unintentional". I can see it, but I feel that this can be filed along with the "Wizard Of Oz/Dark Side Of The Moon" mystery.

Hey! Can someone write a column about these types of hidden/inside clues in comic books? i love DVD Easter eggs, so is there somewhere that we can discover comic book Easter eggs?
DFTBA

I am not seeing it.

I vote intentional. As a straightforward cover, it was always a bit of a mess — and the purple and chartreuse logo also struck me as odd (if hot). Now it makes sense. Morrison and Quitely have a history of putting all sorts of extra, layered thought and detail into their work, so this is no stretch at all. (Also: Doubters should take a quick 180-degree glance at the logo for Morrison's New X-Men, which I believe he designed.)

I was thinking of the New X-Men quasi-palindrome as well. Plus, I see the homage. So, yeah, intentional. And strikingly beautiful at that!

(*so* not looking forward to the next three issues, though - what was DC editorial thinking?!)

"(*so* not looking forward to the next three issues, though - what was DC editorial thinking?!)"

That it would nice if their books came out on some kind of a schedule?

(Also: Doubters should take a quick 180-degree glance at the logo for Morrison's New X-Men, which I believe he designed.)

I think it's a bit of a leap to say because New X-Men logo was made to read the same whether upside down or right side up, that is proof that this cover is a homage to Killing Joke. First off, what is even the relevance here to Killing Joke. I haven't read the story but is it possible Pyg is really the Joker and this was a way to hint at it?

[...] ZOM: But back on topic, the question has to be asked: is there anything to see on the BatRob #3 cover? [...]

T: The big showdown takes place at the same circus the end sequence of The Killing Joke took place at. Gordon comments about how he was glad to see it burn due to it's past.

Hey! Can someone write a column about these types of hidden/inside clues in comic books? i love DVD Easter eggs, so is there somewhere that we can discover comic book Easter eggs?

I annotate Batman and Robin which includes making note of whatever little Easter eggs I discover. Also, Tim Callahan (geniusboyfiremelon.blogspot.com) and David Uzumeri (funnybookbabylon.com) will annotate these books occasionally and spot a lot of stuff that I've missed. For other Morrison and Alan Moore comics, you can search the web and find tons of references. Other creators tend not to leave as many Easter eggs or the ones they do leave will be more overt (e.g. anytime there's a bridge in Spider-Man, it's a nod to the Death of Gwen Stacy). Brian too will often dedicate a post to an Easter egg (as he did here) if it tickles him enough to do so.

@T: Please read my comment above. The whole first half of the issue's story parallels the Killing Joke. In addition, the main fight scene takes place at the exact same circus where the Joker tortured Commissioner Gordon. I think if there were no story reasons, most people would agree that it must've been unintentional. But there are explicit references to the Killing Joke INSIDE the comic, so I highly doubt the cover is a coincidence.

I've been torn over this one all night... when I look at my cover upside down I see it... but when I'm away from it, I start thinking about what an obscure way to do a homage/reference it is.
(And I also get to thinking I've got to try out my 'Holy Toast' toast stamp at some point - you stamp it on bread, and when you put the bread in the toaster, a picture of Jesus appears on it).

But, I did think it was a mess of a cover when I first saw it - totally unlike any of Quietly's other covers... and he's a very methodical artist, who thinks everything through...

Eh. All Grant Morrison ever did is ride on the coattails of Alan Moore...

Actually, Morrison isn't a fan of Moore's at all - Gaiman is the one who used Moore to get gigs.

Apart from being part of the 'British invasion', started because DC liked Moore, in what other way has Morrison ever rid on Moore's coattails?

I voted intentional after reading Cass's post - it may be a reach, but sometimes unintentional parallels are just as good intentional ones.

Totally intentional. Not only does it look similar, but, as others have pointed out, the whole issue is filled with references to the Killing Joke. Then, just to drive it home, who shows up in the very last panel?

I say coincidence. You'd have to get not only Frank Quitely but the layout people in on the joke too, the guys who place the logos, and I don't think you'd be able to coordinate that many people just to get a homage that you can only see when you turn it upside down.

Not sure why you gave us a mirror image, Brian. Doesn't the regular upside-down image look about the same as the mirror upside-down image?

Yeah, Rob, that's why I didn't mind using it (the fellow who suggested the idea had that as his image and since the reverse really didn't affect the image's appearance, that's what I used).

I say coincidence. You'd have to get not only Frank Quitely but the layout people in on the joke too, the guys who place the logos, and I don't think you'd be able to coordinate that many people just to get a homage that you can only see when you turn it upside down.

It may well be a coincidence, but there wouldn't be that many people to co-ordinate with - thanks to computers it wouldn't take one person very long to lay that comic out... Quietly or the ditor could have done it themselves.

Depending on how they do their layouts there's: the art, the reborn banner/logo (I'd assume that's the one strap), book logo, creator credits and barcode.
That's five layers on a photoshop type program (maybe more if the art came in different files for inks and colours) - you don't need a team to put that cover together.

I think the question is who intended it, Morrison or Quitely?

Well, what are the poll results?

You people need to get a life....why don't you put in on a turntable, spin it backwards and listen to see if there's a message that says: "Bruce Wayne is alive"?

If you look at the cover rotated and not mirrored, it looks much more Joker-like.

You people need to get a life....why don't you put in on a turntable, spin it backwards and listen to see if there's a message that says: "Bruce Wayne is alive"?

If I had a life I'm sure I'd just waste it insulting strangers on comic blogs...

Is there a way to see the results of the poll?

I went to the polldaddy answers site, but it was set to 'private'.

Sorry, Ben, I'll see if I can make it public - I didn't mean to make it private.

Cool!
If that works and we have to go there to see it, and if anyone else wants to http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1941644/ takes you to the poll there.
(Their search function isn't the greatest - still in beta stages).

It works - you don't need to go anywhere - the results are visible in the thread.

http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1941644/?view=results

Unintentional wins as of Thursday morning. I voted for intentional.

"that's what it's like to grow up UPSIDE DOWN in a world where a HUG is a CRUCIFIXION"

If it was was anybody else writing the comic= unintentional. The Morrison/Quietly team? Got to be intentional.

46% of us are crazy.

quietly says there's nothing to it:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/09/06/is-this-the-greatest-swipe-file-of-all-time/