23 February 2011The Killing Joke: a modern gentleman's style and grooming manual
Whilst getting ready for another exciting day of work and sandwich-contemplation, I looked in the mirror and realised that my morning hair styling routine looked awfully familiar. It made me chuckle, but not that much.
Anyway, this reminded me that I've only recently seen the comparison of the original edition of The Killing Joke and Brian Bolland's recoloured deluxe edition. The vivid colours have been replaced with more subdued earthy colours so it looks falsely contemporary. It's pretty radical – still not sure if I approve. It's a bit George Lucasish if you ask me. Of course, that's not going to stop me buying it again …
By the way, for those non-comic readers out there who are either intimdated by the medium or who think it's just juvenile, Batman: The Killing Joke is by far the best gateway-to-geekery you can get your hands on. It's amazingly written, brief, cheap, and features characters you already know. Plus it's a stand-alone story, so you don't have to know thirty years worth of convoluted pan-dimensional backstory [cough-X-men-cough] to understand what anyone is talking about. Give it a go – you shan't regret.
Reader Comments (1)
I would like to also recommend Watchman by Moore and Gibbons as another excellent stand-alone graphic novel that is a terrific example of a often maligned medium. (Athough I didn't care for the movie).