"You can do anything you want, Brian"
In the 1980s, Brian Bolland was given the freedom to work on any DC project he wanted - and Bolland came up with the idea of an origin story for the Joker - what we now know today as the critically and commercially acclaimed, if sometimes controversial, Batman: The Killing Joke.
The appreciation is evident in Bolland's own words: "I had the opportunity to bring together characters that I grew up with, that I loved, that were high profile [...]."
The search for Brian Bolland: Batman The Killing Joke And Other Stories & Art Gallery Edition
Producing this artist's edition wasn't easy, as the pages were in the homes of individual collectors and had been searched for and found all over the world for years. Even Bolland took to his own Instagram in February 2024 to ask for help in finding the original art.
All for this beautiful Art Gallery Edition, which you can now pre-order.
*The Brian Bolland Batman The Killing Joke And Other Stories & Art Gallery Edition is limited to 2,500 copies.
Brian Bolland-Batman: The Killing Joke and Other Stories & Art Gallery Edition
The art of Brian Bolland has been a high-point for comic fans for over forty years. Scanned at actual-size from the original art, this deluxe, hardcover collection follows Bolland’s career featuring his DC Comics work from his early 1980’s covers and stories to his current covers. This once in a lifetime gathering of Bolland’s art comprises the finest presentation and the definitive compilation of his body of work.
This will be a 280 page, large-format (13” x 20”) hardcover book that will include three 2-page foldouts and seven vellum inserts, with similar paper stock and production values to the previous Graphitti Designs Gallery Editions. Besides featuring the complete Batman: The Killing Joke story from 1988, the BRIAN BOLLAND-BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE and Other Stories & Art Gallery Edition will also include:
- Afterword by Brian Bolland
- Introduction by Richard Starkings
- An Innocent Guy from BATMAN: BLACK & WHITE #4 (8 pages)
- Certified Safe from MYSTERY IN SPACE #115 (7 pages)
- Freeway of Fun Fear! from THE OUTSIDERS #18 (8 pages)
- The Princess & the Frog from HEART THROBS #1 (5 pages)
- The Prince & the Witch from HEART THROBS #1 (1 page)
- Story pages from JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #200 (5 pages)
- Story pages from BATMAN #400 (9 pages)
- More than 100 pages of black & white and color cover art from WONDER WOMAN, CAMELOT 3000, ANIMAL MAN, ROBIN, BATMAN…and much more.
- Miscellaneous art and pin-ups including the two-page spreads of CAMELOT 3000 and GREEN LANTERN CORPS from DC COMICS WHO’S WHO.
- Gallery of assorted UK, convention, pencil roughs and preliminary artwork.
- A new Digital Gallery section showcasing Bolland’s current work, annotated by Brian.