Batman: The Killing Joke #1

The maddest Joker ever as he takes his struggle with Batman to new lows when he kidnaps Commissioner Gordon.

Possibly the most famous Joker story of all time; how one ordinary man had one very bad day. And decided to share it.

The covers represent the six different printings of this TPB book. The first cover is for the 1st and 2nd printing, and next covers are for the following printings.

The final cover is for the special edition hard cover and had the entire graphic novel recolored by artist Brian Bolland.

#03 on Wizard Magazine's "100 Best Single Issue Comics Since You Were Born" list.

The Original Prestige Versus the Recolored Anniversary

There are a few differences in the cover between the original and the newer versions. The three main differences is that the coloring on the modern version's cover is richer, the word bubble has "Smile!" in stead of just "Smile" and the text print is white instead of the colors that represent the printing, such as green, blue, red and yellow.

The Interior of the comic is still the same, with one major change. The coloring went from John Higgin's (Watchmen) bold contrasting coloring to how Brian Bolland would have colored his own art.

The experience of the book does change with the coloring. Most comic fans would prefer the newer coloring, since it is logical coloring to the story told. While many older fans prefer the older coloring, where its random contrast help with the madness of the story and the horrific events within the comic. This is a comic that both versions should be read to truly have a good concept of the story.