The Nexus Files: Brian Bolland Pt. 1

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Welcome to The Nexus Files, our brand new retro column. Every week this column will be the number one place for you to delve into the rich history of comics from across the world. I will be your faithful researcher, sifting through the thousands of The Nexus Files to cast new light on some of the greatest comics of all time…and some more recent classics that you may have missed out on. This week and for the next few weeks I will be looking at the work of the legendary British artist Brian Bolland. This week, his most famous work Batman: The Killing Joke.

(Spoilers Follow)

Overview

The Killing Joke was a 48page prestige graphic novel by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, published in 1988. It was a mature readers Batman story that focused on the state of mind of the Joker and his attempts to prove that insanity is the only rational response to the madness of the world. We see the Joker brutally attack and paralyse the then Batgirl Barbara Gordon and then try to turn her father Commissioner Gordon insane. Not only has Batman got to rescue Gordon but prove to the Joker and himself that sanity and moderation do work. As Gordon tells Batman, “we have to show him our way works”.

The Genesis

The idea for Batman: The Killing Joke came from two different directions. First was DC’s desire to publish a Batman/Judge Dredd crossover, for which Alan Moore was contacted about writing. However, despite Alan Moore starting scripting some scenes (some of which have been printed) and different artists, including Alan Davis being approached to draw the story the project ground to a halt (It wouldn’t be revived until 1991 when Wagner/Grant and Simon Bisley’s Judgement on Gotham was released). However, at the same time Brian Bolland had (finally) finished Camelot 3000 and was now asked what he would like to work on. A lifelong fan of DC Comics and particularly Batman, Brian Bolland asked to work on the Dark Knight himself. As he explained Joel Meadows in Judge Dredd Megazine 241 it was his project and Alan Moore “was his hired writer”. He also explained that it was his request to Alan Moore to focus on the Joker due to the character’s similarity to the famous Brian Bolland created Judge Dredd villain Judge Death. From this Moore developed the plot as an examination not only of the Joker but also whether we are all just one day away from madness. Awkwardly, in the middle the gestation of The Killing Joke Alan Moore fell out with DC Comics over royalties he believed he was owed. However, after being in preparation for years (something that Bolland’s close friend David Gibbons has said was excessive) it was ready for publication in 1988.

The Review

So was all Brian Bolland’s hard work well spent? Well there’s no doubt that he excels himself on the art producing a version of Batman that across 48pages firmly establish Brian Bolland’s Batman as an iconic version of the character. Brian Bolland’s version of Batman was a far cry from the raw energy of Frank Miller’s Batman as seen in The Dark Knight Returns. Where as Miller’s Batman was a massive, pulsating man Bolland’s was clearly influenced by the more slender figure of Neal Adams. However, Brian Bolland was always able to give his Batman a maturity and sophistication that was lacking in the regular Batman comics (*cough*Death In the Family*cough*). In many ways Brian Bolland was able to bridge the gap between the Classical Batman and Miller’s radical revisionism, such revisionism that had established Batman writers and artists attacking him for “destroying” the character.

The quality of the art can be seen throughout the story. For an artist that had always been seen (even by himself) as a classical, fine artist he excels with some of the more lurid imagary. The scenes were Joker tries to render Commissioner Gordon insane benefit from Bolland’s sound grasp of design with the grotesque helpers of the Joker being expertly designed. What’s more there’s real emotional content within the artwork, with the true nature of the assault of Barbara Gordon shown. However, the highlight of the art is Brian Bolland’s Joker with his masterful grasp of detail capturing every gurn and grin from the diabolical clown. Bolland’s mixture of the classical and the modern is shown in his depiction of the Joker, where without massive distortion of the character’s design he is ably to imbue the character with menace and evil that artists such as Jim Starlin had noticeably failed to.

Alan Moore doesn’t excel himself on the script, especially when judged by his own standards of giving his stories real emotional content and messages. However, as with Brian Bolland’s artwork his script has a wonderful mixture between classical, apolitical comics of the mainstream and the new, sophistication and maturity of the new wave of comics. The imagery involved in the various confrontations and meetings between the Batman and the Joker are wonderfully imaginative and vivid that expertly adds to the analysis of their relationship. Whilst sticking closely to the normal structure and conventions of comics Moore adds a degree of depth and realism missing from mainstream American comics of the time. As with Bolland’s artwork, the Joker is the highlight of Alan Moore’s writing. Not only does he raise the Joker above the pantomime dame of a villain that he often descends to but the reworked origin that Moore gives the Joker adds to the nightmarish quality of the character. Moore underlines that the Joker was not always like this, that he isn’t some alien superfiend but was once a normal man, with normal dreams and wants. Now, he is a madman and a semi-detached member of the human race. What is so brilliant about this development of the character is that Moore strains to stay within continuity with all the big details of the origin story part of the established backstory of the Joker. With his brilliant manipulation of the smaller details of the story of the Red Hood Moore shows what a brilliant and imaginative writer he is. Whilst The Killing Joke is no Ballad of Halo Jones, Watchmen and V for Vendetta it (like some of Moore’s run on Swamp Thing) shows the degree to which Moore can excel at “straight” superhero stories.

Aftermath

Despite the quality of the artwork and its readability The Killing Joke was not received with universal praise. Partly, it was a case that after Watchman and The Dark Knight Returns the bar had been raised for Mature Readers comic books and that a sophisticated thriller just wasn’t sophisticated enough. However, even among its two creators there was a degree of unhappiness with the finished project. Firstly, both creators were unhappy with the script. Bolland told Joel Meadows that “he didn’t think the script was that terrific” and he “got stuck” whilst writing it. Moore was equally unhappy with it, saying in a British radio interview last year that it wasn’t his best work. His problem with it was simple, he believed that the underlying message that the Joker and Batman were fundamentally similar was a fairly pointless statement to make due to the ridiculous nature of the characters. He believed that the readers gained nothing from the story.

There was also trouble over the colouring. Due to his slow drawing speed and American practice Brian Bolland had been unable to colour his own artwork. Instead John Higgins was brought into colour the artwork, as he had done for Alan Moore and David Gibbon’s Watchman. Bolland had wanted (and had told the colourist) “subtle and muted colours” with some scenes largely in monochrome. However, similar to Watchmen Higgins used a traditional superhero comic palette that in Bolland’s view was “garish” and not what he wanted. He told Joel Meadows that he entered a “deep despair” about his artwork being “ruined” by Higgins’ colouring.

However, despite these problems The Killing Joke has a deserved reputation as a Batman story of the highest quality. For better or ill, it has proved highly influential in modern comic books with the recent move to a darker, grittier DCU and Gotham in particular. Whilst some readers and even one of The Killing Joke’s creators (Alan Moore) bemoan this trend, the varying quality of more recent dark Batman stories underline the high quality of Batman: The Killing Joke.

Next Week, the strip that made Brian Bolland’s reputation; Judge Dredd!!!

A Comics Nexus original, Will Cooling has written about comics since 2004 despite the best efforts of the industry to kill his love of the medium. He now spends much of his time over at Inside Fights where he gets to see muscle-bound men beat each up without retcons and summer crossovers.