Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Alan Moore, auction, brian bolland, killing joke
Alan Moore & Brian Bolland's Killing Joke, Currently $276 At Auction
Currently, a 9.8 CGC slabbed copy of The Killing Joke first printing is up for auction from Heritage Auctions at $276. It could well go higher. The comic book is one disowned by its writer, Alan Moore, remastered by its artist, Brian Bolland, and is considered one of the most influential Batman comics of all time. Even this week, in the latest Batman/Catwoman, there's a scene where Catwoman talks to the Joker about not just hanging about in the rain laughing at his jokes, while Barbara Gordon is back in the wheelchair in current Batgirls. It has been a major matter of controversy, from being labelled Exhibit B in the trope of "fridging" women to give motivation to male characters, to asking whether or not Batman kills the Joker in the final panels, along the way, it also brought back deleted continuity characters such as Batmite, and was only meant to be an out-of-continuity Batman annual originally. It remains one of the most popular and in-demand Batman stories of all time – and that was true from the beginning. That it had such a large print run, and has sustained many repeated printings over the thirty-five years since it was first published, and yet still commands such a premium price is a testament to the high regard in which The Killing Joke is held in the comic book and comics collecting communities.
Batman: The Killing Joke #nn (DC, 1988) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages. The Joker cripples Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl), who later becomes Oracle. Origin of the Joker updated and retold. Alan Moore story. Brian Bolland cover and art. Overstreet 2021 NM- 9.2 value = $75. CGC census 2/22: 3523 in 9.8, 62 higher.
View the certification for CGC Certification ID 3838553004 and purchase grader's notes if available.