Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Alan Moore, Avant-garde, brian bolland, killing joke, sdcc

The $17,500 Batman: The Killing Joke Is Coming To San Diego Comic-Con

The $17,500 Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland is coming to San Diego Comic-Con 2026

At the beginning of April, Bleeding Cool scooped the news that Argent Comics, a new fine art publishing imprint based in Zagreb, Croatia to publish a 47-issue limited-edition version of the classic comic Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, with a new introduction by Bolland, who had signed every copy. And the graphic novel looked like a very large camera, held in a large camera bag, just like the kind The Joker uses in the comic book. The detail and print quality were extraordinary. And priced at $17,409.75. Or £13,006.43. Or €15,000. And it looks like it's coming from Croatia to San Diego Comic-Con. Marko Matijašević. Founder of Argent Comics at Pigment Collective writes;

"Argent Comics is going to San Diego Comic-Con 2026. I will be heading a panel, on one of the biggest stages in our world, and for a house as young as ours that is no small thing. SDCC's guidelines mean I cannot say much else yet. What I can tell you is that the panel will explore our craft, and that there will be an exclusive reveal in the room. More will follow in time."

I'm sure he'll have a copy. If you want to see it, and don't want to travel to Zagreb, there you go. And they have added something extra for those who have paid the $17,500.

"Some of you have noticed a small addition to the website. It sits in the upper right corner and looks like a page being turned. It is the door to the client portal, where you can see your order history and your portfolio, including the number that belongs to your edition. That number is not only there for bragging rights. Whoever owns an Avant-Garde Edition holds the right of first refusal on the Noir Edition, with access to match the same designation across both. This is why it is sometimes called a matching right. And if you choose to pass on the Noir Edition, the right carries forward to the next Avant-Garde Edition instead. Owning the most recent publication in either, or both, secures your right of first refusal on the next title. And should you ever decide to sell, the right can travel with the edition or stay behind. Sell with it if you are stepping away from the collection. Sell without it if you are letting a single edition go but intend to keep what comes next. None of this is new. It is a practice refined over years in the fine press world, and our sister imprint, Amaranthine Books, has used versions of it for some time. We have sharpened the mechanics for Argent, and we are now redesigning and rebuilding the Amaranthine website to carry the same system across, so collectors of both houses can rely on it."

Because, yes, this company has been here before.

"Amaranthine has been at this for more than ten years. In that time we have done some genuinely strange things. There was a limited edition of Dracula in the early days. It was housed in a wooden box that holds soil from Dracula's castle in Transylvania, so that he can always rest on the soil of his homeland. In the more recent past, miniature monoliths were recreated for 2001: A Space Odyssey and sent into space and back aboard Blue Origin's NS-27 mission, so that our edition has monoliths that literally came from space. Once opened, you get the same aspect ratio Kubrick set for the movie: 2.20:1. We have always had a knack for extraordinary projects, the ones that push against the grain, and against what is supposed to be possible."

And charge for the privilege… here are the Killing Joke stats.

• BOOK: Width: 22,5 cm / 8,86 inch
• Height: 31,5 cm / 12,4 inch
• Depth: 6.5 cm / 2.56 in (comic) | 3.5 cm / 1.38 in (lens)
• Weight: 4.4 kg / 9.7 lb (with lens) | 3.2 kg / 7 lb (without)
• Bespoke Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Metallic with 100% cotton base
• Finely milled aluminium with a glass-bead finish
• Anodised aluminium lens
• Black goatskin leather
• Each page fused by hand from two individual prints
• Hand-bound
• CASE: Width: 40 cm / 15,75 inch
• Height: 28,5 cm / 11,22 inch
• Depth: 14 cm / 5,51 inch
• Weight: 3,8 kg / 8,38 lb
• Cinnamon calf leather
• Purple and green suede leather
• High quality press studs
• Tropic strap
• Assembled by hand
• Hand-stitched

Pigment Collective, the publisher of Argent Comics, is based in Zagreb, Croatia, and states that it is focused solely on giving fine art treatment to iconic comic book stories. And as part of that, have secured an official English language licence through Mediatoon, DC's foreign rights agency, to produce what they believe is the most ambitious physical edition of a comic book ever made: a fine art publishing edition of Batman: The Killing Joke.

It is the first release in their Avant-Garde Edition line, with more to come. Each edition will be limited to 47 copies worldwide, with an additional 5 copies designated as non-sale for archival purposes. The chosen number is the atomic number of silver (argent), and the Avant-Garde editions will be created on silvery Hahnemühle metallic paper. Which means the whole comic is giclée-printed on that custom metallic paper for the greatest detail and the widest colour range. Once the printing is done, the book block is assembled using a page-fusing technique, which they claim as patent pending.

Each copy is bound between aluminium covers with a removable magnetic lens, detailed with goatskin leather, looking like the camera the Joker uses throughout The Killing Joke, and housed in a handmade leather camera case lined with purple plush. The entire assembly and binding process is also done entirely by hand. You can look at how it operates right here. Even the little metal clasps have the words HA embossed on them.

They will also publish a second variant, the Noir Edition, which instead will be printed letterpress on 100% cotton Hahnemühle paper. Each volume will be offered through a private acquisition and allocation process.

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