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The Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime look like they stepped right off the comic page in McFarlane Toys’ latest limited edition sculpts.
Batman and the Joker are making the transition from the pages of The Killing Joke to the world of collectible sculpts thanks to McFarlane Toys.
Now visible on the McFarlane Toys website, both the Caped Crusader and his greatest foe stand about seven inches tall and were sculpted in polyresin by David Giraud, who brought Brian Bolland’s art from the original comic to life. Batman is depicted holding one of the Joker’s playing cards, while the Clown Prince of Crime has both hands running through his hair in a pose matching Bolland’s famous panel showing the Joker fully transformed into a white-faced, green-haired maniac following his fall into a vat of acid. Both statues are only available in limited qualities of 5,000, and feature hand-numbered bases.
The Killing Joke, first published in 1988, is one of the most famous stories in the Batman mythos. Written by Alan Moore, it offers a potential origin for the Joker, portraying him as a struggling stand-up comedian who became involved in criminal activities to provide for his pregnant wife. Over the course of a botched heist, the man who would become the Joker suffers “one bad day” that results in him taking on the appearance of a clown and losing his sanity.
Throughout the comic, Joker decides to test the theory that a single bad day can drive anyone to madness by psychologically torturing Commissioner James Gordon — first by shooting his daughter Barbara and then by taking photos of her wounded, disrobed body. The Killing Joke has garnered controversy over the years for its treatment of the original Batgirl, who was confined to a wheelchair for years in the comic books as a result of the spinal injury she suffered from Joker’s bullet. Barbara ultimately devised a new identity for herself as the hacker Oracle and regained the use of her legs at the start of DC’s New 52 reboot.
The Killing Joke was reissued in a new twentieth anniversary colored edition in 2008, with the colors chosen by Bolland himself. This edition removed the neon, bright hues of the original — which were chosen by colorist John Higgins — for a more muted look. It also tweaked the appearance of Batman’s costume, removing the yellow oval around his chest in favor of an unadorned bat logo. McFarlane Toys’ sculpt of the Dark Knight follows this 2008 redesign.
Both Batman and the Joker are now available for pre-order, with both statues costing $99.99 each. They are expected to release in late March.
Source: McFarlane Toys (1, 2)
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